#2 Men's Hockey vs. #3 Vermont - Hockey East Semifinals (3/21/08)
by Sopan Deb
It took 30 seconds. To douse a scalding hot Terriers team attempting to ride a wave of momentum to a Hockey East championship, the Vermont Catamounts used a single 30 second stint of perfect hockey in the second period to reverse Boston University’s fortunes and end its impressive second-half run.
The Catamounts (17-14-7) scored two goals within 30 seconds in the second period to come from behind to up-end the Terriers (19-17-4) in the Hockey East semifinals to advance to their first ever Hockey East championship game.
“We’re obviously very thrilled with the outcome,” Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. “We played a smart hockey game from start to finish and we’ve had some great battles with them.”
The start of the game was delayed two hours and forty minutes due to Boston College Eagles defeating the top-seeded University of New Hampshire Wildcats in three overtimes in the other Hockey East semifinal game. The game, clocking in at 4 hours and 51 minutes, was the second longest in Hockey East history and 12th longest in NCAA history.
“I took a nap,” victorious senior goalie Joe Fallon said after the game.
The layover did not seem to affect either team as both squads hit the rink with extra intensity. The Terriers seemed to be concentrating on puck movement to a fault rather than rebounding and crashing the net. For example, senior forward Pete MacArthur, about midway through the first period, had a point blank shot to Vermont senior goalie Joe Fallon, but chose instead to attempt to cross the puck and Fallon was able to deflect it out.
Vermont could not get any offensive flow either during the opening frame, choosing instead to attempt a quick transition game unsuccessfully. Sophomore goalie Brett Bennett was steady in net during the first period, turning away all six shots he faced and a staunch Terrier defense effectively cleared out rebounds to lighten the load on Bennett. BU’s fore checking was also effective, not allowing Vermont to get in to many efficient offensive rushes. However, Vermont would still outshoot the Terriers, 6-5, in the first period.
“I was disappointed in our effort tonight,” BU head coach Jack Parker said. “I thought we played okay to start the game but it looked like once we got up 1-0, we started to play like we were up 4-0. We weren’t as intense as you have to be.”
BU would score its only goal at 10:17 in the first. Freshman defenseman Colby Cohen moved the puck to fellow classmate and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk at the right point. Shattenkirk thread the needle and zipped a pass diagonally through the Catamount defense to junior Chris Higgins on the left side directly next to Fallon. Higgins took the shot and the puck deflected off Fallon for Higgins’ 14th goal of the season.
The Terriers, being up 1-0 and having experience at the TD Banknorth Garden, seemed to have all the momentum in the game heading in to the second period. That is, until, 13:48 in to the second period, where Vermont seemed to deflate BU.
Catamount junior forward Peter Lenes streaked up the middle of the rink, sliced in between junior defenseman Matt Gilroy and sophomore defenseman Brian Strait in transition and took a backhand shot. Bennett stopped the initial shot but the puck was able to somehow deflect through Bennett’s legs for the equalizer. It was Lenes’ 10th goal of the season and junior forward Dean Strong was credited with his 19th assist.
“We couldn’t get shots to the net,” Sneddon said, “but as time wore on, we used our speed to our advantage and capitalized on a couple huge opportunities.”
On the very next faceoff, sophomore forward Brayden Irwin took the puck from the left boards and muscled his way towards the net, getting past two BU defenders. He made a fancy back hand pass to freshman forward Jack Downing in front of the net who took the shot. Bennett made the save, but deflected the rebound right to sophomore forward Colin Vock, who dumped the puck in to give the Catamounts the lead for good. It was Vock’s ninth goal of the season.
The Catamounts seemed to deflate the Terriers after the second goal. They spent the rest of the game frustrating the Terriers by shifting their emphasis to clears and taking the occasional icing call. This would not allow the Terriers to rebound the puck off missed shots well and the frustration clearly showed, as the Terriers amassed four costly penalties in the third, two more than they had in the first two periods combined.
“We played a pretty solid defensive game,” Lenes said. “We tried to keep everything to the outside and when it got to the middle, we tried to clear everything. We did a good job keeping our cool.”
“I thought that’s all we needed,” Fallon added.
To add to the frustration, Fallon played a very strong game in net for the Catamounts, making 25 saves to assist an equally effective Catamount defense. Bennett had 13 saves.
Parker called a time out with 1:41 remaining and pulled Bennett. The Terriers still could not mount an effective rush and Catamount junior forward Corey Carlson added an empty netter to ice it at 19:20 in the third.
The loss effectively ends the season for BU, as the chances of making the NCAA tournament are slim. The chances become even slimmer considering out-of-conferences losses to such teams as Harvard and Dartmouth.
Captains MacArthur and Brian McGuirk were visibly emotional in the post game, as they had taken the rink as a Terrier for the last time.
“They played a great game and we didn’t play ours,” McGuirk said. “It’s pretty simple.”
After the game, the Terriers embraced each other on the rink bringing an end to an at-times tumultuous season. The team recovered from suspensions, insecurity at goaltending and injuries to recover and propel it back to contention. Unfortunately for BU, after a run that saw the Terriers go 11-2 since a first round loss to BC in the Beanpot, their season now comes to an end.
