#16 Men's Hockey vs. Massachusetts (3/1/08)

by Rick Zmudzien

The Boston University Terriers had their nation-best seven game win streak snapped Saturday night at the Mullins Center, as the University of Massachusetts Minutemen defeated them by a score of 5-1.

The Minutemen drew first blood in the first period, when Cory Quirk redirected a shot in front of the net at 3:21. It was a power play goal, scored about 30 seconds after freshman forward Colin Wilson was sent to the penalty box for interference. PJ Fenton and Mike Kostka assisted on the goal, Quirk’s ninth of the season, that gave the Minutemen a 1-0 lead.

The Terriers would fight back, though, with just 15 seconds to go in the first frame. Junior Brandon Yip beat UMass goaltender Paul Dainton with a slapshot from the left side, on the power play, to knot the game at one apiece, heading into the first intermission.

That was as close as the Terriers would get, though. The Minutemen scored two unanswered goals in the second period, to lead 3-1 after at the second intermission. Scott Crowder scored the first goal of the period, at 10:00 to give the Minutemen the 2-1 lead. Quirk scored his second of the game at 17:17 in the second, another power play goal, to put the Minutemen up 3-1.

In the third period, while on the power play, the Terriers allowed a shorthanded goal to Alex Berry at 3:42 that was essentially the game breaker. Though Parker wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. After calling a time out with 6:51 left to play, Parker’s team skated back to the ice short a goaltender. The Terriers played 4:06 of empty net hockey in an attempt to get back in the game, but that attempt came to an end with 2:46 to play, after Chris Davis put the puck in the empty net to give the Minutemen the 5-1 lead.

But in the game's waning moments, a large on-ice scuffle erupted in the corner of the rink behind the UMass net, involving the Terriers’ fourth line. The large scuffle, with just 2:34 to play, resulted in 58 penalty minutes being issued. Senior captain Brian McGuirk was immediately ejected after the referees restored order, as was Minuteman Martin Nolet.

Senior assistant captain Ryan Weston, and junior John McCarthy each received 10-minute penalties for fighting, and 2 minutes apiece as well for hitting after the whistle. Jordan Virtue and Doug Kublin each received the exact same combination of penalties for the Minuteman. On the ensuing faceoff, freshman Joe Perriera and Minuteman Matt Burto each got 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. All said and done, each time registered 17 penalties, and 61 penalty minutes by the end of the night.

With their winning streak history, the Terriers will take the week to regroup, as they try to secure home ice for the first round of the Hockey East playoffs, as well as pick up ground in the Pairwise Rankings. They close out the regular season Thursday and Friday night against the Providence College Friars. Thursday night’s game is at Schneider Arena in Providence at 7 pm, and Friday night’s game will be at Agganis Arena in Boston at 7:30 pm. Both games can be heard on WTBU, with the pre-game show, Terriers Tonight, starting 20 minutes prior to the drop of the puck.