By Sam Dykstra/DFP Staff
If there’s ever a way a story could sound all too similar but yet different at the same time, then that would be the story of Friday night’s men’s hockey contest between No. 15 Boston University and No. 3 Boston College at Agganis Arena.
For the second game in a row, the Terriers found themselves in a 3-0 hole. And for the second game in a row, they nearly dug themselves out, closing the gap to 3-2. But again, the score held there, leaving BU just short of a potential comeback tie or victory.
“It’s hard to come back from down 3-2, and we’ve proven that to ourselves twice in a row now,” said BU coach Jack Parker.
This time was only slightly different, though, because the Terriers’ (10-7-6, 7-5-4) opponents were the same Eagles (16-6-0, 12-5-0) that had outscored them by a combined 14-7 margin back on one early December weekend. For the second time in the three-game series – the first being BC’s 9-5 win on Dec. 3 – the Terriers found themselves in a 3-0 hole in the first period. But instead of collapsing like it did that night, BU found a way to keep the game competitive.
“I was very, very pleased at the turn-around because it’s a difficult thing to do for a team when they’re jumpy and there’s a lot of disconnect out there,” Parker said.
BC, nonetheless, picked up right where it left off from the team’s previous two meetings in the first period.
Right-winger Steve Whitney got the scoring started when he took a drop pass from his linemate on the opposite wing Paul Carey and placed it high gloveside past BU junior goalie Kieran Millan (24 saves) four-and-a-half minutes into the frame.
From there, the Eagle power-play unit, which entered Friday second in Hockey East and 17th in the nation, took over. First, after a failed short-handed breakaway broke down for BU, the Eagles utilized the opportunity to start a three-on-one chance of their own. Cam Atkinson and Carey each held the puck before dishing it off to Brian Gibbons on the right side. The center took the most of his opportunity, shelving the puck from no more than five feet outside the crease.
Defenseman Brian Dumoulin extended the Eagles’ consecutive power-play goal streak to two with a snipe of his own from the left point seven minutes later after a nice cycle by the Eagles left the BU penalty kill in a daze.
But in the second, the momentum pendulum began to swing back toward the home team. Three minutes into the period, freshman defenseman Garrett Noonan aggressively crashed the net to become the benefactor of a centering pass from sophomore forward Alex Chiasson as he stuffed home his first goal at the collegiate level to cut the deficit to two.
Following a holding penalty on BC forward Bill Arnold, BU assistant captain David Warsofsky, who entered Friday with the best career line (4-5—9) against the Eagles among active Terriers, continued his success against BU’s rival. With junior captain Chris Connolly moved back to the left point alongside Warsofsky for the power play, the former fed the latter from the left boards, and it was the more-traditional blue-liner who sent an explosive one-timer into the top right corner.
All in all, the Terriers forced five BC penalties in the second to help keep the Eagles from ever mounting much of anything outside their own zone.
“I know that the change in our bench and the change in our attitude in the second period was unbelievably noticeable,” Parker said. “It was like we were afraid to make a pass in the first period, and then we said, ‘OK, let’s just go out and play.’”
After two periods that seemed to be dominated by either one side or the other, the third period saw much more balanced play between the two heated rivals. Both teams had more than their fair share of scoring opportunities – they combined for 12 Grade-A chances in the third period alone – but the two stars of the period were undoubtedly Millan and BC goalie John Muse (30 saves). Millan made perhaps the most highlight-worthy save of his career in the third, robbing Jimmy Hayes of an open-net goal with an amazingly flashy glove save late in the frame.
However, that effort proved to be not enough as the Terriers fell to the Eagles for the third time in the 2010-11 season.
“Too little, too late,” Parker said. “We’re not interested in moral victories, but it is something we can build on. I thought a lot of guys, including our goaltender, played well.”
Game Notes: Sophomore defenseman Ryan Ruikka missed Friday’s game with a shoulder injury. Parker said that he’ll be week-to-week and that the blue-liner probably shouldn’t have played in Tuesday’s game against Merrimack College. . . BU is now 2-7-1 against BC in games played at Agganis Arena. . . The next time these two teams will square off will be Feb. 7 in the late game of the Beanpot’s opening round. That game will not count toward Hockey East standings.
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