BU v. UMass Lowell Recap

The boys did it again, this time coming back in dramatic fashion, scoring 5 goals in the final frame to defeat the RiverHawks 7-4. It definitely didn’t look that way from the beginning, and the goaltending didn’t look strong again, but the Terriers did manage a win in a game that seemed like should’ve been over by the end of the second. Again, there were a lot of positives and a few negatives in the game.

First, the negatives:

• KG looks like he still hasn’t settled in well yet. Gave up 3 tough goals on only 6 shots, with one of em being a slow trickler that slid underneath his legs.
• Need to be more careful with the puck on the PP, and realize how much time is left.
• Our top line seems too need a bit of settling down so that they can score. MacArthur does have a bad wheel though, so that might have something to do with it.

Now the Positives

• 7 goals, from 6 different scorers (McGuirk, Popko (2), Wilson, Weston, Z. Cohen, Bonino)
• Bennett looked solid coming in cold.
• Zach Cohen demonstrated some nifty moves tonight, showing that he deserves some more time. Increased his speed a lot too.
• Jason Lawrence was buzzing all night, crashing the net and creating opportunities. Same with Ewing.
• Fourth line acted like a scoring line, controlling play and scoring opportune goals.
• Didn’t give up when they were down by 3.
• Powerplay looked decent, converting on one of four opportunities.
• PK was ok, did kill off one of the 5 v 3 situations.

Overall, the boys did a great job limiting the opportunities that Lowell had before they could really dominate the game, giving them only 4 in the first, and 4 in the 3rd. Luckily for us, it seemed as if Lowell let up a bit after taking a 3 goal lead, so that might have been their downfall. I didn’t see them play hard enough until there was only 2 minutes left in the game, so in my opinion Lowell deserved to lose. There’s too much talent on the BU team to let them take that many shots. I mean, a 42-17 shots advantage is huge. I can’t remember the last time we outshot an opponent by this much.

Also, I think that KG will be ok after this game, despite the poor play. Here’s a quote from Jack Parker after the game, he seems to think the same thing (From USCHO):

“I told him ‘You weren’t on top of your game; we had to get you out of there. You’ll be back in there, just keep working and don’t worry about it right now.’ That was all I said to him. As the game progressed, he was like another coach on the bench. He was pumping guys up, walking up and down, pounding on guys after they got goals, screaming at guys to play harder. I couldn’t believe that he could turn himself into such a great teammate after having such a disappointment like that. It’s a credit to him as an athlete and as a person.”

So it looks like Jack Parker still has confidence in Gillespie, so there’s no reason we shouldn’t… right? We’ll see what happens. I still see a split goaltending situation with it being leaned a bit towards Bennett. I was also extremely impressed with Zach Cohen, and sure enough, Parker had a great quote for him too:

“It was certainly a coming-out party for Zach Cohen,” Parker said. “I thought he looked like Frank Mahovlich a couple of times coming down the wing. I told him, ‘Geez, you actually are fast!’ We finally got him in shape; that’s why he’s fast.

He speaks truth, and I really did like what I saw tonight. The question remains now on who is going to sit next week, because Yip should be coming back. He’s going to bring back another huge physical presence. Our team does look bigger this year than it has in years past, so I do like that. One of our big men, Eric Gryba, does need to watch it a bit on his penalties, but it does seem like he is getting some of these penalties just for being a big guy, which could be an issue. (Photo Courtesy of The Daily Free Press)

Anyway, that’s it for me for now. Can’t wait till next Friday. Terriers will be taking on the Minutemen of Massachusetts, game time, 7:30 pm.

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