By Kevin Dillon/DFP Staff
BURLINGTON, Vt. — The No. 11 Boston University men’s hockey team got a lot of offense out of its defense in Friday’s 6–2 win over the University of Vermont at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
That offensive effort was the support BU (6–3–0, 5–2–0 Hockey East) freshman goaltender Sean Maguire needed to earn his first win of his career. Maguire had a strong performance in the win, as he stopped 27 of 29 shots in the game. He is now 1–2 on the season and is yet to make a start at home.
“I’m really happy for Sean because this is his first win, and the other freshman goalie has been playing very well, and I think [Maguire] was getting nervous about, ‘Oh jeese, I hope this guy doesn’t pull away from me here,’” said BU coach Jack Parker. “He certainly got himself back into the rotation look, and I was really pleased for him.”
The Terriers were in a bit of trouble early in the first period, when Vermont (1–4–2, 1–4–2 Hockey East) got a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:45 with senior defenseman Sean Escobedo and junior defenseman Patrick MacGregor in the penalty box. However, BU weathered the storm without clearing the zone once, only allowing a single shot on goal during the chance.
“I thought the turning point of the game was the 5-on-3 when they didn’t get a goal,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “That was a pretty good effort on our part, but when you stop a 5-on-3, it’s a good effort for everybody else but always the goaltender makes some big, and he certainly made some big saves.”
The Terriers were not done scoring in the frame though, as they scored twice more in a span of 40 seconds in the final three minutes of the period.
The first of the pair was a tap-in goal for junior forward Sahir Gill, who was moved to the third line for the first time of the season on Friday. Freshman defenseman Matt Grzelcyk set up the goal, which was Gill’s first of the season, after an end-to-end rush starting from behind his own goal and a give-and-go pass with senior forward Ryan Santana.
“[Grzelcyk] is a great skater, and that play with him and Santana off the wall was a great give and go,” Gill said. “I got lucky, it seems like the first ones always seem to be like that, but it was a great play by both of them and like I said it was nice to score.”
Soon after, sophomore forward Cason Hohmann took the puck down the right side of the ice and whipped a long pass through the UVM slot onto the stick of senior captain Wade Megan. Megan poked the puck into the back of the net for his team-leading sixth goal of the year.
The second period did not make things any better for the Catamounts. 4:24 into the frame, sophomore defenseman Alexx Privitera blasted a shot through a screen by sophomore forward Yasin Cissé past UVM goaltender Brody Hoffman for the second BU power play goal of the game.
UVM took a timeout after the goal and Hoffman was pulled from the game, as freshman Billy Faust made his first collegiate appearance in relief.
The timeout seemed to do good for the Catamounts, who got on the board eight seconds before the midway point in the affair. Forward Chris McCarthy made a spectacular end-to-end rush, beating multiple BU defenders and snapping the puck over Maguire’s glove for his second goal of the season.
UVM did not build any momentum off that goal though, as they came back with another two goals in quick succession at the end of the frame.
Freshman forward Wesley Myron fired a shot from the left side that beat Faust under his glove and broke the in-goal camera for the fifth Terrier goal of the game. It was Myron’s first collegiate goal. MacGregor was credited with the assist on the goal, which was his first point of the season and fifth point of his career.
With fewer than 30 seconds in the frame, Escobedo added some flair to the scoring, beating a UVM defender with a spin-o-rama move before drilling the puck through Faust’s five-hole. It was Escobedo’s second goal of the season, and third goal in his last three games at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
“I just got lucky today,” Escobedo said. “I wasn’t going to get the shot off in time before he came to me, so I just tried to pull off a little spin-o-rama and it worked out, I got the shot off.”
Catamounts forward Pete Massar notched a power play goal 8:41 into the third period, but it was too late for the Catamounts to start making a comeback.
BU will return home to face the No. 5/6 University of New Hampshire Sunday. Freshman goalie Matt O’Connor will start in goal for the Terriers.
Last time against the Wildcats (7-1-1, 5-1-1 Hockey East), Maguire was pulled halfway through the game after allowing four goals in his collegiate debut. BU lost the contest 4-1.
UNH enters the game on a three-game winning streak, in which goaltender Casey DeSmith has earned three consecutive shutouts. The last goal DeSmith allowed was in overtime against the University of Massachusetts on Nov. 2.
Who got the 3 stars for the game?
1 – Megan, 2 – Noonan, 3 – Gill.