Three up, three down: Strong goaltending, second period lead to Terrier win

Last season when Sean Maguire made his first career start as a member of the Boston University men’s hockey team, the then-freshman netminder struggled. After giving up four goals on 14 shots, Maguire made an early exit from the game just 32 minutes into the contest.

This season was the polar opposite.

Maguire, who won in five of his last six outings last season, carried a shutout into the middle of the third period during the Terriers’ regular season opener Friday night at Agganis Arena.

“He was outstanding,” said senior captain Garrett Noonan. “[Maguire] has been great since last year. That’s what he does – he makes big saves. He really kept us in the game especially in the first period.

“I really thought it could’ve been a 1 or 2-0 then, but he held the fort and then luckily, our offense got going.”

Maguire, who had 39 saves on the night, can thank Noonan for one of those stops. During the first period, Noonan dove across the net to stop the University of Massachusetts from taking an early 1-0 lead.

Sophomore defenseman Ahti Oksanen had a hand in each goal tonight. With his three assists, he registered in one game nearly a quarter of the helpers he had during the 2012-13 season.

According to BU coach David Quinn, Oksanen’s game improved significantly from last Saturday’s exhibition against St. Francis Xavier.

“I thought he was more physical,” Quinn said. “I thought he kept his game simple. He has a great skill set, and he made some great plays.”

All three of the Terriers’ goals, as well as all three of Oksanen’s assists, came in the span of six-and-a-half minutes in the beginning of the second period.

Outside of that stretch in the second period, this game wasn’t necessarily a strong showing from the Terriers. Nonetheless, it did allow the team to start off the season with a win, and gave Quinn his first career win to kick off the season.

“He knows how to play the right way, and I think you saw tonight we played the right way at times,” Noonan said of Quinn. “Hopefully tomorrow night we’ll have more of a 60-minute effort, and we’ll be fine.”

Both Quinn and Noonan said that UMass surprised the Terriers with its intensity in the first period. Despite the Minutemen spending the majority of the first seven minutes of the period on the penalty kill, UMass had 11 shots on goal in the frame compared to BU’s six.

“I thought they took it to us in the first period,” Quinn said. “I thought we were a little bit surprised by their speed and their aggressiveness. I didn’t think we matched it.”

Part of the reason the Terriers looked so sluggish during the first period was the team’s inability to keep the puck in their offensive zone while on the power play. In seven minutes of having a man advantage in the first period, the Terriers had one shot on goal.

BU did score its second goal of the game on the power play, but later on in the contest, the Terriers could not take advantage of a 5-on-3 opportunity. While Quinn said the team had good chances during the 5-on-3, the team failed to capitalize.

“We missed the net again,” Quinn said comparing the chances to ones in last week’s exhibition. “It’s something we are really going to have to bear down on, but I thought our 5-on-3 we controlled the puck. We were moving quickly. I still wanted to do it quicker, but I thought we were better at it.”

One of the few things that Quinn has repeated multiple times is how he runs the team as a meritocracy. He made that point clear Friday night when sophomore forward Sam Kurker took a spot on the bench for the majority of the second and third periods.

According to Quinn, Kurker put himself into that situation after he had two penalties – one for holding and the other for slashing – in the Terriers’ offensive end in the first 22 minutes of play.