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UPDATED: RPI hands Terriers first loss of David Quinn era

By Kevin Dillon/DFP Staff

No. 15 Boston University men’s hockey coach David Quinn now has his first loss as head of the Terriers, as BU fell to No. 17 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 3-1 Friday night at Agganis Arena.

A sluggish first ten minutes gave the Engineers (2-1) the only lead it needed, and RPI goaltender Scott Diebold did the rest — making 31 saves in the RPI win.

“We played for 50 minutes instead of 60,” Quinn said. “If we came for 60, it might’ve been a different story. …I didn’t think there was any anticipation in our game. I thought we were puck watching, which makes it difficult to anticipate plays.”

The Engineers got things started quickly, as forward Matt Tinordi shoveled a bouncing puck in front of the net between sophomore goaltender Sean Maguire’s pads to give RPI the 1-0 lead. Senior Brock Higgs had attempted a wraparound before the puck bounced out to Tinordi, so Maguire was already down before Tinordi cleaned up the rebound.

It did not stop there though, as RPI capitalized on a power play less than two minutes later. Soon after freshman defenseman T.J. Ryan was called for an interference penalty, forward Ryan Haggerty received a feed from linemate Jacob Laliberte at the point and fired it past Maguire for his third goal in as many games. Suddenly, BU (2-1, 1-0 Hockey East) was rushing to recover.

“When you go down 2-0 that early, it puts you on your heels a little bit,” Quinn said. “The thing that I did like was I thought after about the 10- or 11-minute mark of the first period, I thought we found our legs and the tide started to turn a little bit.”

One thing the Terriers struggled with on the night was keeping Engineers’ forwards away from high-percentage scoring areas. Tinordi’s goal came from a short distance outside of Maguire’s crease, while RPI had several other chances in front of the goal.

“I just thought they were bigger and older and stronger,” Quinn said. “I thought it really showed the net-front. They went to the net, they were hungry, a little bit more physical than we were at the net-front.”

The flow of the game began to even out at around the halfway point in the first period. By the end of the first, BU only trailed RPI in shots 10-9.

Things shifted even more into BU’s favor at the midway point in the second period though, and the Terriers finally cracked RPI’s Diebold with less than a minute remaining in the second frame. Freshman wing Kevin Duane took a long breakaway pass from sophomore defenseman Ahti Oksanen through the neutral zone, and flipped a wrist shot off Diebold’s shoulder and into the back of the net. It was Duane’s first collegiate goal, and Oksanen’s fifth assist in the first three games.

The Duane goal appeared to be a momentum-shifter, as the Terriers headed into the locker room at the intermission only down by one. However, the Engineers shut down that momentum quickly in the third, when Haggerty ripped another wrist shot past Maguire off of a faceoff win by Laliberte.

“Maybe I saw a little bit of heads go down on the bench, but I thought we picked it up,” MacGregor said. “When a goal is scored like that, it takes a lot of courage for a team to pick it back up and try to do whatever they can. I thought we did an OK job doing that tonight.”

There were several chances for the Terriers — who only had two power plays on the night — to come within one goal during the final two minutes with Maguire pulled. However, Diebold stood tall and handed BU its first loss of the season.

The Terriers have another tough test ahead, as it will face No. 2 University of Wisconsin Saturday night. The Badgers lost to No. 6/7 Boston College, 9-2, Friday night, which was an even bigger goal differential than RPI had in its 7-2 loss to BC last Sunday.

12 Comments

  1. How is it that BC crushes RPI and we lose to them? Coach Parker would not have lost to RPI like DQ did. Please come back coach Parker!!!!!!

  2. Why is DQ’s first loss such a big deal? There will be a lot of those coming this year.

  3. Moron-did you think BU would stay unbeaten??-BC does not dress 9 freshman,&NONE of these players were recruited by DQ,give it some time,Who do you think did ALL the recruiting for the last NCAA TITLE=QUINN…

  4. We must remember that Quinn is playing with Bavis/ Parker recruits. It will take time to get his guys here. I believe that is why he saved the full boats and has such a small squad this year

  5. Jack was 500 at best vs RPI over the last 5 years

    • DQ is .000 vs RPI – that’s a improvement over Coach Parker?

    • Omg you make such idiotic statements. I’m going back to all the articles and it is SO easy to pick out your pathetic statements. Ugh go away. Start an “I love bavis” page and be gone from here.

  6. Quinn must go.

    • IDIOT,-WHO DID ALL HE RECRUITING FOR THE 09 CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM THAT LOST VERY FEW GAMES ALL SEASON??I AM PRETTY SURE IT WAS THE SAME GUY THAT WAS BEHIND THE BENCH LAST NIGHT WHO BURIED THE #2 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY!!!THIS TEAM WILL CONTINUE TO IMPROVE,GET BEHIND THE EAM AND PROGRAM AND STOP BEING A HATER!!!!!!

  7. “I just thought they were bigger and older and stronger,” Quinn said

    PLEASE STOP USING THE YOUNG TEAM EXCUSE. IT IS PATHETIC. NORHTEASTERN HAS 11 FRESHMEN!!! BC AND MICHIGAN HAVE 10 FRESHMAN!!! NONE OF THOSE TEAMS ARE CRYING ABOUT BEING YOUNG!!!!

    • DQ is playing the players he was left to coach,NONE of these players were recruited by DQ,that being said,this team has alot of potential.The forwards are very small,but shifty and fast.I think when coach Quinn gets his recruits on campus,you will see a big difference in size and talent,i.e.-the 09` championship team,which I believe lost only 6 games all season,that Team was recruited by Quinn,as a season ticket holder,follow my lead and cheer on the entire team and coaching staff!!!I think this team will suprise alot of fans,I think they will get better every week.THE TEAM IS IN GOOD HANDS!!!