By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff
A recurring theme that has haunted the No. 5 Boston University men’s hockey team for the past few weeks proved costly Friday night when the Terriers lost the Hockey East Semifinal, 5-3, to the No. 10/11 University of Maine in a game in which BU could not give a thorough effort for a full 60 minutes.
By virtue of the loss, BU (23-14-1) was eliminated from the Hockey East Tournament. Its season will continue for at least one more game, however, as BU already earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament, which will begin next weekend.
Maine (23-12-3) toppled the Terriers on the strength of four power play goals and out-shot BU 44-31.
“I can’t describe how disappointed I was in my team’s effort tonight, or lack of such,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “We had a lot of key guys just disappear I thought. I thought that we left Kieran out to dry a number of times. We gave up four power-play goals, one of which was an empty-netter, and they didn’t have to work for anything. We just turned it over and gave it to them.”
The Terriers were especially absent in their own zone. For the third time in the last four games, BU allowed its opponent to take more than 40 shots on senior netminder Kieran Millan, who could not come up with the heroics necessary to propel BU into the Hockey East Final. Millan made 39 saves on the night and is now the all-time leader for saves in a single Hockey East tournament with 189 saves in four games.
Millan stopped all 13 shots he saw in the first period, however, and BU took an early lead when junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson charged into the offensive zone, split the defensemen and lost control of the puck on his way to the net, giving the puck the momentum to slip through Maine netminder Dan Sullivan’s legs.
The Black Bears tied the game early in the second period on the power play. Millan made a save on Maine forward Joey Diamond, but BU junior forward Ross Gaudet barreled into Millan after he made the save, knocking both Millan and the puck into the net.
BU fought back to take a 2-1 lead 6:16 into the second period when sophomore forward Matt Nieto scored on a power play off a pass from sophomore forward Sahir Gill that found its way through the crease and traffic to Nieto.
That goal was the only bright spot of the period for BU. A few minutes after the BU goal, Maine nearly scored when Maine forward Adam Shemansky rang a shot off the right post. The puck bounced on the goal line before slipping away from the net. The officials ruled it a no goal on the ice, but had to go to review to confirm the call.
Maine tied the game at 2-2 just a few plays later, as Will O’Neill used linemate Mark Anthoine to screen Millan on a shot from the top of the slot that beat Millan high glove-side.
The Black Bears took their first lead of the night with 1:35 left in the second period. BU forward Wade Megan started the play with a turnover in the Maine zone. Hockey East Player of the Year Spencer Abbott recovered the puck, carried it into the BU zone, then passed to O’Neill, who roofed a shot past Millan to give the Black Bears the 3-2 lead.
BU looked to be in trouble early in the third period when Chiasson hobbled off the ice after being hit into the boards. BU’s leading scorer missed a few shifts, but the Terriers still tied the game at 4:03 in the third period when Nieto completed a tic-tac-toe play for his second goal of the evening.
Maine received a tough blow right before the goal, as Terrier defenseman Sean Escobedo elbowed Abbott in the head immediately ahead of the BU rush that resulted in the goal. The nation’s leading point scorer was down on the ice for several minutes before he was finally helped off, and he did not return. Maine coach Tim Whitehead said Abbott “did not look good” in terms of a return for the Hockey East Final Saturday night.
Despite losing Abbott, Maine took control of the game shortly after Nieto’s goal. BU turned the puck over in its own zone on a Maine power play, and Mark Anthoine, who was filling in for the injured Abbott, made BU pay. He picked the top corner of the net to help Maine to a 4-3 lead.
“The opportunities we gave up, especially on the power play where they have a great power play, there’s no question about it, but they got power play goals like, ‘How did that happen. I’ll tell you how it happened: we passed it to them or we turned it over and gave them a 4-on-2,” Parker said.
Despite a desperate BU attack in the waning minutes of the game, Maine held onto the lead and potted an empty-net goal with 28.7 seconds left to punch its ticket to the Hockey East Final against No. 1 Boston College Saturday night.
“We need to reflect on this,” said senior captain Chris Connolly. “Guys need to come to the rink and every time you step foot in that building you need to be focused and realize what’s at stake. We still have an opportunity to win something big. Unfortunately we didn’t win the Hockey East Tournament this year but the big tournament is still ahead of us.”
The defensemen were a total and complete embarrassment. I hope Clendening leaves because he can’t play defense.
Parker blames the players again?!
When will he take some of the lame himself?
what’s to blame with Parker? You know, considering we lost our top two scorers and a key defensemen, I think we can definitly say Parker has gotten the most out of what he has to work with. At the end of the day, it is on the players to perform
These idiot Parer apologist are what keeps our team down year after year. This must be a BC fan.
Parker has run his course. He should step down before his legacy turns towards the same direction as Jo Pa.
Why did they turn it over? simple! escobedo, clendening, ruika, privitera, mcgregor SUCK
I can’t believe how soft Parker’s teams have gotten. No a single person went after Diamond for his cheap play.
Cheap! Escobedo is freakin cheap. And got away with it. He would be fined in NHL.
This team has gone as far as it can this year. Two big factors are D coaching and recruiting. The defense does not improve and it must be the coaching. This has been going on for sometime except when Quinn was here. When we lost two top forwards the freshmen had to step up if we were to go forward with a chance at national glory. As has been the case too often for the past decade plus we bring in freshmen who can not shoot or play O very well. Rodrigues and Hohmann can not shoot the puck but do play hard and get somewhat into the flow of play. Most other HE teams have freshmen who have put up decent numbers and can shoot the puck into the net. We have had a very difficult time for many years finding kids who can score. BC seems to find these guys all the time. When will Parker get someone to recruit better? Every time he does get someone good and wins a championship they take off for other programs. BC keeps their staff. This is the difference.
We’re all seen and heard how Parker acts. Does anyone with options want to work under this guy?