Faceoffs No Sure Thing for BU

Terriers struggling to win the puck on the draw
By Chris Aliano


One of the more underrated and under-appreciated statistic in hockey is the faceoff and the effect it has on a team that wins them regularly.  Likewise the same could be said for the team who, for some reason, just can't get a piece of the draw time and time again.

On Saturday night, that team was Boston University.  The Terriers lost an astounding 41 faceoffs as opposed to winning just 19 against UMass-Lowell, a statistic that heavily factored in to their 3-2 loss at home.

While the Terriers certainly struggled in other aspects of their play against the River Hawks, most notably their physicality underneath the dots in both zones and their inability to bury loose rebounds in the third period, their incompetence on faceoffs is a statistic that both puzzles and alarms.

Senior forward Luke Popko, a player who the Terrier Faithful take pride in night after night for his ability to seemingly dominate on faceoffs, went a paltry 3-9 on faceoffs.  Sophomore Chris Connolly and freshman Ryan Santana did not fare any better, going 2-9 and 1-6, respectively.  Connolly, a left-winger to start the season who lined up at center for both games this weekend, will be taking more faceoffs than he may like now that junior forward Nick Bonino will be sidelined up to a month with a shoulder in jury.

Afterward, head coach Jack Parker noted three points of the contest that could be blamed for the Terriers' loss.  Needless to say, faceoffs was one of them.

"We were absolutely horrendous off of faceoffs," Parker said.  "When you win faceoffs, two things happen: you get shots on net, and you get absolute puck possession.

[Losing faceoffs is] demoralizing when you're on the penalty kill, because you win the faceoff and ice it.  When you're on the power play, you get it back, you get to keep it in the zone and you don't have to go back and get it and bring it back up."

Even the Terriers' best performer in faceoffs Saturday, sophomore Corey Trivino, was kept under .500, going 8-12 on the draw.  Last year, the Terriers went 1400-1372 on faceoffs.  Popko won 304 faceoffs and lost 264, while Trivino went 120-134.  This makes the fact that the Terriers have gone 134-177 on faceoffs this year all the more confusing.  While it's understandable that they will struggle with Bonino (373-362 last year, 21-22 this year) out of the lineup, this recent lapse is hardly warranted.

Parker hinted that the faceoff struggles could be more of an "ego thing" as well as a technical issue, saying the Terriers are individually trying to win faceoffs instead of making sure that the other team doesn't.

"It was as if the referee was throwing it back to the point in our zone, that's how easy they were winning it back."

One can only hope these issues will be corrected by the time Boston University next takes the ice, on Friday against Northeastern.  Otherwise, results like Saturday's could become a theme of the Terriers' season.