Game #11 Recap: BU 3, Northeastern 0

The currently #2 ranked Boston University Terriers wasted no time in turning the ship back on course as the Terriers fought to secure a 3-0 victory over #6 Northeastern Sunday night.  The Terriers were fueled by an 18 save shutout by Freshman netminder Kieran Millan, and by sophomore Nick Bonino, who scored the game winning goal.

The Terriers did not start the game with the same energy that led them to the #1 ranking last weekend.  They were, however,  able to maintain pressure on the Huskies, and Junior netminder Brad Thiessen (23 saves).  Playing a bit more carefully after the blowout at Massachusetts, BU did get some quality chances in the first, but were stonewalled by spectacular goaltending from Thiessen.

BU managed to break through in the second period off a rush led by Matt Gilroy.  Gilroy fired a pass towards the net which bounced off senior captain John McCarthy.  Nick Bonino found the puck and sniped it past Thiessen for his team leading 13th point.  The lead would double less than two minutes later when a rebound off sophomore Joe Pereria’s shot was collected by Andrew Glass, who buried the puck in the net for his first collegiate goal.

A nice give and go from Colin Wilson to Chris Higgins sealed the deal in the third period.

Pros

• Much much better puck handling.  The Terriers were able to drive the puck deep in the zone and move it around.
• Hard work from the checking lines.  Zach Cohen was particularly good at keeping the puck moving.  Hopefully he will get rewarded with some more playing time.
• The penalty kill was tremendous, in effect eliminating Northeastern’s power play.  The PK unit ensured that NU never got any flow.

Cons

• Despite outshooting Northeastern, BU did allow NU to keep it in the zone several times for extended periods when even handed.
• Kieran Millan had to make some highlight reel saves (as did Thiessen).  While NU did not get as many opportunities as the Terriers, they had many more quality chances than they should have.

Overall, this was a very solid game for BU, and a good rebound from the game @ Massachusetts.  There was good play from all four lines, and the DMen were very responsible with the puck for the most part.  BU managed to capitalize on some Husky mistakes, but will still need to improve on moving the puck around to get better opportunities.  Brad Thiessen may have been the best goaltender that BU has encountered just yet, and BU will need to face him two more times.  Thiessen takes up a lot of room and can move quite well, so BU will need to focus on grabbing the rebounds that were often left in front of the net with no one in the middle.  Pretty goals are nice, but hard work and ugly goals win games.

BU is next in action at Agganis on Friday, November 14th against Vermont.  Game time is scheduled for 7pm.

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