By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff
The No. 16 Boston University men’s hockey team got exactly what it needed heading into its toughest stretch of the season – a confidence-building blowout win over Harvard University. Led by two goals from junior forward Chris Connolly, the Terriers cruised to a 5-2 win against the Crimson.
For the first time since Nov. 12, the Terriers (10-5-6) got on the board first in a home game. Bucking another bad trend of late, the goal came on a power play. Freshman defenseman Adam Clendening took a pass from junior forward Corey Trivino along the half-wall and skated back toward the point before threading a pass to Connolly in the lower right circle. The co-captain proceeded to deposit a one-timer into the cage for his seventh of the season.
The tally marked just the second time all season BU has recorded a power-play goal in consecutive games.
The power play was not the only positive in the first for BU, which has struggled out of the gate for the past couple months. The Terriers outshot the Crimson 13-8 in the frame, nearly equaling their 16-shot output for the entirety of last Sunday’s 4-2 win at the University of Vermont. Additionally, the BU defense held Harvard (3-12-0) to just one grade-A chance in the frame and blocked seven shots.
“I was pleased from the get-go with how we played,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “I thought we were pretty thorough. … I was very, very pleased with just about everybody in the lineup playing pretty sharp.”
The Terriers started the second strong as well. Just 1:57 in, freshman forward Charlie Coyle centered a pass to a charging sophomore defenseman Sean Escobedo. Senior goalie Kyle Richter (32 saves) stopped Escobedo’s two shots, but sophomore forward Wade Megan swooped in to bury the second rebound for his fourth goal of the year.
But then a couple minutes later, a defensive breakdown, one of just a couple by BU in the game, let Harvard get back in the game. Senior forward Michael Biega found sophomore linemate Marshall Everson all alone on the right doorstep. He hit the post with his first shot, but he still had plenty of time to bury the rebound before anyone could challenge him.
The BU special teams struck again, though, this time while shorthanded. With 6:31 left in the second, Connolly forced a turnover at the blue line and raced down the ice all alone before rifling a shot into the top right corner for his second of the game.
Connolly had a golden chance for the hat trick in the closing minute of the second. Senior forward Joe Pereira found Connolly charging to the net and Connolly had two whacks at the puck from the top of the crease, but Richter got his skate on the first and his right pad on the second, leaving Connolly looking to the rafters in disbelief.
“That one will haunt me for the rest of the night probably,” Connolly said. “I’ll let it go after that.”
Pereira upped the lead to 4-1 a mere 23 seconds into the third when he collected a bad turnover by Harvard in the slot and beat Richter glove side for his team-leading ninth goal of the season.
The Crimson had a chance to make some noise a couple minutes later when freshman defenseman Garrett Noonan earned himself an early shower with a game misconduct for contact to the head, putting Harvard on the power play for five minutes. After a lackluster effort for the first three minutes, the Crimson cut their man-up opportunity short by taking a penalty for too many men on the ice.
That infraction also extended BU’s penalty-kill streak to 13 straight (the streak reached 14 by the end of the game), a sign that the Terriers are starting to revert to their early-season ways on the kill. At one point in early November, BU had the top penalty kill in the nation, but it dropped off a bit over the last month and a half.
“I thought we did a real good job killing penalties,” Parker said. “Obviously we had to kill the five-minute major. That could’ve been a little hairy if they got one or two in there. I was happy with how hard we worked there.”
The Terriers made it 5-1 with 11:56 left in the game when sophomore forward Justin Courtnall snuck a wraparound past Richter for his first collegiate goal. Freshman defenseman Patrick MacGregor, filling in for suspended sophomore Max Nicastro, picked up the lone assist on the marker to give him his first collegiate point.
“I was real happy for him,” Parker said of Courtnall. “He really works hard. He’s a great kid. He’s a real good teammate. It was nice to see him break through and get a goal. And it was nice to see Pat MacGregor get an assist on the goal, too. The second game for him. I thought he played very well for his second game.”
Junior defenseman Ryan Grimshaw buried a rebound to cut the lead to 5-2 with 10:03 to go, but it was too little too late.
Of note for players who did not show up on the score sheet was sophomore defenseman Ryan Ruikka, who finished with a game-best plus-3 rating.
The Terriers now have five straight games against ranked teams, four of which are on the road. That stretch begins Tuesday at No. 15 Merrimack College.
“I think we’re playing pretty well and we’ve got everybody healthy right now, so all those things are good,” Parker said. “We’ll see who we are in the month of January.”
That was a pretty solid all-around effort from the Terriers, who moved the puck much better and did a nice job defensively.
That must be tempered by the opponent being perhaps the weakest team that BU faced all season. If it were not for Richter, this could have easy been a 9-2 game or worse for the Crimson.
BU had more odd-man rushes in this game, particularly 2-on-1s than they have had in the entire Hockey East season.
What has happened to Harvard?
Can’t see them keeping Ted Donato around as this once proud program sinks to the bottom of the ECAC.