By Kevin Dillon/DFP staff
AMHERST — The No. 9/11 Boston University men’s hockey team looked as if it had finally taken a step out of its post-winter break slump after earning three points in a home-and-home with Providence College last weekend.
However, the Terriers seemed to take two steps backward Friday night at the Mullins Center, when they fell to the University of Massachusetts in a 5–1 blowout.
“We just got completely outworked tonight,” said senior assistant captain Ryan Ruikka. “They came ready to play and we weren’t ready to play. We had guys walking around out there. No effort tonight.”
Forward Branden Gracel got the scoring started for UMass when he one-timed a pass through the slot from winger Michael Pereira. Maguire did not have a chance as Gracel was wide open in the slot, and UMass took a 1–0 lead with less than three minutes left in the first period.
The Minutemen did not strike again until the final minute of the second period, when senior co-captain Kevin Czepiel fed defenseman Mike Busillo at the top of the slot on the rush for a one-timer. The shot slipped through traffic in front and squeaked past Maguire to give UMass a 2–0 lead entering the third. It was Busillo’s first goal of his career.
The second period was a disaster for BU, as it was outshot 11–1 by the Minutemen despite having three power plays throughout the frame.
Things went from bad to worse at the start of the third period. BU failed to convert on its fourth power play of the game, and shortly after UMass forward Conor Sheary extended the Minutemen lead.
It was Pereira again on the pass, as he slipped past a BU defender and slid a backhanded pass over to Sheary at the top of the slot, where Sheary rifled home his sixth goal of the season.
Pereira was not done adding his name to the scoreboard, though. The brother of former Terrier captain Joe Pereira took a bouncing puck in the slot and snapped it back to the side he was coming from, beating Maguire over his glove.
Pereira wasted no time in scoring again though, as he broke up a pass at the blue line while BU was on a power play and roofed it over Maguire’s glove. It was an unassisted goal to cap off a two-goal, two-assist, plus-5 night for the West Haven, Conn. native.
“Joe’s brother is a very good player. Mike Pereira is a very good player,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “But Sheary causes problems and 27 causes problems and 9 causes problems. They all caused problems for us tonight.”
After taking a couple penalties after the whistle, senior forward Ben Rosen finally got the Terriers on the board by scoring an unassisted shorthanded goal.
The Terriers went 0-for-6 on the power play in the game, and struggled to control puck possession with the man-advantage. That type of performance from BU’s power play is becoming a trend, as BU is now 2-for-17 (11.7 percent) on the power play in its last four games.
Maguire finished the game with 26 saves despite allowing five goals to the Minutemen. The freshman made more saves than his counterpart, UMass goalie Kevin Boyle, who made 19 stops while only allowing a single goal in the game.
“I thought our goalie played better than [Boyle] did,” Parker said. “Our goalie made some big saves while it was 1–0 and 2–0. He made some big saves.”
BU has a few days to turn things around though, as its next game is Monday in the Beanpot when it takes on Northeastern University in the first round.
“I think you just park this,” Parker said. “This was a total bust from everybody other than Sean. So it’s just, ‘Let’s take a deep breath, boys. This isn’t what we want. We can play a lot better than that. Let’s get ready for the next game.’”
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