Terriers Skate by UMass-Lowell In Overtime

Colby Cohen notches game-winner; Warsofsky nets two for BU
By Chris Aliano

LOWELL - The No. 4 Boston University men’s ice hockey team came away with a thrilling 5-4 victory in overtime against No. 9 UMass-Lowell Friday night at Tsongas Arena.

Junior defenseman Colby Cohen netted the game-winner with 1:04 to play in the sudden-death period, while sophomore blue-liner David Warsofsky scored his first two goals of the season to propel the Terriers (2-2-0, 1-1-0 HEA) back to .500 on the young season. The River Hawks (3-2-0, 1-1-0 HEA) will look to bounce back tomorrow night in Boston in the second game of the home-and-home weekend doubleheader.


With time ticking away in overtime, Cohen collected a pass from teammate Kevin Shattenkirk just inside the point and slid a shot outside of the reach of UMass-Lowell goalkeeper Carter Hutton, handing the Terriers back-to-back wins for the first time this season after dropping the first two games of the 2009-10 campaign. On the play, Warsofsky lined up as a center before setting the screen that allowed the puck to sneak by Hutton undetected until it was too late.

“It felt kind of good,” Warsofsky said afterward. “Everyone takes it for granted just how important that screen really is.”

The sudden-death goal was just another to add to Cohen’s career. The Villanova, Pennsylvania native scored the game-winner for the Terriers in the national championship game last April. Cohen credited his teammates for giving him the opportunity to end it.

“Good screen by Dave, good pass by Shatty and a little luck on the shot,” Cohen said. “A lot of times in overtime you get too excited but we settled down and won the puck and ultimately it led to a shot with a good screen.”

It was the first time the two teams had faced off since the Terriers captured the Hockey East Tournament championship against the River Hawks last march. UMass-Lowell was looking for a bit of revenge against a team that went 4-0 against them last season despite the River Hawks either leading or tied with BU after two periods in each of last season’s regular season contests.

That was still the case on Friday. UMass-Lowell took a 3-2 lead into the third period after a scoreless first. The Terriers were the first to strike at 6:42 in the second frame. Freshman forward Alex Chiasson caught the River Hawks in transition, taking the puck up the ice and firing a one-timer from the slot that beat Hutton glove-side. It was just the beginning of the back-and-forth affair that saw the Terriers score five goals for the first time this season.

“It was nice for us to get five goals, that’s for sure,” head coach Jack Parker said. “We’ve been struggling to score, and getting five tonight was big.”

After Paul Worthington got Lowell on the board at 9:55 in the second, Warsofsky answered two minutes later with a shorthanded tally, the first such goal for the Terriers this season. Warsofsky took a pass from teammate Chris Connolly after he slid behind the River Hawk defensemen undetected. He had Hutton all to himself and made the most out of the chance, burying the wrister from the slot to put the Terriers up 2-1.

The River Hawks stormed back with two unanswered goals to close out the second period. Michael Scheu and Michael Budd put their team on top at the intermission, but it was a miscue by Hutton that allowed the Terriers to tie it in the third. Senior forward Zach Cohen fired what appeared to be a harmless shot just inside the blue line, buying his teammates time to change lines. Instead, Hutton couldn’t handle the shot and watched it flick off his glove and into the net, allowing the Terriers to tie the contest at 1:49 in the third.

“Hockey is a game of mistakes,” Parker said. “We made a couple of key turnovers that gave them goals, and they probably would like to have a couple of goals back that we got.”

Warsofsky put the Terriers back on top at 14:22 with a low-and-away shot that got by Hutton. On the play, junior forward Joe Pereira played the puck off the board and found sophomore Andrew Glass at the far circle. Glass took a chance at Hutton, and Warsofsky put the rebound home. He misplayed the puck at first, and the error benefited the Terriers, as Hutton had anticipated a quick wrister to his stick side. Instead, the hockey equivalent of a pump-fake put Hutton out of position, and Warsofsky quickly recovered and slid the puck into the net.

Before the Terriers could celebrate, Lowell bounced right back on the effort of River Hawk defenseman Nick Schaus. Matt Ferreira played a puck from behind the net in attempt to get Terrier netminder Kieran Millan out of position. Schaus then took the pass and had a wide-open net on the near side. He missed on his first attempt but found the twine on the second.

That set up Cohen’s dramatics in overtime.

After the game, Parker was impressed with his team’s ability to fend off the River Hawk power play, preventing Lowell from converting on five chances in the contest. The Terriers, meanwhile, converted on just one: the game-winner.

An aspect the Terriers will have to work on heading into Saturday’s rematch will be the play behind the net and below the circles in both zones. Parker felt his team was outworked beneath the dots, allowing the River Hawks to have many more opportunities than the Terriers.

“They played more of their game than we played our game,” Parker said.

A contributing factor to Lowell’s 36-28 shots-on-goal lead was the River Hawks style of play and how it adheres well to the rink dimensions at Tsongas Arena, also home of the New Jersey Devils’ AHL-affiliate, the Lowell Devils. The nets in Tsongas are closer to the end boards than at other arenas, boding well for the River Hawks’ game plan. Time and time again Lowell would dump the puck off the glass and look to play the rebound in front of the net, catching Millan off guard in the process.

While Millan let up four goals for just the third time in his career, he made several outstanding saves in preserving his team’s win. His 32 saves on the night come six days after matching his career-high 33 saves against Michigan. Hutton, meanwhile, came up with 23 saves in the losing effort.

The two teams will square off Saturday night in the second game of the home-and-home at Agganis Arena. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.