The Terriers celebrate a goal at UMass Lowell. Photo by Emily Hunter.
The Boston University men’s hockey tied the No. 12 UMass Lowell River Hawks by a final score of 2-2 on Saturday night. Brady Gardner has the full recap of the contest here. Below are my three takeaways from the game – opinions are my own, always and forever.
The Terriers showed resiliency once again
The Terriers entered Saturday’s third period trailing the River Hawks by a goal, and like the loss at BC last weekend, BU was able to control the pace of play for most of the third period; although, they first had to withstand an early surge as UML came flying out of the second intermission. BU wore Lowell down with tenacity on the forecheck, and peppered Tyler Wall with shots. Boston’s second line of Logan Cockerill, Jake Wise, and Patrick Curry – the trio was buzzing all night – was rewarded when its forechecking effort, combined with a smart pinch by Dom Fensore, allowed Curry to jam one past Wall to tie the game late in regulation.
Abel got better as the game went on
Ashton Abel did not necessarily have the strongest of first periods on Saturday night, as Brian Chambers beat him early in the proceedings with a shot off the pipe before failure to control a rebound allowed Chase Blackmun to open the scoring. However, Abel settled in as the game progressed, riding a flawless third period and overtime to come away with 25 stops in the tie. The freshman’s biggest save of the night came when he dropped into the splits to deny an odd-man rush for the River Hawks and keep it a one-goal game.
Five-on-five overtime has to change
For a league-high sixth time this season, the Terriers skated through a scoreless five minutes of overtime on Saturday night, the second time doing so at Tsongas Center this season. After a hard-fought game with plenty of chances on both ends of the ice, it felt like Saturday’s bout deserved a winner. However, as many tight games have this season, the narrow affair finished deadlocked at 2-2. It wasn’t the first time this season that BU head coach Albie O’Connell has mentioned that he’d love to see a change in Hockey East’s rather bland overtime rules, and it seems like teams and fans across the league feel the same way.
I am fine with the five-on-five and all the ties it creates. I could be OK with a three-on-three too but only if there is a uniform rule for all of D1 hockey.