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Parker’s reaction after 7-1 debacle to UMass-Lowell

By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Immediately following the Boston University men’s hockey team’s 7-1 loss to University of Massachusetts-Lowell tonight, BU coach Jack Parker made quick work of his post-game press conference.

Speaking for all of 19 seconds, he said: “Horrible game by us from start to finish. We got a goal right off the bat and then we look like we don’t care. I’m impressed with how hard Lowell played, but they played against a team that was playing pond hockey tonight. We’re out there cruising around like shinny in September. Horrible game. Not one guy played well.”

Parker later returned, apologized for being so abrupt and took questions for about three minutes.

22 Comments

  1. This was more embarrassing than losing at home to Holy Cross.
    Any team that gets outshot 15-3 in the first period by a team with inferior talent was not prepared to play. That is down to Coach Parker.
    Any team losing 6-1 after two period to a considerably less talented team and gets outshot 14-5 simply gave up. That is down to the players.

    Parker is wrong about something else, too. One player did play well. Rollheiser.
    Your star goalie’s head is not in the game and your defense is completely messed up.

    Big on BC!
    If this BU team shows up we’ll be lucky to lose by 10.

  2. So again Parker takes no blame for the loss and blames it on the team.

    How about Parker NOT coach the next game and see how the team performs?

  3. Too bad Parker doesn’t have Andrew Glass around to blame anymore. Who will he blame now?

  4. I have been following BU Hockey for 45+ years and this was the worst by far. There is an off ice problem as there has been for several years. How many players have been suspended or kicked off the team in recent years? This almost never happened in formet years. Parker needs to spend more time on campus to see what is going on here

  5. This team is filled with Prima Donnas that are disrespecting the school. The name on the front is more important than the name on the back. Hear that, understand that, PLAY LIKE THAT!

    Apparently most of them don’t get it. I think the leadership from the “captains” stinks and changes there need to be made ASAP. Sit Millan, sit the “hot shots”, toss one or two and make a statement that this is unacceptable and will not be tolerated any longer. Put in the guys that are sitting as I’m sure they will bust their butts more than the current ice dancers.

    Do it now before the season really gets away from us!

  6. Oh my god… ATTENTION ANDREW GLASS’ FAMILY, FRIENDS, FORMER TEAMMATES AND EVERY OTHER MORON WHO CLEARLY HAS NOT COVERED OR FOLLOWED THIS TEAM IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS. SHUT. UP. IT’S OLD. FUNNY AT THE BEGINNING, BUT NOW OLD.

    By no means is Parker excused from the team’s piss-poor play on several occasions this year, but at some point a team is laden with talent on paper needs to put up and shut up. All the Parker bashers on here probably have never laced up a pair of skates in their lives. Again, I’m not pro/anti Parker, I’m a disgusted fan/alum/former reporter who is sick and tired of this team’s obvious lack of leadership and inability to maintain a frame of mind that is necessary to maintain a COMPETITIVE…NOT EVEN GOOD, BUT COMPETITIVE…level of play this league. A mindset, by the way, that EVERY OTHER TEAM SEEMS TO HAVE NO PROBLEM MAINTAINING.

  7. Getting tired of Coach Parker’s post-game speeches that describe the team as not ready or willing to play hard. Every team we play seems to buzz around our goal. Our team dumps the puck and stays along the boards. When does the coach take responsibility for his teams effort or lack thereof?

  8. caw says: can you tell by my CAPS LOCK that i am SERIOUS??

  9. I agree with Anonymous #5. The team is filled with guys that think they don’t have to work hard or take responsibility for what they do. How many of these guys are just going through the motions until they hit NHL training camps? Quite a few I think. I don’t necessarily think its all Parker. These players have to have some self respect as athletes and most don’t seem to. I’d like to see a team full of walk ons who would go through a wall to play for BU.

    I also agree with long term benchings or even dismissing a player or two. Sad but IMHO necessary at this point. You know the old saying, How do you get a mule to do something, well, first hit him between the eyes with a 2×4 to get his attention… TIME TO GET THEIR ATTENTION!

  10. Why does bashing Parker mean a person has never played hockey? I grew up playing and have loved watching the sport my whole life… and I still can’t figure out why Parker didn’t retire the summer of 2009. When talking about leadership on a team, it starts with the coaching and the captains. If the coach isn’t responsible for a team’s success or failure, then there wouldn’t need to be a coach.

    We need someone to pull a Matt Gilroy and slack off in practice so Parker screams at them. Or something.

    I wish this team hated losing as much as they should.

  11. Anonymous who agrees with Anonymous #5: I agree, but at the same time it’s not as if talented players can’t be motivated as well. Remember Colin Wilson? Did he ever take a game off? Not that I remember. Check out the team down the road at Boston College… some of those kids have serious pro-level talent and they play their butts off. Just saying.

  12. hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard

  13. Aside from last night, the forwards were scoring at a good rate. i think it boils down to the 6 defensemen. This team allows 40 shots per game. Need some defensemen and defensive structure

  14. Agree w/ much of what Anonymous #13 says. The forwards are the least of the team’s problems. The criticism of them making fancy plays w/ the puck instead of keeping it simple at times is warranted, but who knows how much worse this team would be without their offensive output.

