By Tim Healey/DFP Staff
The No. 11 Boston University men’s hockey team accomplished what no other team had done in more than 10 periods against No. 5/6 University of New Hampshire – score on goaltender Casey DeSmith – but it wasn’t enough as the Terriers lost to the Wildcats, 3-1, at Agganis Arena.
The No. 11 Boston University men’s hockey team accomplished what no other team had done in more than 10 periods against No. 5/6 University of New Hampshire – score on goaltender Casey DeSmith – but it wasn’t enough as the Terriers lost to the Wildcats, 3-1, at Agganis Arena.
Freshman goaltender Matt O’Connor allowed a pair of first-period goals for the first time in his career Sunday afternoon, resulting in his second straight loss.
“UNH was the much better team this afternoon,” said BU head coach Jack Parker. “We came into this game not ready to play … We’ve been moving the puck extremely well in every other game we’ve played this year so far and we just fumble, bumbled the puck all over the place today.”
The Terriers’ energy and focus was underwhelming from the start, as they gave up 20 shots in the first period alone. BU (6-4, 5-3 Hockey East) failed to capitalize on its seven power-play chances.
The home team outshot the Wildcats (8-1-1, 6-1-1 Hockey East) by a 46-35 margin, but DeSmith continued his hot streak to up his save percentage to .961 and lower his goals-against mark to 1.19.
So why the slow start for BU?
“No idea. Happens all the time,” Parker said. “Maybe they thought they were playing pretty well after a pretty good effort in Vermont, maybe they were full of themselves. I have no idea. If I knew that I’d make a lot of money.”
UNH picked up where it left off the last time the team’s played – a 4-1 Wildcat win on Oct. 20 – by taking a 1-0 lead at 11:34 in the first. Senior forward Ryan Santana had a defensive-zone pass tipped right to UNH junior Kevin Goumas, who swiftly got it by O’Connor for his first of two tallies.
The Wildcats soon doubled that lead at 14:10. O’Connor made the initial stop on UNH defenseman Justin Agosta’s shot, but freshman Maxim Gaudreault snuck the rebound through O’Connor’s legs for his first career point.
BU cut the deficit in half when its two most productive freshmen – defenseman Matt Grzelcyk and forward Danny O’Regan – connected at 4:40 in the second. Grzelcyk brought the puck down the right wing, skating through several Wildcats in the process. DeSmith stopped Grzelcyk’s shot from the circle but O’Regan found the rebound in the slot to make it 2-1.
Grzelcyk’s assist was the ninth helper and 10th point of his rookie campaign.
“We don’t have to tell him to go make something happen,” Parker said of the Charlestown native. “He makes something happen a lot. We want to make sure he knows he’s a defenseman first, but he’s been generating a lot of offense for us. I have no qualms for him on either end of the rink.”
The Terriers failed to score in the third period despite another 17 shots on net. Goumas added an empty-net goal with 0.1 seconds on the clock to account for the 3-1 final.
Even with the result, Parker noted a few players who indeed impressed him, particularly the top two right wings, sophomores Yasin Cissé and Evan Rodrigues. The bench boss went as far to say Rodrigues has “arguably been our best forward so far this year.”
“The goals will come for those guys,” Parker said. “They both played hard tonight.”
Senior captain Wade Megan and Parker both spoke highly of O’Connor, who played well despite suffering his second loss in as many weekends after starting his collegiate career with five wins.
O’Connor’s 32 saves and two goals puts his save percentage at .939 and goals-against average at 1.91, still amongst the league leaders.
Megan said the onus of the loss was on the players in front of the netminder.
“It’s just a lot of physical mistakes, mental mistakes,” Megan said, his arms crossed and voice lower than normal. “Just a lot of mistakes all over.”
I cannot understand how Jack Parker is impressed with Yasin Cisse. Through 10 games he has not registered a single point, and yet Parker has him back on the first line again. Why? Whatever his physical presence adds to the mix is neutralized by lackluster puck handling, insufficient quickness, and poor chemistry. He does not seem like a natural fit for this team, and yet Parker continues to give him gobs of ice time. The first line is far more potent with Rodrigues playing right wing.
I would hardly say that he has been given “gobs of ice time”. Perhaps you can verify that by checking the minutes played over those 10 games. I don’t know what you mean by being a natural fit for the team, but that is an extremely disparaging comment. Why don’t you call Parker and tell him your feelings? I’m sure he would be happy to hear your valuable suggestions for improving the team chemistry.