By Annie Maroon/DFP Staff
After a Friday night game when every bounce seemed to go the Terriers’ way in a 7-4 win, luck swung back the other way on Saturday as the Boston University men’s hockey team missed quality chance after chance and lost 4-2 to the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
After spending 24 hours at the top of Hockey East, the Terriers (18-11-1, 14-8-1 Hockey East) dropped back into third place with the loss, one point behind the River Hawks (20-9-0, 15-8-0 Hockey East) and two behind Boston College.
Senior goaltender Kieran Millan was pulled for the first time since Dec. 3 against BC after the River Hawks’ fourth goal. On the other end of the ice, UML goalie Doug Carr stopped 39 shots, including 22 in a furious third period for the Terriers, bouncing back from allowing six goals the night before.
“We challenge him to be the type of goalie that can have a bad night and respond,” UML coach Norm Bazin said of Carr.
“When you attempt 44 shots in the third period and you don’t win, that’s a testament to the other team’s bending but not breaking, and Carr playing extremely well,” BU coach Jack Parker said.
BU had trouble clearing pucks and making clean breakout passes throughout the first period, and one of those miscues brought about UML’s first goal. Sophomore forward Sahir Gill attempted a drop pass to junior forward Alex Chiasson near BU’s blue line, and the pass was picked up instead by UML freshman Scott Wilson. Wilson, the River Hawks’ leading scorer, ripped a slap shot over Millan’s glove hand for his 14th goal of the year.
Junior forward Ross Gaudet equalized for the Terriers a few minutes into the second period. Redshirt freshman winger Yasin Cissé sent him a centering pass from the boards, and Gaudet redirected the puck past Carr for his fourth goal of the year and second of the weekend.
At 11:26 of the second, Gill hit UML forward David Vallorani into the boards from behind in the River Hawks’ zone. That earned him a five-minute major penalty, which junior forward Justin Courtnall served, and a game misconduct. Less than a minute into the ensuing power play, Wilson scored his second goal of the night, redirecting a shot from the point.
“We were playing great in the second period until that happened,” Parker said of Gill’s penalty. “I thought we were getting all kinds of opportunities. And then two things happened: one, we get the five-minute major and we lose one of our top penalty killers in Sahir Gill, and that gets us down a little bit, and then they score right off the bat and now it looks like we’re really going to be back on our heels if they get more than one here.”
BU held its ground for the rest of the penalty kill but couldn’t get much offense going in the rest of the second – after holding the River Hawks without a shot for the first several minutes of the period, they were eventually outshot 17-9 in the frame.
UML stretched its lead to 3-1 with a goal from defenseman Daniel Furlong with less than a minute left in the second, a long shot off of a faceoff that was deflected in a crowd of players in front of Millan.
“We almost survived [the power-play goal],” Parker said. “We didn’t survive the faceoff goal. It’s 2-1 going to the third, then it’s 3-1, and that’s a whole different story.”
Early in the third, Courtnall and freshman forward Evan Rodrigues created an odd-man rush on Carr, and Courtnall made a quick cross-crease pass to Rodrigues that set him up with an open net as Carr was out of position. Rodrigues couldn’t convert, though, knocking the puck wide of the net instead.
Shortly afterward, UML made it 4-1 when Millan lost control of a shot and River Hawk defenseman Chad Ruhwedel flipped the rebound over him. Senior backup goalie Grant Rollheiser took over for Millan after that goal.
“I didn’t take him out because he had a chance on the last goal – he didn’t have a chance on the last goal,” Parker said. “We’re going to play Rollie one of the two games next weekend, so we wanted to get him in.”
Junior defenseman Max Nicastro cut the Lowell lead in half with his third goal of the season, a power-play slap shot over Carr’s shoulder from the point. That goal seemed to wake up both the crowd and the Terriers, as they put a barrage of shots on Carr on their next shift, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.
Parker said he was happy with the way BU played despite the final score.
“I really liked our team,” Parker said. “I couldn’t pick out a guy who didn’t play well, who didn’t play hard, and that’s a good sign.”
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