By Tim Healey/DFP Staff
Friday night at Agganis Arena, the University of Massachusetts did something it failed to do twice in late October: hold off the Boston University men’s hockey team in the third period.
Leading 2-1 after two frames, the Minutemen (10-12-5, 6-10-4 Hockey East) added an empty-netter in the last minute of play and topped the No. 1/2 Terriers (17-9-1, 13-7-1 Hockey East) by a final score of 3-2.
“I told my team before the game and yesterday that UMass was the best eighth place or ninth place team in any college hockey league ever,” Parker said. “And they came in and showed it. They played really hard tonight in a game they were completely ready to play and thorough as hell.”
BU, however, was not. After a lackluster effort in a 3-1 Beanpot semifinals win over Harvard, the Terriers played a similar version of their game Friday night.
“We weren’t ready to play, we weren’t as focused as we have to be, and they were much more determined then we were,” Parker said. “Much more determined.”
UMass got on the board first, scoring a power-play goal 7:14 into the first to take a 1-0 lead. Towards the end of junior forward Ryan Santana’s hooking penalty, senior goaltender Kieran Millan gave up a rebound to the slot. UMass forward Branden Gracel took advantage, sending the puck to the top left corner.
BU responded shortly thereafter thanks to a goal from senior captain Chris Connolly at 9:31. Sophomore forward Matt Nieto’s shot from behind the net bounced off UMass goalie Kevin Boyle and into the crease. BU’s first-line center tapped it in for the 1-1 tie.
The Terriers dominated the period in terms of shots, forcing Boyle to make 14 saves – nine of them on Grade-A chances – compared to Millan’s five stops.
The second frame developed a bit differently, with UMass controlling play and puck possession most of the time due in part to the Terriers’ marches to the penalty box. BU took two penalties, but the latter of which led to another UMass goal.
With junior forward Wade Megan sitting out after a hooking call, Millan ended up out of position after making a save. UMass defenseman Joel Hanley sent a rebound into an open net for the 2-1 lead at 12:47 in the second after assists from forwards Michael Pereira and T.J. Syner.
With an effective penalty kill, UMass continued to control play throughout the second and into the third. The Minutemen committed the same amount of penalties as the Terriers by the time the final whistle blew, but UMass’ special teams made the difference.
Its two power-play goals aside, UMass’ penalty kill held the BU power play scoreless until the very end of the game.
After failing twice in the second with the man advantage, BU had a power-play chance mid-way through the third period, but again couldn’t capitalize. The Terriers’ second-to-last power play – this one with about five minutes remaining – was negated just 44 seconds into it when freshman forward Evan Rodrigues got called for tripping.
The difference in special teams, Parker said, was on draws.
“If you looked at the faceoffs on every power play and penalty kill, they won,” he said. “It looks like faceoffs were even, but the most important faceoffs they won every single one of them. Ninety percent of them at least. I thought they did a great job there.”
Down by one late in the game, Parker pulled Millan with about a minute left in regulation. UMass extended its lead to 3-1 when Pereira put the puck in the empty net at 19:05.
BU came back with a power-play goal of its own from junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson with 4.5 seconds remaining. Following a review of the goal by the officials, Parker called a timeout to give his team a rest.
“If there was 10 seconds left we got a shot, so we tried to put in a play where we might be able to scoot somebody through and hope to hope,” Parker said. “But we never got the faceoff.”
Chiasson’s tally proved to be too little too late, as BU only had enough time to send a final shot wide right from far out.
Picking up its first road win of the season – getting “the monkey off our back,” as UMass coach Don Cahoon put it – UMass snapped its four-game losing streak.
UMass goalie Kevin Boyle was a big part of snapping that streak, stopping 33 shots by game’s end, one less than Millan’s 34.
Despite the loss, Millan’s performance was enough to draw his regular praise from the boss.
“Our goalie played great,” Parker said. “We had too many guys not show up tonight [but] our goaltender showed up.”
Millan can’t win a game by himself, though, leaving Parker with little else to compliment.
“I didn’t like what I saw tonight,” Parker said. “The lines, the defensemen, the power play, the penalty kill. Pick a spot other than the goaltender, we were off our game.
“In general it was a team hungry for a win that had to have a win and a team that didn’t have to have anything.”
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