#16 Men's Hockey vs. Massachusetts (2/29/08)

by Sopan Deb

One might say it was a battle of the ying and the yang. The last time the Boston University Terriers and the University of Massachusetts Minutemen met in November, UMass was ranked 20^th in the nation, and looked to be a Hockey East contender. The Terriers were unranked, and looked like a team in disarray. Nearly three months later, the roles have been switched, with both teams heading in polar opposite directions.

Friday night, the Terriers (15-14-4, 13-8-3 Hockey East) dealt a serious blow to the Minutemen’s (11-13-6, 6-12-5 HE) playoff hopes by defeating them 3-0 at Agganis Arena. It was BU’s seventh win in a row, making them literally the hottest team in the nation. UMass, ranked No. 5 in the country at the end of December, has fallen to 2-11-1 since wins over New Hampshire, Colorado College and Notre Dame, all elite teams in the country.

“I was telling the guys that we went from outhouse to penthouse in a couple weekends,” senior forward Ryan Weston said. “We like the way we’re playing for now, that’s for sure.”

Sophomore goalie Brett Bennett, behind a staunch defense, secured his second consecutive shutout, and freshman forward Nick Bonino provided the offense for the Terriers, with two goals and an assist.

The first period was a defensive standoff between both teams, as neither could gain any sort of momentum.

“It’s good that there are three periods and not just two,” BU head coach Jack Parker said. “I thought UMass played extremely well and gave us all we could handle in the first two periods and then some.”

Each team had one power play in the first period, but were shut down by the defending team’s man-to-man penalty killing defense. UMass effectively pressed BU’s offense into moving the puck to the boards, not allowing any clear shots at the net. Neither goalie saw much work because both UMass and BU were active with putting sticks in passing lanes. The Terriers outshot the Minutemen 8-6 in the first period.

The second period was more of the same. Bennett did give up rebound opportunities, but UMass could not convert. UMass started moving the puck faster and tried to get out in transition, but to no avail.

The Terriers were finally able to strike at 14:44 to take the lead. UMass junior left-defenseman Topher Bevis was whistled for interference at 12:50. On the ensuing power-play, junior forward Cory Quirk lost his stick, leaving the box power play defense vulnerable. Junior forward Brandon Yip, from the left side, centered the puck to Bonino, who sliced it to cutting junior forward Jason Lawrence who pushed in a point-blank one timer.

The Terriers would dominate the rest of the game.

In the third period, Bonino scored his first goal at 4:41. Weston zipped up the right side and cycled a fancy behind the back pass behind the net to linemate Brian McGuirk. McGuirk moved the puck three feet to Bonino who took the shot and put back in a rebound opportunity, giving the Terriers a 2-0 lead.

“It just kind of happened,” Weston said, in reference to his pass. “I heard McGuirk calling from the back and thought I’d give it a shot. I got a couple home games left, might as well try a little something fun.”

BU crashed the net with ease to put pressure on freshman goalie Paul Dainton.

Bonino scored the Terriers’ last goal at 8:28. He intercepted a lazy UMass pass and proceeded to swerve from the left side to the center, muscle around two Minutemmen defenders and put in a wrist shot.

“I got a lucky bounce there,” Bonino said. “It felt good tonight.”

“I wouldn’t say we’re there yet,” Weston said. “But we’re making more strides and playing [how] we need to play to be more successful. Earlier in the year, we’d be playing a period and now we’re playing two and a half periods.”

Terriers Notes:

-Junior first line forward Chris Higgins suffered a mild concussion and will not play in the second game of the home-and-home against UMass.

-Jack Kelley, who coached BU for 10 seasons from 1962-1972, was honored during the second intermission. He had a lifetime coaching record of 206-80-8.

“It’s an experience that has just been unreal,” Kelley said. “I feel very fortunate. I love this university, but I love this hockey team more.”