Men's Hockey Beanpot vs. #15 Northeastern (2/11/08)
by Sopan Deb
It wasn’t exactly the ending that the Terriers wanted, but in the big picture, Boston University will take it. BU, playing in the Beanpot consolation game for the first time since 1994, defeated the Northeastern Huskies 5-4 to continue a recent string of strong performances.
Freshman forward Colin Wilson scored two goals and added an assist. Freshman Adam Kraus started in net and made 25 saves for his first win of the season. BU head coach Jack Parker gave many regulars a rest to give lesser used players a chance to play in the esteemed tournament. Senior forward Craig Sanders, senior defenseman Ryan Monaghan and junior forward Steve Smolinsky all played the first Beanpot games of their collegiate careers.
“It was nice for Adam Krause to get his first win,” Parker said. “It’s nice to get some seniors in the line up who’d never played in the Beanpot and they all played well.”
While playing in front of a largely empty TD Banknorth Garden, both teams played the first period sluggishly. The Huskies struck first at 5:50 when junior forward Ryan Ginand took a wrist shot from the right point. Kraus deflected the puck directly in front of him and freshman forward Tyler McNeely was right there for the rebound for his ninth goal of the season.
The Terriers answered late in the first when Wilson sent a perfectly executed cross to freshman defenseman Colby Cohen, from the right side, who put in his third goal of the season at 17:02.
BU took the lead in the second period when freshman forward Nick Bonino rebounded Smolinsky’s wrist shot from the right side. Smolinsky’s assist was the first of his collegiate career.
The goals kept coming as Northeastern answered right back at 7:07 in the second. Freshman left winger Wade MacLeod took the puck from behind BU’s net, fell on his stomach, and still managed to feed a cutting junior forward Joe Vitale for the goal. It was Vitale’s ninth goal of the year.
Huskies junior forward Ryan Ginand proceeded to single handedly tear apart BU’s defense over the next five minutes. At 7:33, he took a loose puck, streaked up the right side, maneuvered around a BU defender and slapped the puck past Krause to give Northeastern a 3-2 lead. The goal was unassisted.
Ginand scored again at 11:00 in the second, almost a carbon copy of his first goal. The only difference was that this goal was on the power play. Once again, he streaked up the right side slicing through BU’s defenseman, swerved in front of Krause for a point black backhand. Ginand’s goals were his ninth and tenth of the season.
It would be all Terriers from that point on.
Wilson scored his first goal at 13:51 in the second. After Wilson helped interrupt a botched Northeastern breakaway, he corralled the loose puck and rifled a slapshot from the left circle for a top shelf goal.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Wilson said. “We never exactly practiced that situation.”
The game entered the third period with Northeastern up 4-3.
Junior defenseman Matt Gilroy tied the game at 9:18 in the period. Gilroy, on a 3-2 break, moved the puck all the way to the right-side boards before finally taking a shot which was deflected in to the net by Northeastern sophomore goalie Brad Thiessen. Thiessen, who made 40 saves on the night.
Wilson scored the game winner at 16:41, when Cohen knocked a pass to Wilson who shoved it in from Thiessen’s right.
“It was nice,” Wilson said. “Now we’re 2-0 in our last two games and now we’ll try and get on a streak in a home stretch.”
“It was tough,” senior captain Brian McGuirk said. “We wanted to be in the finals but we played hard defense and we’re going to see them another two times. We wanted to set the tone.”
Terriers Notes:
- BU once again struggled on their power-play, going 0-7.
- The Terriers out shot Northeastern 45-29.
- The Terriers scored five goals on the evening, to go along with seven assists. Of those twelve points, six of them came from the freshman class.
- The combination of Cohen, Wilson, and Popko struck for two goals on the evening.
- The Terriers have now won two games in a row for the first time since the first week of November, when they beat Providence on the road, and UMass Lowell at Agganis Arena.
It wasn’t exactly the ending that the Terriers wanted, but in the big picture, Boston University will take it. BU, playing in the Beanpot consolation game for the first time since 1994, defeated the Northeastern Huskies 5-4 to continue a recent string of strong performances.
Freshman forward Colin Wilson scored two goals and added an assist. Freshman Adam Kraus started in net and made 25 saves for his first win of the season. BU head coach Jack Parker gave many regulars a rest to give lesser used players a chance to play in the esteemed tournament. Senior forward Craig Sanders, senior defenseman Ryan Monaghan and junior forward Steve Smolinsky all played the first Beanpot games of their collegiate careers.
“It was nice for Adam Krause to get his first win,” Parker said. “It’s nice to get some seniors in the line up who’d never played in the Beanpot and they all played well.”
While playing in front of a largely empty TD Banknorth Garden, both teams played the first period sluggishly. The Huskies struck first at 5:50 when junior forward Ryan Ginand took a wrist shot from the right point. Kraus deflected the puck directly in front of him and freshman forward Tyler McNeely was right there for the rebound for his ninth goal of the season.
The Terriers answered late in the first when Wilson sent a perfectly executed cross to freshman defenseman Colby Cohen, from the right side, who put in his third goal of the season at 17:02.
BU took the lead in the second period when freshman forward Nick Bonino rebounded Smolinsky’s wrist shot from the right side. Smolinsky’s assist was the first of his collegiate career.
The goals kept coming as Northeastern answered right back at 7:07 in the second. Freshman left winger Wade MacLeod took the puck from behind BU’s net, fell on his stomach, and still managed to feed a cutting junior forward Joe Vitale for the goal. It was Vitale’s ninth goal of the year.
Huskies junior forward Ryan Ginand proceeded to single handedly tear apart BU’s defense over the next five minutes. At 7:33, he took a loose puck, streaked up the right side, maneuvered around a BU defender and slapped the puck past Krause to give Northeastern a 3-2 lead. The goal was unassisted.
Ginand scored again at 11:00 in the second, almost a carbon copy of his first goal. The only difference was that this goal was on the power play. Once again, he streaked up the right side slicing through BU’s defenseman, swerved in front of Krause for a point black backhand. Ginand’s goals were his ninth and tenth of the season.
It would be all Terriers from that point on.
Wilson scored his first goal at 13:51 in the second. After Wilson helped interrupt a botched Northeastern breakaway, he corralled the loose puck and rifled a slapshot from the left circle for a top shelf goal.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Wilson said. “We never exactly practiced that situation.”
The game entered the third period with Northeastern up 4-3.
Junior defenseman Matt Gilroy tied the game at 9:18 in the period. Gilroy, on a 3-2 break, moved the puck all the way to the right-side boards before finally taking a shot which was deflected in to the net by Northeastern sophomore goalie Brad Thiessen. Thiessen, who made 40 saves on the night.
Wilson scored the game winner at 16:41, when Cohen knocked a pass to Wilson who shoved it in from Thiessen’s right.
“It was nice,” Wilson said. “Now we’re 2-0 in our last two games and now we’ll try and get on a streak in a home stretch.”
“It was tough,” senior captain Brian McGuirk said. “We wanted to be in the finals but we played hard defense and we’re going to see them another two times. We wanted to set the tone.”
Terriers Notes:
- BU once again struggled on their power-play, going 0-7.
- The Terriers out shot Northeastern 45-29.
- The Terriers scored five goals on the evening, to go along with seven assists. Of those twelve points, six of them came from the freshman class.
- The combination of Cohen, Wilson, and Popko struck for two goals on the evening.
- The Terriers have now won two games in a row for the first time since the first week of November, when they beat Providence on the road, and UMass Lowell at Agganis Arena.
posted by Chris Aliano at
7:41 PM
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