Offense – Grade A-
Fueled by goals from five different scorers, and multiple point efforts from Joe Pereira, Eric Gryba and Zach Cohen, BU pelted Maine goalie Scott Darling with 36 shots on net, and fired 70 shots in total. The Terriers dominated in offensive possession, especially in the first and third periods. In the first, BU tested Darling with twelve Grade-A shots, including five from Vinny Saponari alone –– Jack Parker described Saponari’s play Saturday as nothing short of “great.”
Defense – Grade A-
The word Parker continually goes to when describing his team’s second-half defense is thorough, and Saturday night, BU was about as thorough as it could’ve been. Maine got just one Grade-A look in the first period, and 10 for the game. In particular, BU’s backcheckers did a fantastic job preventing chances against a team that can be deadly on the fastbreak.
Goaltending – Grade B+
Kieran Millan stopped 28 of 30 shots in goal for the Terriers, but, as was mentioned above, faced just 10 shots from Grade A and was rarely tested with difficult scoring chances. Still, the BU stopper continued his recent streak of very solid netminding, and odds are this won’t be the last time we see Millan get consecutive starts in a weekend set.
Special Teams – Grade B
The final totals read BU 2-for-9 on the PP, and Maine 1-for-4, but each team scored goals just after opposing players left the box, so in actuality the BU unit converted at a 33 percent clip, and Maine at 50 percent. The BU power play was perhaps a bit inconsistent Saturday, with some shifts much stronger than others, but overall continued to look like one of Hockey East’s better man-up units. For the weekend, BU held Maine to 2-for-8 on the power play, just a few percentage points worse than their nation-best 29.7 percent conversion rate.
X Factor – Another third period response
For the second consecutive night, the Terriers found themselves challenged by Maine in the third period, and for the second consecutive night, the Terriers took over the game. Saturday, Z. Cohen and Nick Bonino scored early in the third period after the team’s came out of the second intermission tied at two goals apiece.
Do you guys know the meaning behind the celebration that started with Vinny Saponari after he scored a goal Friday and continued with Gryba doing it last night after he scored. Putting both hands up and making some kind of symbol.
Gryba explained it in the postgame press conference. We’ll have those transcripts up later today, so be sure to check that out for the full explanation, but basically they’re calling themselves “The U” this semester to symbolize some sort of dominance or something (I forget the exact reasoning) and they’re making “The U” symbol during celebrations.