By Kevin Dillon/DFP Staff
NORTH ANDOVER — After blowing a 5–2 lead against Harvard University Wednesday, the No. 8 Boston University men’s hockey team had no trouble holding onto its early advantage at Merrimack, topping the Warriors 4–1 Friday night.
The Terriers (12–7, 9–4 Hockey East) earned their first Hockey East win of the second half of the season thanks in part to freshman goalie Sean Maguire, who stopped 37 shots in the win. Maguire has a 1.83 goals-against average and .938 save percentage through seven starts this season, and has allowed only three goals in his last four starts.
“He’s got a great save percentage, he’s got a great goals-against average,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “He’s playing terrific and we really were back on our heels when they came out and started the third as hard as they did.”
Senior captain Wade Megan got the Terriers on the board first by making a great individual effort on the penalty kill. Megan carried the puck from his own blue line, made two dekes around Merrimack (7–9–4, 5–5–1 Hockey East) defensemen and then rifled a wrist shot over Merrimack goalie Rasmus Tirronen’s glove for his 11th goal of the season.
The goal was the only BU’s second shorthanded tally on the season, both of which were scored by Megan.
The Terriers carried that 1–0 lead into the second period in part thanks to a strong defensive effort in front of Maguire. BU led the first period in Grade-A chances 13–1, while Maguire made 14 saves.
Merrimack was better in front of Maguire in the second period, but it was still BU finding the scoreboard.
Less than four minutes into the frame, sophomore defenseman Alexx Privitera faked a shot, faked a pass and then danced to his right before finding junior forward Sahir Gill with a pass on the doorstep of Merrimack’s goal. Gill tapped the puck past Tirronen for his fourth goal of the season.
Privitera also had an impressive night in his own zone, particularly in terms of blocking shots. The 5-foot-11 defenseman blocked nine shots, which gives him the team lead with 52 blocked shots on the season.
“That was a fabulous play on the goal, but he made a lot of good plays with the puck, he made a lot of good plays blocking shots, he made a lot of good plays on a defense,” Parker said.
The strong two-way performance for Privitera came in his first game back from a suspension he earned in BU’s 6–0 loss to the University of Denver on Dec. 29. Privitera missed one game while being diqualified by the NCAA for kicking an opponent, and then was suspended another game by Parker for the same incident.
“It is hard to watch your team play, especially when you are not injured,” Privitera said. “I learned my lesson at the right time during the season. It was nice to be back out there and get a win.”
Later in the second period, sophomore forward Cason Hohmann used some good hand-eye coordination to extend the Terriers’ lead to three. Both teams had four skaters on the ice when Megan flew down the left wing and used a saucer pass to find a streaking Hohmann in the slot. Hohmann batted the puck out of the air and between Tirronen’s legs to score his sixth goal of the season.
The Terriers added another to the scoreboard when junior forward Matt Nieto finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play 10:23 into the third period. Sophomore forward Evan Rodrigues and freshman forward Danny O’Regan contributed the assists to Nieto’s fifth goal of the season.
Nieto has now scored four points in his last two games after only recording nine points through the first 17 games of the season.
“[Nieto is] playing really well,” Parker said. “As I said, I was surprised we had the record we had without Gill and Nieto. They contributed a lot but they weren’t contributing on the scoresheet as much, and that’s surprising but hopefully now they’ll keep on track. They are on track, hopefully they can stay on it.”
Merrimack defenseman Kyle Bigos broke Maguire’s shutout 13:38 into the third period on a booming slap shot from the point that tipped into the top corner of the net. Bigos, who set the Hockey East career penalty minutes record in the game, scored his third goal of the season on the shot.
The Terriers have now won four of their last five Hockey East games, and have five consecutive Hockey East contests on their schedule before they take on Northeastern University in the first round of the Beanpot. BU will take on Merrimack for its third time this season Feb. 8 at Agganis Arena.
“We played the right way tonight. We played hard, we played competitive and we played a team that’s really hard to beat at home, and we knew that coming in, so we certainly respected our opponent and we were ready to play,” Parker said. “I was really happy.”
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