By Tim Healey/DFP Staff
ORONO, Maine — With the No. 13 Boston University men’s hockey team and the University of Maine tied at two goals apiece early in the second period Friday night, Wade Megan lost it.
After Maine captain Joey Diamond took a shot at BU’s senior captain’s knees, Megan retaliated, repeatedly shoving Diamond to the ice behind Maine’s goal with an official just feet away. Megan looked like he was going to walk away — and without a whistle — but gave Diamond one last big push.
The result was a double-minor roughing penalty, the second and third of five total penalties the Terriers (13-12-2, 10-7-2 Hockey East) took in the middle frame.
“[Megan] was just T’ed off,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “We will have to address that with him … I don’t even think he deserved the first penalty. He definitely deserved the second penalty.”
Just 34 seconds later, Diamond was at the other end of the ice netting his team-high 11th goal of the season for a 3-2 Black Bear (8-15-6, 4-10-6 Hockey East) lead in a game that eventually ended in a 3-3 tie, costing BU a crucial point in the Hockey East standings.
The sequence of events encapsulated exactly what has been wrong with the Terriers during their brutal second semester, including what is now a five-game winless streak dating back to Jan. 26.
After taking an early 2-0 lead BU did itself in by continually marching to the box. Maine — which entered the game with a 9.77 percent success rate on the power play, worst in the conference — found its stroke and potted all three of its goals with the Terriers down a man.
“Unfortunately that’s where they generated all their goals, so that’s something to work on for me personally and finding the puck through screened shots,” said freshman goaltender Matt O’Connor, who made 33 saves on the night. “It was really our Achilles’ heel tonight.”
First, freshman forward Sam Kurker went of for hooking toward the end of the first, 39 seconds before Maine forward Steven Swavely halved the Black Bear deficit.
Then freshman forward Matt Lane got called for tripping at the 20:00 mark in the first, paving the way for another Swavely goal early in the second.
After the Megan-Diamond fiasco, and with a lead in hand, the Black Bears had upped their power-play goals season total to 16. At a 11.35 percent success rate, only three teams in the country (Penn State, Wisconsin and Harvard) are worse.
“We are giving up penalties and we are making everybody’s power play look good,” said Parker, whose team also gave up three power-play tallies to Harvard this season. “We have been a little anxious there, that’s for sure.”
In a way, BU got lucky. Even after breaking down in the second — Parker noted the second-period penalties were the only thing he didn’t like from his team — the Terriers managed to somewhat turn it around, and thanks to an Ahti Oksanen goal in the third fought for the tie.
BU could spin it as a bad tie, having blown an early 2-0 lead against a team with four conference wins all season. Or the team could spin it as a good one, having come back after trailing entering the third.
The way things have gone for BU of late, Parker is choosing the latter.
“There was effort there,” Parker said. “Other than those individual breakdowns [on the three goals] I thought we killed their penalties pretty well … That was a nice step in the right direction.”
diamond ran Megan from behind in prep school
diamond charged Megan hard into the boards from behind more than once over the past few seasons there is a dangerous pattern here
diamond tried to ruin Megan’s career
by taking out his knees !
diamond is not drafted his hockey career is over