By Meredith Perri/DFP Staff
The lightning should have served as a warning about what was to come.
The Boston University men’s hockey team already trailed the University of Maine 1-0 when sophomore center Sam Kurker was called for tripping.
“Our penalty kill has been pretty good all year,” said BU coach David Quinn. “Right now we’re in a situation where it’s one thing after another. It’s a different problem every game right now, and that’s something we’re going to have to correct.
“Penalties have crept into our game. Early in the season they were a huge problem for us. I thought we had corrected it as the season went on.”
Quinn said from the first week of the season that he wanted the Terriers to have no more than four penalties per game. By the time BU entered November, the team was living up to that expectation. In the three games since the second half of the season kicked off, though, the team has faltered once again with a nine-penalty game against Harvard University, three penalties in the first period against Dartmouth College and Saturday’s six-penalty game against Maine.
That ability did not work against Maine, though, as the Black Bears took the first three chances they had to jump on the board with the man advantage, ultimately putting the Terriers into a 4-0 hole by the end of the first.
It started when senior captain Garrett Noonan went to the box for boarding at 5:26, just a few seconds after BU had failed to convert on its own power-play chance. Just over a minute into the penalty, Maine wing Ryan Lomberg picked up a pass while in the slot and sent it through sophomore goaltender Matt O’Connor’s five-hole.
Maine’s second goal was far more crazed as it took just five seconds into the power-play for them to score, but took more than an hour from the time of the penalty to the goal for it to occur. After a thunderstorm paused over Fenway and workers spent more than half an hour trying to fix the ice, Kurker made his way to the box. Right off of the faceoff defenseman Ben Hutton wristed a shot into the back of the net.
As Maine scored its first even-strength goal of the night, freshman defenseman Doyle Somerby was called for slashing. Once again, it took less than a minute for Maine to convert as center Devin Shore put the final goal of the frame by O’Connor.
With the end of the first came the end of Maine’s power-play surge, as the Terriers went three-for-three on the penalty kill for the rest of the game. Those first-period goals, however, put BU in a hole it could not escape.
“Unnecessary, needless penalties put us behind the 8-ball,” Quinn said. “Three-for-six, that hasn’t happened to us all year long. Give their power play credit. …They’re not drawing a Picasso out there. They get it to the point, they get it to the net and their forwards get to the net with a purpose. It gave our goalie problems and it gave our net-front D problems.”
At least they did not give up. This team is not up to Div. I standards at most positions. The recruiting has been so poor.
Please. The recruiting has been great. We had the second ranked incoming class in Hockey East. Coaching and leadership are the problems.
Wrong again….WHY is the majority of the BU roster from MA??? because the recruiter is lazy and doesn’t want to go outside the state. I highly doubt BU was the 2nd ranked incoming class with all these players from Mass. This debacle of a year has nothing to do with coaching and all to do with lack of talent.
I will have to say that this past month and a half has been disheartening, but you do speak the truth when you note that they didn’t give up. They’re in a hole, and thankfully most of the hole recently has been dug non-conference. I guess it is time to lower the expectations- top 8 finish in Hockey East, with top 4 a dream, and of course the Beanpot. Hey, worse BU teams have won the Beanpot, just not recently.
As for the player quality- they are young (2 regular seniors, 2 regular juniors, and 3 spare parts in the upper classes) and injury prone (who get’s injured in practice? Really?) Charlie Coyle scored twice against my Avalanche last night, so sometimes these Massachusetts players who seem to sputter out in their first 2 years can end up doing things.
Coyle was useless at BU. He only started playing better after he left during the season.
Coyle was useless? He was our 4th leading scorer as a freshman and during his abbreviated sophomore season he had 14 points in 16 games. While he might not have completely fulfilled the lofty expectations that come along with being a first round NHL draft pick (during his one and a half years at BU), it’s a tad bit ridiculous to say that he was “useless”. We do agree that he has played better as a pro.
“Worse BU teams have won the Beanpot, just not recently.”
Really?
I’ve been going to BU hockey games since Jack Kelley was coaching, and I don’t remember any team this bad.
