Men's Hockey vs. Northeastern (2/23/08)
by Sopan Deb
“It was a heck of a weekend for us,” said Boston University head coach Jack Parker.
Truer words could not be spoken, as the Boston University Terriers (14-14-4, 12-8-3 Hockey East) completed a weekend sweep of the No.14 Northeastern Huskies (14-13-3, 11-10-2 Hockey East) with a 3-2 win at home Saturday night. With the victory, the red-hot Terriers won their sixth straight game and vaulted themselves into second place in Hockey East.
“It was a good college hockey game,” said Northeastern head coach Greg Cronin, “BU might be one of the best teams in the country right now.”
The Terriers received goals from freshman forward Nick Bonino and senior forwards Bryan Ewing and Pete MacArthur. Sophomore goalie Brett Bennett made 20 saves.
The Terriers played well early with quick and fluid puck movement. The Terriers had many early scoring opportunities, including one early in the first period where freshman forward Colin Wilson drew a double team on the right side of the Terrier offensive zone and crossed it to an open junior forward Brandon Yip. Yip, however, could not put it past Northeastern sophomore goalie Brad Thiessen.
The Terriers did however strike first at 5:06 when Bonino streaked up the left side past two Northeastern defenders and slid around the back of the net for a wraparound. It was Bonino’s 11th goal of the season.
“[Junior forward Jason Lawrence] told me that if I don’t wrap it in, he was going to be pretty mad because he was pretty wide open,” Bonino said. “It’s just one of those things that happens.”
“Wrap around goals aren’t the best goals you can get,” Ewing said laughing, making fun of Bonino. “I thought it was a great goal.”
Northeastern would not seem to gain any offensive flow until the second period. The Terriers outshot the Huskies 14-5 in the first frame.
“No (expletive), it’s going to happen,” Cronin said. “We’re a young team. We’re going to be okay. They had six seniors playing and we had none.”
The Huskies opened up the second period playing quicker, attempting to force the Terriers in to a transition game.
“I thought at some points that Northeastern deserved a better fate,” Parker said, “With the way they played, we dodged a bullet in those first two periods.”
Northeastern tied the game at one on a power play at 11:32 in the second. Freshman defenseman Drew Muench took a wrist shot from the blue line and freshman forward Tyler McNeely was perfectly positioned for a deflection and scored his 11th goal of the year.
As the second period came to a close, the match up became much more physical. However, the Huskies took the lead at 17:12. Sophomore forward Greg Costa won a faceoff and the puck deflected to sophomore defenseman David Strathman. Strathman took a slap shot from the left circle and the puck trickled in under Bennett’s right pad for his third goal of the year.
In the third period the Terriers took the game over, and never looked back, thanks to their top line.
“Our first line stepped it up again,” Parker said. “Both MacArthur and Ewing are having fabulous senior years and [junior forward Chris] Higgins has really caught up with them.”
BU tied the game at 3:01 when Ewing took the puck from behind the net and thread the needle from the left side between two Huskies defenders to a perfectly positioned MacArthur in front of the net. It was MacArthur’s 14th goal of the year and Ewing’s 100th career point.
“It’s been in the back of my mind for awhile,” Ewing said, “There’s not a better feeling and it’s nice to get it out of the way. What can I say?” Senior forward Brian McGuirk was also credited with an assist on the goal.
The Terriers would control the offensive game for most of the rest of the game.
The game-winner came at 11:54 in the third when Higgins took a backhand from the side of the net and it deflected to Ewing, who pushed in a point –blank rebound, for his 17th of the year.
The Terriers were able to sufficiently contain the Northeastern attack in the third period using their man-to-man defense. The Huskies were unable to get any clean looks at Bennett.
“What [BU] is doing a good job at is protecting their goaltenders,” Cronin said. “They’re forcing all the shots to the outside. They’ve got guys down low. If you’re going to get the puck to BU’s net, it’s going to go through a couple layers of bodies before the goalie sees it.”
“It wasn’t like that in November,” Cronin concluded.
The Huskies called a timeout with 1:57 remaining and pulled Thiessen. The finish was exciting, as Northeastern, with a man advantage, sent a flurry of shots at Bennett but could not convert. The clock ran down to 1.1 seconds and the game finished with tempers flaring between numerous players.
Various players from both teams began pushing and shoving each other on the rink while the referees attempted to intervene. Junior defenseman Matt Gilroy, Higgins and Ewing all were involved in the altercation and showed how heated the rivalry is becoming. The altercation resulted in a 10 minute game misconduct penalty being assessed to Ewing, with less than 2 seconds to play.
The Terriers six-game winning streak is now the longest current win streak in all of college ice hockey. They’ll hope to continue that streak, as they continue the mad dash to the regular season finish this weekend with a home-and-home series against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen. Both games can be heard on WTBU Friday and Saturday nights, a 7 o’clock, with Terriers Tonight hitting the airwaves at 6:40 p.m.
