By Kevin Dillon/DFP Staff
Three Up
Power play
While the Terriers struggled to hold BC’s power play off the scoreboard, they capitalized on their own chances as well, scoring twice with the man-advantage.
The first of the goals, which sophomore Cason Hohmann scored in the first period, broke a streak of 20 power-play chances that BU failed to convert on.
The power play was not perfect on the night, and struggled to hold possession in the offensive zone at times, but it was more opportunistic in the gameand got the puck on goal more than it had recently.
Matt O’Connor
He may have allowed five goals, which raised his goals-against average to 2.25 and lowered his save percentage to .930, but O’Connor shined for BU at times during the game.
O’Connor only allowed one goal at even strength, and made 25 saves through the first two periods alone. Several of his saves were on follow-up chances from in close, which was a sign that BU’s defense was struggling to keep BC forwards away from prime scoring areas.
The Terriers did not win, but O’Connor made 31 saves in the game, which was enough to justify Parker starting him over fellow freshman Sean Maguire. Maguire did not start a game over the weekend after shutting out St. Lawrence University on Nov. 24, but Parker said it was a very close call between the two freshmen on Saturday.
“You couldn’t believe how close it was,” Parker said.
Evan Rodrigues
The much-improved winger has dropped a little under the radar this season thanks to Hohmann’s strong start to the season, but sophomore forward Evan Rodrigues shined over the weekend as a legitimate offensive threat.
Rodrigues weaved in and out of BC defensemen without much trouble, and made a variety of smart passes to set his teammates up for shots on goal. He finished the weekend with two goals and an assist, and had chances for more points.
After starting the season well on a line with senior captain Wade Megan and Hohmann, Rodrigues continued his success when he was moved to a line with junior forward and Matt Nieto and freshman center Danny O’Regan. The Etobicoke, Ontario native now has points in each of his last three games.
Three Down
Bad penalties
It certainly was not part of BU coach Jack Parker’s game plan to take eight penalties against Boston College, which is the team with the best power-play percentage in Hockey East. However, Parker said he was even less happy with the performance because of the situations his team took the penalties in.
In the second period the Terriers were down 2–1 with junior defenseman Garrett Noonan in the penalty box. BU had already allowed two power-play goals in the first period, and had just come close to tying the game before the Noonan penalty.
However, instead of holding his position while penalty killing, sophomore defenseman Alexx Privitera grabbed onto a BC player and brought him to the ice, giving the Eagles a 5-on-3 advantage that they capitalized on twice, putting the game out of BU’s reach.
BU associate head coach Mike Bavis said earlier in the week that Parker has emphasized limiting the amount of stick penalties this season. The Terriers had two stick penalties in the second period alone to go along with Privitera’s holding violation and a diving penalty from senior defenseman Sean Escobedo.
Transition game
BU’s defense controlled the puck very well in its own zone in Friday night’s win, but that was not the case at Conte Forum on Saturday.
The Terriers were unable to continue their smooth passing out of their own zone, instead turning the puck over several times, which led to multiple BC scoring chances that freshman goalie Matt O’Connor had to scramble to stop.
However, O’Connor could not shut the door every time. Senior captain Ryan Ruikka passed a breakout pass onto BC forward Brendan Silk’s stick in the third period, which led to a 3-on-0 against O’Connor. Silk cut into the middle and had plenty of time to find a small opening to put the puck through for his first career goal.
Embellishment (again)
Escobedo’s diving penalty added to the recent trend for the Terriers, which is something that cannot make Parker happy. Parker made some strong remarks against teams that dive last month, but now his team has been called for diving four times in the past month.
Two of those diving penalties were called over the weekend against BC, as sophomore Evan Rodrigues was called for diving the night before.
The diving penalty on Saturday came after a questionable interference call against sophomore forward Yasin Cissé to end the first period that Parker disagreed with. While Parker disagreed with the call against Cissé and did not comment on Escobedo’s diving penalty, he did not blame the loss on poor officiating.
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