The only issue I had with the Coyle situation was the timing of his departure. IMO he should have decided one way or another after his Freshman year, instead of returning and then leaving the team midseason. If he was committed to returning to BU for his Sophomore season, he should have fulfilled that obligation and then turn pro after the season.
Unfortunately it created an awkward situation for BU, Saint John (the major junior team he joined) and himself. Fortunately it’s worked out well for Coyle, unlike others who recently bolted BU during the season (Cisse, Wesley Myron).
Definitely. It’s hard enough on a college team for a promising player to leave while an underclassman. I was particularly disappointed that he left smack in the middle of that season. First it was Trevino … and then Coyle’s departure. That was a devastating one-two punch to our 2011-2012 season.
The 1998-99 Team posted a 14-20-3 record and won the Beanpot. You may have seen Kelly, but you apparently missed the Parker era.
What happened to Lawrence? Is he out for a while like Grizz?
Start playing Maguire..The OC experiment has been a disaster … Establish an identity he was solid last year in the stretch when the team established an identity around him and doesn’t give up the rebounds he does
I wouldn’t call it an “experiment” nor “disaster”. O’Connor appears to have lost his game quickly. We saw the same thing last season; it seems he starts the season strong but then starts fading about halfway thru. Conversely, Maguire seems to be a slow starter and gets better as the sesaon improves.
BU road Maguire to the Hockey East final last year after O’Connor got hurt. I think both of them are very good, and agree the difference is that Maguire gives up less rebounds.
I don’t mind a rotation to keep both of them sharp.
On another note, since both are sophomores, it is strange that BU is bringing in a third goalkeeper – Shane Starrett – next year. He isn’t a third-string guy that’ll be happy to be on the team and open the gate.
Another goalie could not have been a priority for next year.
We’ll see what happens with Starrett. This kid is not a good goalie at all, and his season this year has been a comical mess. Dropped from one USHL team after playing ONE MINUTE, then getting lit up with his new USHL team in I believe 2 appearances, and then he moved on to the EJHL or whatever they call this league now. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him end up at a DIII school like his brother and BU would probably be happy to cut ties with him.
Goalies are not the problem. At times we have 5 guys on the ice that have no shot at scoring a goal. We need to reload fast.
Who cares about this year. It was always going to be a transition year. None of these players are Quinn’s recruits. In the next two years, if everything falls in place, BU will be a top 5 team.
Yeah, too bad DQ can’t do anything with the HE tournament runner up and the #2 incoming HE class.
Sahir Gill. Name sound familiar. Lets judge DQ on his first year, real smart. We shouldn’t give him anytime to build the program back up. He only recruited a national championship team for us in 2009.
This is like the tenth time someone has told you. Maybe you don’t understand English? DQ DOES NOT have the Hockey East Tournament Runner-up this year. This team has different players. I know it can be confusing because they too skate around the rink and carry sticks with them (as did members of last year’s team) … but many of them are different people. Why is that such a difficult concept for you to grasp?
Another troll sighting Anonymous 10:51 am. Pay no mind Glen.
This is a tough season to watch but it’s going to be amazing to watch the team blow up HE, Beanpots, etc come the next few years and beyond!
Good point! It looks like another NHL caliber defenseman is headed our way for next season. Until we start blowing up HE again, check out the video of Nick Bonino scoring the most exciting goal in BU hockey history in the 2009 NCAA Finals. I can’t get tired of watching that goal.
Funny, at times I go on you tube and watch those last 3 min. Crazy comeback but such a fitting ending to that season!
Very true. It was such a dominant season we had in 2008-2009. It would’ve been so devastating to have lost that game … almost as tragic as the Patriots losing to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII after their undefeated regular season. Getting back to that NCAA Championship game on 4-11-09, I love the call of that game by Gary Thorne and Barry Melrose. One last thing to note … check out what happens immediately after Miami scores their third goal: DQ begins making his case to JP for us to pull Milan early and get an extra skater out there. Not too bad of an idea!
Omg, don’t bring up that giants debacle….I still cringe watching replays. I will deff.check that out. I.Don’t think people really REALLY understand what an intelligent hockey mind Quinn has.