Game #13 Preview: #8 BU vs. St. Lawrence

Continuing their OOC Schedule, #8 BU squares off against St. Lawrence at Agganis Arena on Saturday night.  Again, the Terriers are the favorites on paper, but that has been the tale for the majority of the games that BU has played this year.  As we’ve seen, that doesn’t always have a positive effect on the result, but let’s see how the teams match up.

The Terriers hold both the offensive and defense edge, but it can’t be said that St. Lawrence can’t play Hockey East, having defeated Massachusetts last night.. albeit barely.  The Saits held a 4-1 lead with under a minute to go, but nearly gave up the lead, allowing two goals in the final minute of play as UMass skated with the extra attacker.  This is uncharacteristic of the Saints’ PK, which is killing at a stingy 90.4%. (Yes, I know it’s not really PK, but with against extra skaters!)  Again, I like the Terriers PP in this situation, but only if they can move as they did against Michigan, not as they’ve been doing.

Who to Watch Out For

Alex Petizian - The Saints’ starting goaltender has a nice 2.28 GAA, allowing 23 goals in 10 games.  He’s averaging about 27 saves per game.  His numbers are resemblant of his 2006-7 numbers, where he managed 19 wins for the Saints.  BU has a way of making goalies look very good, so they’ll have to try to avoid that with Petizian.  He was the goalie of record in the Saints’ most recent win against BU… ominous.

Brock McBride - The Saints’ current leading scorer, he has 11 points in 12 games.  He’s also a very physical player, having racked up 34 PIMs in the same amout of games.  Besides the name resemblance to a certain Boston College player, he looks to lead his team in all aspects of the game.

Other Considerations

While the Saints are killing at a high percentage, they are also quite undisciplined, allowing many opportunities on the PP throughout the game.  BU will need to find their PP and take advantage of this.  This will help if Bonino is back, as he seems to have the vision to create his own opportunities.  However, the defense will need to step up very much for the Terriers, they cannot allow the shorthanded opportunities that they have allowed in their past games.  Will we see Ruikka for the first time tonight?  Gaudet maybe?

Game time is set for 7 PM at Agganis Arena.  You can catch the BU broadcast online from BU’s official website or on AM 1510.  Since their radio is not as local, you can catch the Saints broadcast online here.

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