In both teams’ regular season and Hockey East openers, the Boston University men’s hockey team topped University of New Hampshire 5-0 in a physical, chippy matchup.
After a scoreless first period, the Terriers opened the scoring shortly after the start of the second period. Sophomore forward Sahir Gill ripped a shot wide right of the goal, with senior captain Chris Connolly recovering the rebound behind the net. Connolly sent the puck up front to junior forward Wade Megan, who tapped it in for the power-play goal at 3:16.
Two and a half minutes later, Gill and Connolly tallied another assist each when Gill passed to the captain, who sent it on up to senior forward Corey Trivino from the right side. Trivino promptly tapped it past UNH goalie Matt Di Girolamo to put BU up, 2-0, 5:46 into the second.
BU also got off to a quick start in the third period as sophomore forward Matt Nieto extended BU’s lead when he banged home the rebound from junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson’s slapper at 1:11. Sophomore forward Charlie Coyle also received an assist on the play.
Coyle wasn’t done there, as he got in on the next scoring play at 15:41 in the third when he sent the puck to Chiasson, who beat one UNH defender and carefully tapped the puck into an empty net.
With DiGirolamo quickly put back in goal, senior forward Kevin Gilroy extended the lead to 5-0 seconds later at 17:00 with an unassisted goal to finish the scoring.
Even with the offense, senior goaltender Kieran Millan was a highlight for BU, returning to his regular self after an uncharacteristically bad performance last week in an exhibition against St. Francis Xavier when he allowed five goals on 17 shots. Millan had a perfect 35 saves in the shutout.
Great effort BU! But, the defense still scares me!