“It was a heck of a weekend for us,” said Boston University head coach Jack Parker.
Truer words could not be spoken, as the Boston University Terriers (14-14-4, 12-8-3 Hockey East) completed a weekend sweep of the No.14 Northeastern Huskies (14-13-3, 11-10-2 Hockey East) with a 3-2 win at home Saturday night. With the victory, the red-hot Terriers won their sixth straight game and vaulted themselves into second place in Hockey East.
“It was a good college hockey game,” said Northeastern head coach Greg Cronin, “BU might be one of the best teams in the country right now.”
The Terriers received goals from freshman forward Nick Bonino and senior forwards Bryan Ewing and Pete MacArthur. Sophomore goalie Brett Bennett made 20 saves.
The Terriers played well early with quick and fluid puck movement. The Terriers had many early scoring opportunities, including one early in the first period where freshman forward Colin Wilson drew a double team on the right side of the Terrier offensive zone and crossed it to an open junior forward Brandon Yip. Yip, however, could not put it past Northeastern sophomore goalie Brad Thiessen.
The Terriers did however strike first at 5:06 when Bonino streaked up the left side past two Northeastern defenders and slid around the back of the net for a wraparound. It was Bonino’s 11th goal of the season.
“[Junior forward Jason Lawrence] told me that if I don’t wrap it in, he was going to be pretty mad because he was pretty wide open,” Bonino said. “It’s just one of those things that happens.”
“Wrap around goals aren’t the best goals you can get,” Ewing said laughing, making fun of Bonino. “I thought it was a great goal.”
Northeastern would not seem to gain any offensive flow until the second period. The Terriers outshot the Huskies 14-5 in the first frame.
“No (expletive), it’s going to happen,” Cronin said. “We’re a young team. We’re going to be okay. They had six seniors playing and we had none.”
The Huskies opened up the second period playing quicker, attempting to force the Terriers in to a transition game.
“I thought at some points that Northeastern deserved a better fate,” Parker said, “With the way they played, we dodged a bullet in those first two periods.”
Northeastern tied the game at one on a power play at 11:32 in the second. Freshman defenseman Drew Muench took a wrist shot from the blue line and freshman forward Tyler McNeely was perfectly positioned for a deflection and scored his 11th goal of the year.
As the second period came to a close, the match up became much more physical. However, the Huskies took the lead at 17:12. Sophomore forward Greg Costa won a faceoff and the puck deflected to sophomore defenseman David Strathman. Strathman took a slap shot from the left circle and the puck trickled in under Bennett’s right pad for his third goal of the year.
In the third period the Terriers took the game over, and never looked back, thanks to their top line.
“Our first line stepped it up again,” Parker said. “Both MacArthur and Ewing are having fabulous senior years and [junior forward Chris] Higgins has really caught up with them.”
BU tied the game at 3:01 when Ewing took the puck from behind the net and thread the needle from the left side between two Huskies defenders to a perfectly positioned MacArthur in front of the net. It was MacArthur’s 14th goal of the year and Ewing’s 100th career point.
“It’s been in the back of my mind for awhile,” Ewing said, “There’s not a better feeling and it’s nice to get it out of the way. What can I say?” Senior forward Brian McGuirk was also credited with an assist on the goal.
The Terriers would control the offensive game for most of the rest of the game.
The game-winner came at 11:54 in the third when Higgins took a backhand from the side of the net and it deflected to Ewing, who pushed in a point –blank rebound, for his 17th of the year.
The Terriers were able to sufficiently contain the Northeastern attack in the third period using their man-to-man defense. The Huskies were unable to get any clean looks at Bennett.
“What [BU] is doing a good job at is protecting their goaltenders,” Cronin said. “They’re forcing all the shots to the outside. They’ve got guys down low. If you’re going to get the puck to BU’s net, it’s going to go through a couple layers of bodies before the goalie sees it.”
“It wasn’t like that in November,” Cronin concluded.
The Huskies called a timeout with 1:57 remaining and pulled Thiessen. The finish was exciting, as Northeastern, with a man advantage, sent a flurry of shots at Bennett but could not convert. The clock ran down to 1.1 seconds and the game finished with tempers flaring between numerous players.
Various players from both teams began pushing and shoving each other on the rink while the referees attempted to intervene. Junior defenseman Matt Gilroy, Higgins and Ewing all were involved in the altercation and showed how heated the rivalry is becoming. The altercation resulted in a 10 minute game misconduct penalty being assessed to Ewing, with less than 2 seconds to play.
The Terriers six-game winning streak is now the longest current win streak in all of college ice hockey. They’ll hope to continue that streak, as they continue the mad dash to the regular season finish this weekend with a home-and-home series against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen. Both games can be heard on WTBU Friday and Saturday nights, a 7 o’clock, with Terriers Tonight hitting the airwaves at 6:40 p.m.
posted by Chris Aliano at
11:13 AM
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