It took 30 seconds. To douse a scalding hot Terriers team attempting to ride a wave of momentum to a Hockey East championship, the Vermont Catamounts used a single 30 second stint of perfect hockey in the second period to reverse Boston University’s fortunes and end its impressive second-half run.
The Catamounts (17-14-7) scored two goals within 30 seconds in the second period to come from behind to up-end the Terriers (19-17-4) in the Hockey East semifinals to advance to their first ever Hockey East championship game.
“We’re obviously very thrilled with the outcome,” Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. “We played a smart hockey game from start to finish and we’ve had some great battles with them.”
The start of the game was delayed two hours and forty minutes due to Boston College Eagles defeating the top-seeded University of New Hampshire Wildcats in three overtimes in the other Hockey East semifinal game. The game, clocking in at 4 hours and 51 minutes, was the second longest in Hockey East history and 12th longest in NCAA history.
“I took a nap,” victorious senior goalie Joe Fallon said after the game.
The layover did not seem to affect either team as both squads hit the rink with extra intensity. The Terriers seemed to be concentrating on puck movement to a fault rather than rebounding and crashing the net. For example, senior forward Pete MacArthur, about midway through the first period, had a point blank shot to Vermont senior goalie Joe Fallon, but chose instead to attempt to cross the puck and Fallon was able to deflect it out.
Vermont could not get any offensive flow either during the opening frame, choosing instead to attempt a quick transition game unsuccessfully. Sophomore goalie Brett Bennett was steady in net during the first period, turning away all six shots he faced and a staunch Terrier defense effectively cleared out rebounds to lighten the load on Bennett. BU’s fore checking was also effective, not allowing Vermont to get in to many efficient offensive rushes. However, Vermont would still outshoot the Terriers, 6-5, in the first period.
“I was disappointed in our effort tonight,” BU head coach Jack Parker said. “I thought we played okay to start the game but it looked like once we got up 1-0, we started to play like we were up 4-0. We weren’t as intense as you have to be.”
BU would score its only goal at 10:17 in the first. Freshman defenseman Colby Cohen moved the puck to fellow classmate and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk at the right point. Shattenkirk thread the needle and zipped a pass diagonally through the Catamount defense to junior Chris Higgins on the left side directly next to Fallon. Higgins took the shot and the puck deflected off Fallon for Higgins’ 14th goal of the season.
The Terriers, being up 1-0 and having experience at the TD Banknorth Garden, seemed to have all the momentum in the game heading in to the second period. That is, until, 13:48 in to the second period, where Vermont seemed to deflate BU.
Catamount junior forward Peter Lenes streaked up the middle of the rink, sliced in between junior defenseman Matt Gilroy and sophomore defenseman Brian Strait in transition and took a backhand shot. Bennett stopped the initial shot but the puck was able to somehow deflect through Bennett’s legs for the equalizer. It was Lenes’ 10th goal of the season and junior forward Dean Strong was credited with his 19th assist.
“We couldn’t get shots to the net,” Sneddon said, “but as time wore on, we used our speed to our advantage and capitalized on a couple huge opportunities.”
On the very next faceoff, sophomore forward Brayden Irwin took the puck from the left boards and muscled his way towards the net, getting past two BU defenders. He made a fancy back hand pass to freshman forward Jack Downing in front of the net who took the shot. Bennett made the save, but deflected the rebound right to sophomore forward Colin Vock, who dumped the puck in to give the Catamounts the lead for good. It was Vock’s ninth goal of the season.
The Catamounts seemed to deflate the Terriers after the second goal. They spent the rest of the game frustrating the Terriers by shifting their emphasis to clears and taking the occasional icing call. This would not allow the Terriers to rebound the puck off missed shots well and the frustration clearly showed, as the Terriers amassed four costly penalties in the third, two more than they had in the first two periods combined.
“We played a pretty solid defensive game,” Lenes said. “We tried to keep everything to the outside and when it got to the middle, we tried to clear everything. We did a good job keeping our cool.”
“I thought that’s all we needed,” Fallon added.
To add to the frustration, Fallon played a very strong game in net for the Catamounts, making 25 saves to assist an equally effective Catamount defense. Bennett had 13 saves.
Parker called a time out with 1:41 remaining and pulled Bennett. The Terriers still could not mount an effective rush and Catamount junior forward Corey Carlson added an empty netter to ice it at 19:20 in the third.
The loss effectively ends the season for BU, as the chances of making the NCAA tournament are slim. The chances become even slimmer considering out-of-conferences losses to such teams as Harvard and Dartmouth.
Captains MacArthur and Brian McGuirk were visibly emotional in the post game, as they had taken the rink as a Terrier for the last time.
“They played a great game and we didn’t play ours,” McGuirk said. “It’s pretty simple.”
After the game, the Terriers embraced each other on the rink bringing an end to an at-times tumultuous season. The team recovered from suspensions, insecurity at goaltending and injuries to recover and propel it back to contention. Unfortunately for BU, after a run that saw the Terriers go 11-2 since a first round loss to BC in the Beanpot, their season now comes to an end.
posted by Chris Aliano at
8:41 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home