Terriers’ new-look power play goes 3-for-6

By Scott McLaughlin/DFP Staff

Just about every change Boston University coach Jack Parker made over the winter break paid off in Saturday’s 7-3 win over the No. 15 University of Massachusetts. Giving the players more time off than usual seemed to rejuvenate and refocus everyone. The new forward lines and defense pairings worked like a well-oiled machine. One of the biggest changes, though, was a new power play that went 3-for-6 in the game.

Normally, the Terriers’ top power-play unit features juniors Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen at the point with one forward on each wing and another in the slot. The goal is to set up shots from the point and get traffic in front for deflections and rebounds.

On Saturday, though, Parker employed what he referred to as a “reverse umbrella,” a formation the Terriers began practicing earlier in the week. In this setup, Shattenkirk was stationed in the center of the blue line with Cohen on the left wing, sophomore Chris Connolly on the right wing, junior Nick Bonino behind the net and sophomore Vinny Saponari in the slot.

The move paid dividends on its first chance. Just over 12 minutes into the game, Shattenkirk fed Cohen for a one-timer from the lower left circle. Cohen’s shot got through Saponari’s screen and hit the left post, and Bonino, who had left his spot behind the net in search of a rebound out front, was right there to bang home the loose puck.

Creating shots like that for Cohen and his NHL-caliber howitzer was one of the reasons for the switch. In the first half, teams made it a goal to have guys right up on Cohen and Shattenkirk at the point in order to take away their one-time chances. Cornell University coach Mike Schafer went so far as to say that the key to stopping BU’s power play was stopping Cohen.

“I’m hanging out down low, and that frees me up to shoot,” Cohen said. “Before, teams were really sitting up top on me and Shatty, but now I’m down low . . . I definitely like the new formation.”

Another reason for the switch was the Minutemen’s penalty kill.

“They give you two different looks, but for the most part, they play back and dare you to shoot it, and they get lined up and try to block the shot,” Parker said. “And when they’re facing out, it’s easy to do it. We made them face in by putting a guy behind the net . . . So, they had to play a different look now. That helped us out.”

Although UMass coach Don “Toot” Cahoon admitted that the new formation caught his team off-guard that first time, he attributed the Terriers’ 50-percent power play to something much simpler –– his goalie, junior Paul Dainton, not being able to see the puck through BU’s screens.

“The first time they used that alignment, we struggled a little bit,” Cahoon said. “But then as the period went on, we were fine. We let them take our goalie’s eyes away, didn’t step up to knock down pucks and didn’t pressure the puck enough, and those are the things that really hurt us on the PK.”

He’s right, too. The Terriers’ next two power-play goals actually came from the second unit, which featured senior Eric Gryba and freshman Max Nicastro up top and senior Zach Cohen, sophomore Corey Trivino and freshman Alex Chiasson down low.

With under a minute remaining in the first period, Chiasson collected the puck on the left half wall after a Nicastro keep-in, wheeled toward the slot and ripped a slap shot through Zach Cohen’s screen and into the left side of the net. Cohen asserted himself on the power play again early in the third. Trivino fired a slapper from the right circle that the 6-foot-3 forward was able to tip past Dainton from the top of the crease.

“We always talk about getting a couple dirty goals a game,” Cohen said. “That’s gonna happen if we get pucks to the net and go hard to the net. I’m a big body, so I just want to get in front of the net and cause some havoc.”

Although the prospect of Colby Cohen launching missiles from the faceoff dot or Zach Cohen planting himself inches in front of the goalie’s face are enough to strike fear into anyone, perhaps the scariest thing for BU’s next opponent, archrival Boston College, is that the Terriers will be adding sophomore David Warsofsky to one of those power-play units when he returns from the World Junior Championships this week.