Month: January 2011

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Make that two former teammates who refute Andrew Glass’ claim that his dismissal is not justified. In a recent tweet directed at Julie Robenhymer of HockeyBuzz.com, former Terrier defenseman Colby Cohen, who played with Glass at BU for two seasons, said the following:

“Glass thing at BU is a joke, he’s lucky he didnt get the boot last yr, coach parker was fully justified, glass is a liar”

In a text message to The Daily Free Press, Cohen denied that the Twitter account (C_cohen25) was his, but The Daily Free Press has since confirmed that the account is Cohen’s.

Cohen has not returned calls or texts requesting further comment.

By Sam Dykstra/DFP Staff

ORONO, Maine — The toughest five-game stretch of the season for the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team didn’t exactly go as planned as the Terriers lost a pair of failed comebacks to No. 14 Merrimack College and No. 2 Boston College.

Despite carrying momentum from two straight road wins over No. 7/8 University of New Hampshire and No. 11/12 University of Maine, it appeared that BU’s (12-7-7, 9-5-5 Hockey East) fifth game of that stretch – their second in as many nights against the Black Bears (11-7-6, 8-5-4 HE) at Alfond Arena – would be just as frustrating as the first two. Instead, the Terriers came away with a 1-1 tie and a valuable conference point.

Maine got on the board just 21 seconds into Saturday’s game on a shot through traffic by defenseman Will O’Neill from the left point. To make matters worse, the Black Bears outshot BU by an astounding 20-2 margin in the game’s first frame. The only thing keeping the game from being decidedly in the home team’s favor was a breakaway goal by BU senior captain Joe Pereira seven minutes after O’Neill’s tally.

Read more at www.dailyfreepress.com.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

ORONO, Maine – When you see that No. 11/12 University of Maine registered 42 shots against the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team in a 1-1 tie Saturday night, including 20 in the first period alone, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that the Terriers performed poorly on defense for the second night in a row.

That would be a mistake, though. The Terriers were not spectacular in their own end, but they were much better than they were in Friday night’s 4-3 win. After giving up an astounding 24 grade-A chances in Game 1 of the weekend series, BU held Maine to just 10 Saturday night.

“They were just shooting them from the outside and we did a pretty good job at defending grade-A,” BU coach Jack Parker said after Saturday night’s game. “We gave up a lot of grade-A’s last night. We did a real good job at that tonight.”

Read more at www.dailyfreepress.com.

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

Offense: F
Boston University’s effort on offense was nothing short of pathetic. The Terriers had two shots on goal in the first period and four in the third. If not for overtime (when they netted three shots on goal), an 11-shot second period would have only given BU 17 shots on the night. BU also totaled only 6 Grade-A opportunities all night. The one goal the Terriers did score came while they were shorthanded. BU spent too much time either dumping and chasing or taking penalties to get anything set up in the offensive zone. They were lucky to tie.

Defense: B-
The defense gave up 33 shots in the first and third periods combined, but aside from that, they weren’t bad on Saturday. Although Maine outshot BU 20-2 in the first period, the teams tied for Grade-A opportunities with two apiece. The Terriers for the most part forced Maine to take shots from the perimeter and kept them out of the slot. They also were right on top of rebounds and cleared pucks away from the net well. BU continued a trend that started in the third period of the game against BC where they did a good job of getting bodies in shooting and passing lanes. While Maine was able to get a lot of shots off, they were forced to fire those shots through a lot of traffic. That alone really limited Maine from getting good scoring opportunities.

Power play: F
We split special teams into two categories tonight simply because the power play and penalty kill were such stark contrasts from each other. BU was abysmal on the power play for the second consecutive night. BU went 0-for-5 on the power play and proved how pointless it was to give them a man-advantage when, in the second period, BU failed to cash in on a 5-on-3 that came at the end of a five-minute kill for Maine. The Terriers started the 5-on-3 with Noonan and Clendening on the blue line. Rather than cycle around to make the Black Bear’s killing unit tired, Noonan and Clendening remained rooted at the point. The team simply passed, passed, passed without skating, which really made Maine’s job pretty easy.

Penalty kill: A
While the Terriers completely failed to get anything going with a man-advantage, they looked fantastic with a man-disadvantage. In the first period, junior co-captain Chris Connolly and senior co-captain Joe Pereira charged into the offensive zone on a shorthanded two-on-one, and Pereira finished it by scoring the only BU goal of the game. The Terriers also held a very dangerous Maine power play to 0-for-7 on the night despite giving Maine two 5-on-3 chances in the third period. Maine had 13 shots on their seven power plays, but Millan stood tall and the BU penalty killers did not give Maine many good scoring opportunities.

Goaltending: A
As is becoming almost cliché at this point, Millan had a solid night in net. While Maine scored 21 seconds into the game, Millan was screened on the play and the BU defense was practically invisible at that point of the game. After that shot, Millan stopped the next 41 in a row. With 13:04 remaining in the second period, Millan somehow stopped a puck on the goal line that the Maine players had already thought had gone in. Millan repeatedly thwarted Gustav Nyquist (8 shots, no goals) and Will O’Neill (7 shots, one goal), making what could have been a celebratory night for Maine turn into a pretty frustrating night.

