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BU visits RPI looking to end semester on high note

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

One year ago, the Boston University men’s hockey team suffered a 5-3 home loss to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute that closed the book on a miserable 4-9-3 first semester. This year, the No. 7 Terriers enter Saturday’s semester-ending contest at No. 15 RPI (3:30 p.m., NHL Network) with a much-improved 8-3-5 record and a chance to go into winter break on a high note with a win in an important non-conference game.

“We’ve had a real good semester in our league,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “We’re very, very happy with the won-loss record and the way we’ve played for most of our games, the way we’ve competed for most of our games. For a young team, this is a pretty good first semester for us in the league.

“It would be a great first semester for us outside the league if we get this game because we’d be 3-0-1 outside the league right now, and that puts us in pretty good shape. These games are really important in comparing teams from league to league.”

A win over the Engineers (8-4-3) would give the Terriers a third non-league win over a current team under consideration in the PairWise Rankings (they’ve already beaten No. 11 University of Notre Dame and No. 16 University of Wisconsin), which would be a huge boost if they happen to be a bubble team come NCAA Tournament selection time.

“These out-of-conference games, they don’t seem like a big deal now,” said junior defenseman David Warsofsky. “But looking back on them at the end of the season, you’ll realize why they’re such a big deal. So you want to win for that reason.”

Despite the record, ranking and a 5-4 win over Northeastern University on Wednesday, BU has not looked like a top-10 team over the last month-plus. It has gone just 2-3-4 since the start of November and has given up four or more goals in five of its last six games after allowing that many just once in its first 10. The biggest reason for those struggles is that opponents are getting more quality scoring chances.

Although the Terriers have given up a lot of shots all season (33.7 per game), they were forcing most of them to come from the periphery earlier in the season. Lately, however, opponents have been able to get to the grade-A area more.

“I think we just need to think about defense first,” Warsofsky said. “We’ve got a lot of offense on the blue line, myself included, and I think sometimes we want to jump up in the rush. But it’s important to take care of things in our own end.”

The Engineers, on the other hand, enter Saturday’s matchup having won four of their last five, with their only loss during that span coming at No. 1 Yale University. Most recently, they smoked Brown University (the same Brown team that tied BU 4-4 at Agganis two weeks ago) 6-2 on the road Saturday.

“RPI just went down to Brown and beat them 6-2 and outworked them, and looked a lot better talent-wise,” Parker said. “So we’ll certainly have our hands full with this club. They’re a very, very good team, a team that will be a top four team in the ECAC and will probably have a shot at the NCAA Tournament. They’re a team to be reckoned with. If we can beat this club in their building, it’ll be a real big step for us.”

Game notes
-Junior Grant Rollheiser will start in net for BU, Parker said. He suffered his first loss of the season against No. 4 Boston College on Friday when he came in to replace classmate Kieran Millan and gave up six goals on 24 shots over two periods.

-Sophomore forward Ross Gaudet is questionable with a pair of lower-body injuries (a lingering hip problem and a hamstring injury suffered Wednesday), according to Parker. Junior Kevin Gilroy will replace him if he can’t go.

-BU is 33-28-3 all-time against RPI. The series dates back to 1952 and the teams became rivals during their time together in the ECAC before BU left for Hockey East in 1984. They have met in 17 of the last 19 seasons, with BU winning seven of the last nine showdowns.

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