Terriers put up touchdown in revenge win over River Hawks

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

LOWELL — The No. 2 Boston University men’s hockey team entered Tsongas Arena Friday night as a team hungry for revenge against the No. 6 University of Massachusetts-Lowell team who embarrassed BU back in November with a 7-1 whipping. On Friday night, it was the Terriers (18-10-1, 14-7-1 Hockey East) doing the whipping as they exacted revenge over the River Hawks (19-9-0, 14-8-0 Hockey East) with a 7-4 win. By virtue of the victory, BU moves back into first place in Hockey East, where it is tied with No. 4 Boston College.

But while the victory gave BU a boost in the standings, BU coach Jack Parker said he was not satisfied with his team’s play Friday night.

“I’d rather see us win that game 5-2 than 7-4,” Parker said. “We would have been much more happier I think if we were more thorough. [Senior goaltender] Kieran [Millan] has given us a terrific year, and we shouldn’t allow that to happen to him where they get so many great opportunities and they get four goals. It’s not right that we gave up four goals to that team.

“All those shots and Kieran playing so well, I wouldn’t mind if we gave up four if it was a 4-3 game and they just, you know, but we kind of wigged out too many times I thought.”

The game did not start well for BU, as the River Hawks controlled possession early in the first period before finally capitalizing 5:53 into the game when senior Michael Budd scored backdoor on Millan to give the River Hawks a 1-0 lead.

But BU answered quickly. Junior forward Wade Megan netted his team-leading 15th goal of the season just 41 seconds after Budd’s tally to even the game. Sophomore defenseman Patrick MacGregor earned an assist on the goal, registering his first point of the season.

Megan’s goal was the first of five unanswered scores by the Terriers.

Junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson, who totaled four points (one goal, three assists) on the night, gave BU its first lead of the game off a power-play goal 13:18 into the first period. Redshirt freshman Yasin Cisse, increased BU’s lead to a 3-1 margin when he banged home a pass from junior forward Ryan Santana with 2:40 left in the frame.

BU continued the attack in the second period. Senior captain Chris Connolly scored his sixth goal of the season 7:33 into the second period to give BU the 4-1 lead. The Terriers were on the power play at the time, and Connolly camped out to the left of the post, putting himself in perfect position to beat River Hawk netminder Doug Carr backdoor off a Chiasson rebound.

The Terriers seemed to be in trouble 12:31 into the frame, as a cross-checking call on Adam Clendening while Max Nicastro was already in the box gave UMass-Lowell 1:20 of 5-on-3 play. BU killed off the penalties however, and Clendening caught a pass from Chiasson as Clendening came out of the box. He raced in on a breakaway, then undressed Carr on a deke at the top of the crease and finished him off by slipping a forehander past the sophomore netminder stick-side.

“I think that was huge,” Parker said of the 5-on-3 kill followed by a goal. “I think Kieran made a couple of big saves, a couple of big blocks. Connolly did a great job getting the puck out a couple times. And then we come out of the box and score.

“That’s the way the rule is. I think that rule is unfair. You almost reward a guy for getting a penalty and then he jumps out onto the ice and gets a goal. But it’s the way the rule is and everybody knows it. You have to know when that guy is coming out and the puck just bounced for us and he got it up the ice.”

The River Hawks showed some fight at the end of the second period. After freshman forward Evan Rodrigues was sent to the box for tripping, UMass-Lowell created some momentum in transition. Malcolm Lyles cashed in with a slapper from the high slot to beat Millan.

UMass-Lowell carried the momentum into the opening moments of the third period. Junior Riley Wetmore scored 20 seconds into the frame when he roofed a centering pass past Millan, tightening the score to 5-3.

Junior forward Ross Gaudet re-established the three-goal BU cushion 2:13 into the period. He split the defense, then marched in on Carr unchallenged. Carr came way out of his net to cut off Gaudet’s angle, but Gaudet merely slipped a shot behind Carr and into the empty net.

UMass-Lowell replaced Carr with sophomore goaltender Marc Boulanger after the goal.

“I thought the biggest goal of the game was Gaudet’s goal,” Parker said. I thought him making that play, beating the goalie to the puck and pulling it by him and putting it in gave us a three-goal lead again. It took the steam out of them and then they changed goalies.”

The River Hawks did not let up. With 12:28 left in the period, Joseph Pendenza connected with Matt Ferreira on a pass across the slot that Ferreira one-timed past Millan, slimming the Terrier lead to 6-4.

Sophomore forward Matt Nieto’s power-play goal at 11:10 in the third finished off the scoring in a win that BU was happy to get away with after not playing its best for all 60 minutes.

“You learn a lesson from this,” Chiasson said. “There are going to be games where it’s going to be 3-2 in the third and we won’t be able to go like we did tonight so I think we got lucky kind of, we learned a lesson.

“It’s good for us to know we’re back in the winning side, getting points on the road and they’re a great team. They’re hard to play against, so hopefully we’ll get back tomorrow and make sure we play a solid 60 minutes.”