X-Factor: Goaltending and the penalty kill
The BU offense was not nearly good enough to even tie this game. If not for Kieran Millan and the BU penalty kill, there was no way BU would have gotten any points on Saturday. We’ve already discussed both above, but it’s hard to explain just how immense both were in getting the 1-1 tie.

All photos by U-Jin Lee/DFP Staff

BU coach Jack Parker’s presser is below. You can find Kieran Millan and Joe Pereira’s video comments after the jump.

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

ORONO, Maine — Despite getting outshot 20-2 in the first period, the No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team forced a 1-1 tie against No. 11 University of Maine at Alfond Arena on Saturday night. Junior goalie Kieran Millan made 41 saves and earned No. 1 star honors for the second straight night, while senior forward Joe Pereira netted the Terriers’ lone goal.

The Black Bears got on the board just 21 seconds into the game when junior defenseman Will O’Neill collected a faceoff win at the left point, took a few steps to his right and blasted a slap shot through a screen and inside the left post for his second of the season.

Maine continued to dominate the game for the next several minutes and had a few chances to make it 2-0, including two power plays. But on its second power play, it was the Terriers who were able to get on the board.

Junior forward Chris Connolly forced a turnover at the blue line and started a 2-on-1 rush the other way. He held on the left wing before centering for Pereira, whose redirect deflected off freshman goalie Martin Ouellette’s glove and into the net. The goal was Pereira’s team-leading 11th.

Although the Black Bears continued to make the BU zone a shooting gallery throughout the game, many of their shots came from the outside. Aside from the O’Neill goal, Millan was able to see most of them and displayed great rebound control all night.

Pereira’s goal wasn’t the only shorthanded highlight. Millan and the Terriers held the Maine power play scoreless on seven chances and did a good job pressuring Maine’s playmakers. While the penalty kill was great for BU, the power play continued to struggle with an 0-for-5 showing.

More to come in Monday’s paper.

By Sam Dykstra/DFP Staff

ORONO, Maine — About five minutes into the second period of what ended up being a wild game between two Hockey East rivals, Boston University sophomore forward Alex Chiasson was sprung for a breakaway toward the University of Maine net. Already up 1-0, Chiasson had a chance to extend the Terriers’ lead on the road in one of the most difficult barns in the conference during the 2010-11 season. He sped in on Maine goalie Shawn Sirman, moved the puck over to his backhand and promptly shoved the puck into the goalie right leg pad.

“That could have been a game-changer right there,” Chiasson reflected after the game.

What followed the missed opportunity can be described in any number of ways, but perhaps offensive onslaught is both the most alliterative and appropriate.

Maine forward Spencer Abbott was sent on a breakout of his own and accurately slammed the puck into the top right shelf from the right faceoff circle. Twenty-one seconds later, he faked the same maneuver, prompting BU junior goalie Kieran Millan to drop down into the butterfly, before again shattering the same plate in the same corner of the BU net. For good measure, Maine center Tanner House scored his own goal moments later.

What had once been a near two-goal lead was a two-goal deficit in only 1:12 of hockey time.

A run like that could and maybe even should be enough to deflate any team, especially on the road and especially when the home team is 8-1-1 in its own rink entering the night.

But when Chiasson got his second chance at a game-changer six minutes after he had his first, he took advantage. After a hit put him on his knees, Chiasson still found the strength to gather a pass from freshman winger Matt Nieto and score from the slot to cut the deficit to one and silence a once raucous crowd of 4,829.

“We’re down 3-1 and the place is going berserk,” said BU coach Jack Parker. The goals that Kieran gave up were absolutely great plays, I mean fabulous plays. . . Getting that Chiasson goal was the turning point in the game I thought.”

“To our credit, we’re down 3-1 and we don’t wilt.”

“I think that was good that right away we got back into the game,” Chiasson said. “A good forecheck and a good scoring chance. We got back into the game really quick so that was good.”

What followed Chiasson’s goal could be described as familiar. The Terriers used the newfound swing in momentum to go on a mini-run of its own with sophomore Wade Megan scoring just 24 seconds later. Junior blue-liner David Warsofsky netted the game-winner off an assist from Chiasson in the third.

But it was the perseverance of the Terriers following the Black Bears’ ambush that allowed the contest to end in the 4-3 fashion it did. During a break in the action, Parker told his team that it had what it takes to start and finish its necessary comeback.

“[I told them] ‘We’re playing really well and we gave up three goals in a minute and 10 seconds [sic]. Relax. Go play again.’ Then we started to unwind a little bit.”

And for the most part this season, BU has been able to relax despite being down. In the 12 games that the Terriers have found themselves down two goals or more including Friday night, the Terriers have won three, tied twice and closed the final deficit to one goal twice (with both of those games coming in failed comebacks after being down to both Merrimack College and Boston College last week).

It has been those kind of experiences that gave Parker the belief that his team could chip away at the Maine lead, no matter how quickly it had been acquired.

Oh, I think we had the confidence to win these games all year long. We’ve had a lot of games that we were down. We wouldn’t have won this game last year, I can tell you that. This team has been competitive all year long.