    Coach Parker himself has said throughout the years that great goaltending and team defense wins championships. The coaching staff implemented a new defensive structure last year that worked well at first when the team got off to a great start. However, once UNH and BC figured out how to exploit the flaws in the system last November/December, other teams figured it out as well and the BU coaching staff & players haven’t been able to adjust accordingly. The defensemen often seem lost in their own end, and can’t seem to handle the puck smartly & safely. This is going to continue to be an issue with this team because Clendening is their only defenseman w/ above-average puck-moving skills, and he often makes bone-headed decisions w/ the puck.

    As for goaltending, Millan is so far off his game that it’s a major concern. He has let in more soft goals so far this season than he did in almost his previous 3 years. He’s not focused and as a result, he looks way off fundamentally — playing the puck at poor angles, bad rebound control, and often getting himself out of position. Unfortunately the rest of the team in front of him feeds off that negative play where they panic and scramble, where one bad decision/play leads to an avalanche of bad things in BU’s own end.

  15. Last Anonymous re dmen: You have a good point about the defense. Many of them should get shown the pine pony. Isn’t Rosen a career defenseman? He showed some really good skills and savvy when he was on d over past two years. I would move him back and into the regular lineup. Let’s see what he’s got as the current corps of dmen is just god awful.. why not eh?

    While we’re at it… let’s get Rollie more games and see what he has to show. Millan is obviously not getting it done either.

  16. if Parker could have gotten BU a game at Fenway, the motivation would have been there to carry them through the rest of the season.

  17. Its pretty simple. The coaches prepare the players to play. I do believe the guys and by hearing they work hard in practice and etc the players are prepare.

    Its the players job to get ready to play. Ask a pro he has pre game meal goes back to his room and thinks about what he has to do. The coaches can’t hold these players by the hand and make them think about the game. Yes maybe they recruit those types of players but those players get recruited by BC, Michgan, UNH etc etc. It is the players job to get ready to play and motivate himself to play well. Parker, Bavis, Powers can give them a pump up speech or whatever but at the end of the day its the PLAYER job to be ready to play. They put the jersey on and play.

    The only thing we can say is the coaches need to punish these guys that aren’t willing or unable to be accountable and get themselves ready to play.

  18. I totally agree with this post. Punishment is definitely due. It could be suspensions or dismissal from the team. Players have accountability as well. Time for the players to man up.

  19. I agree that the defense has been abysmal. It has not been the same since Quinn left and Powers took over. Why he is coaching this team is a mystery to me. Notwithstanding his overall resume, the guy was driving a zamboni when Parker hired him and has been out of the tame too long.

    He has no credibility with the players and is in way over his head.

    Why is this one team having chronic issues with effort, desire and tenacity that other teams don’t have? It just seems to strange that this same issue surfaces year after year. Is it being handed down year by year or is there a comman thread to all this….a head coach whose best days are behind him and he’s the only one that can’t see it?

  20. Powers was a surprising, questionable and suspect hire. The job was initially offered to John Hynes, but he turned it down and Parker went to Powers.

    Powers was once a top-notch assistant under Jerry York at Bowling Green in the 1980s, and had success as a head coach at RPI and Bowling Green throughout the 1990s. But in between his dismissal from Bowling Green in 2002 and joining the BU staff, he was pretty much out of the coaching ranks and was working as a broadcaster and administrator at BG.

    To some extent, one can understand why Powers might be a valuable add to this coaching staff. Very experienced coach and former BU player from the Boston-area. However, he hasn’t been relevant in the coaching ranks for a long time and frankly is not the right fit for the current needs of this program.

    It’s no coincidence that the play of the BU defensemen has seriously regressed since Powers joined the staff. Shattenkirk and Cohen were a lot less responsible defensively during their final year at BU; Warsofsky never really took that next step in his development; Nicastro has gotten progressively worse; Escobedo may be making more mistakes now than he did as a Freshman. Clendening is way too turnover-prone and Noonan hasn’t demonstrated the steadiness he showed last year.

    My perception is that Powers is just “there”. Players don’t respect nor fear him, nor does he hold the players accountable enough. He’s like the nice grandpa or uncle whose around, but doesn’t get overly involved when things get tough.

    Quinn was far from perfect, but I think he was a much stronger complement to Parker. IMO he helped mask some of the perceived shortcomings that Parker has and I think developed a much greater rapport with the players.

  21. So where is Bavis in all of this? He moved up from No. 3 to No. 2.
    What is his relationship with the players like?
    Parker is ultimately accountable.
    Placing the blame on Powers seems a too convenient scapegoat.

  22. Anonymous No. 21 (Re: Bavis) — I think Bavis was better suited to being in the Assistant (No. 3) role. I think one of the mistakes Parker made was when offering a position on the coaching staff to John Hynes, he offered him the Assistant role as opposed to the Associate Head Coach role vacated by Quinn.

    I strongly feel Hynes would’ve been a better fit in the No. 2 role given his head coaching experience leading the US Under-17 and Under-18 teams, and the 2009 US World Junior team. Hynes is the younger, fresher voice with recent, revelant success coaching & developing talent that the program needed (and still needs to an extent) to bridge any gaps between Parker and the players.

    BU’s loss was the AHL’s gain. Hynes has proven so far he can be successful as a head coach at the next level. I hope he’s given strong consideration as a potential successor to Parker when that day comes.