Identity Crisis

Upperclassmen struggle in season-opener
By Chris Aliano

If one thing is apparent after Friday night’s 3-2 season-opening and conference-opening loss to the University of Massachusetts, it’s that this year’s installment of the Boston University men’s ice hockey squad will need to find its identity. And fast.

Time and time again Friday night, the Terriers were outskated, out maneuvered and out skilled by their opponents. They looked listless in their own zone, hapless in the neutral zone and clueless in the Minutemen zone. It was as if the upperclassmen on the ice, Kevin Shattenkirk ('11) and Colby Cohen ('11), Nick Bonino ('11) and Zach Cohen ('10), and the rest of the heroes from last year’s championship-winning squad were expecting to see last year’s seniors on the ice to finish the job for them.



Head coach Jack Parker certainly thought so, noting afterward how poorly his upperclassmen performed in the first meaningful game since April 11. Just as was the case throughout the first two exhibition contests, Parker remarked how his team kept trying to “look cute” and go above and beyond to get on the scoreboard, as if only those plays worthy of a Sports Center Top Ten recognition were the only means to finding the back of the net.

“It looked like we thought there were degrees of goals,” Parker said. “We wanted a ‘10’ goal instead of a ‘2’ goal… As if they were going to hold up and see what the cards look like after we score because they were trying to do too many pretty plays and not enough get the puck to the net and get a goal.”

53, 42, and 41. Not following? Those numbers represent the amount of shots on goal the Terriers have amounted over their first three games (two exhibitions and Friday night at UMass) in 2009-10. 136 shots on goal, 7 goals scored. That’s a 5 percent conversion rate. I’m no mathematician, but those stats can’t be a good sign. The responsible party? Parker could only point to the upperclassmen, and was shocked the end result of the game was no worse than what it was.

“Having as many of our guys not play up to their capabilities, I’m surprised at the score,” he said. “If you told me we were going to have that many guys [upperclassmen] struggle, I would’ve thought the score would’ve been much greater.”