BU holds on to beat No. 3 Denver, 4-3

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Alex Chiasson has a short memory.

Fifteen minutes after Friday night’s 5-3 loss to Providence College, the Boston University men’s hockey team’s junior assistant captain could not stop talking about the next night’s game against No. 3 University of Denver.

“I’m sure guys will be ready for tomorrow,” he said. “It’s a big game for us.”

And ready the No. 7/8 Terriers (2-1, 1-1 Hockey East) were, getting off to a quick en route to the tight 4-3 victory over the Pioneers (1-1) thanks to a goal from Chiasson himself. Freshman forward Cason Hohmann fed the puck to his fellow forward, who promptly scooted around Denver captain Dustin Jackson and rocketed the puck over Denver goaltender Adam Murray’s left shoulder at 10:54.

The score stayed that way until 19 seconds into the second, despite Denver gaining some momentum in the second half of the first stanza. Senior goaltender Kieran Millan cleared the puck all the way across the ice, and Murray misplayed it behind his own net. Senior forward Corey Trivino capitalized, grabbing the puck for the wrap-around, short-handed goal at 0:20 before Murray got back in the net.

Just 42 seconds later, a pair of sophomore forwards got in on the action. Charlie Coyle sent the puck to Matt Nieto for a backhanded goal, again with BU playing four-on-five.

The youth played a major goal in the next game as well with a pair of sophomores tallying the assists. Forward Sahir Gill and defenseman Adam Clendening chipped in on senior forward Wade Megan’s backhander at 2:58, the third Terrier goal in as many minutes. It was Megan’s fourth goal in four games when the Oct. 1 exhibition game is included.

Despite the dominant offense, BU seemed to slow down during the second half of the first two periods, giving Denver multiple opportunities to get on the board. Millan was in top form though, and stopped all 24 Denver shots, including seven grade-A chances, in the first two periods.

Millan finally let up at 6:01 in the third when Denver forward Luke Salazar scored an unassisted wrap-around goal while Millan was a bit out of position.

Denver scored again at 13:09 when Denver defenseman John Lee took a shot form the blue line that hit Millan’s pad but skipped over his leg and dribbled into the goal.

Then with the clock winding down and the Terriers possibly sitting back a bit, Denver made it much closer than anyone in a BU uniform wanted with a third goal, this time from forward Drew Shore, at 17:29.

Denver took a timeout at 19:38, giving BU a chance to regroup, and a Denver forward Beau Bennett penalty at 19:42 effectively ended the game.

The late-game Denver push ended the BU’s bid for an impressive defensive game, but not the goalie’s bid for history. BU held on for the win, Millan’s 63rd as a Terrier, breaking the record previous record of 62 set by Sean Fields from 2000-2004.