Note: “Pluses and Minuses” is a new feature replacing what is normally called “Three Up, Three Down.” The idea is the same — to highlight certain areas, good and bad, of the Terriers’ game — but without the number constraints.
By Tim Healey/DFP Staff
It had to happen eventually, right?
The No. 15 Boston University men’s hockey team lost its first game of the season at Agganis Arena Saturday night, a 3-1 decision to No. 17 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
RPI (2-1) took it to the Terriers (2-1, 1-0 Hockey East) early, and coach David Quinn’s crew never fully recovered. Here’s a look at what went right and what went wrong for BU:
Minuses
1:32 in the first period
Well, approximately. The Engineers came out of the gates flying, and the Terriers took longer than they would’ve liked to respond. It resulted in two goals — and an interference penalty on freshman defenseman T.J. Ryan — in a span of just 1:32. The second goal came 12 seconds into the power play.
RPI netted its first goal at the 3:25 mark, the result of digging at the net, and the beginning of a trend that lasted most of the night. BU reacted by being on its heels even more.
The Terriers got sharper in the second half of the first frame, but had nothing to show for it going into the dressing room.
“For some reason, we got off to a slow start and we suffered the consequences,” Quinn said. “The first period, they were walking out of their end, and we didn’t establish any forecheck. I didn’t think there was any anticipation in our game. I thought we were puck watching, which makes it difficult to anticipate plays.”
Ryan Haggerty’s second goal
Quinn broke it down simply: Early in the third, the Terriers didn’t make the easy, five-foot pass to break out of the zone. Instead, they opted to send it all the way to the other end for an icing. The result was a faceoff in BU’s defensive zone, off of which Haggerty beat sophomore goalie Sean Maguire.
“The guys were anxious to get the third period going because of the way the second period went,” Quinn said. “But I thought that third goal really deflated us.”
That tally, combined with a pair of penalties (Matt Grzelcyk for hooking and Brendan Collier for interference), put BU “behind the eight-ball,” as Quinn termed it, when BU needed to get it going the most.
Sean Maguire
On a day when he had a chance to put something of a stranglehold on the starting goalie position — Quinn said Thursday Maguire could get both games this weekend if he performed well Friday — the netminder didn’t exactly make the most of his opportunity.
While Maguire wasn’t terrible, he wasn’t his sharpest, either. Quinn mentioned the second goal in particular — a clean shot from the point through Maguire’s five-hole — as one the goalie likely wanted back.
“I could tell he was a little frustrated with that,” Quinn said before deflecting attention away from Maguire.
“Hey, again, we scored one goal tonight. We have got to generate more offense, and that is certainly something that we have to be conscious of.”
Quinn did not say which goalie, Maguire or sophomore Matt O’Connor, will get the nod Saturday vs. Wisconsin.
Pluses
Kevin Duane
Last weekend, the freshman wing recorded his first point in his first game. Friday night, he netted his first collegiate goal.
Sophomore defenseman Ahti Oksanen threaded a pretty pass right up the middle to Duane, who was behind the last Rensselaer defender. He beat RPI netminder Scott Diebold, who made 31 saves, by deflecting it off of his shoulder.
After the goal, Duane started to see more ice time, including some action on the power play late in the third.
“I was happy to see Kevin get rewarded because I thought he had a good night on Saturday against Holy Cross as well,” Quinn said. “The reason I played him as much as I did was because he was playing well.”
At the time, the goal in the last minute of the second period gave BU momentum heading into the final 20 minutes. That leverage evaporated when Rensselaer made it 3-1 just 48 seconds into the last frame.
Coincidentally, Duane and Haggerty grew up about 20 minutes from each other in Connecticut.
The third line
Quinn dropped sophomore wing Sam Kurker from the second line to the third, meaning he played with two of his former high school foes, freshmen Collier and Nick Roberto.
Although the trio didn’t find themselves on the scoresheet at night’s end, it did not take long for them to develop an effective chemistry. Collier, Roberto and Kurker had a particularly effective stretch toward the end of the second period when they generated several chances the shift before Duane found the back of the net.
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