Game 17 Recap: BU 3, UMass Lowell 2
December 13, 2008 by Joe
Joe Pereria was the #1 Star
The fourth line provided the fire tonight as the Terriers took down UMass Lowell, 3-2 in front of a crowd of 4520 at Agganis Arena. BU would be playing from behind for quite a bit of time tonight, but managed to generate a good deal of pressure and get a few nice bounces.UMass Lowell however, played very well, despite losing goaltender Nevin Hamilton to injury. For BU, Joe Pereria had a goal and an assist.
From the beginning, the Terriers did not look sharp. A bad turnover just over a minute into the game led to an open shot for David Vallorani that managed to find it’s way through goaltender Kieran Millan’s 5-hole. It looked like the shot came a lot softer than he thought, bouncing off the inside of his leg and past him for a goal. It was Vallorani’s fourth goal of the season. BU would not respond until late in the period, when Joe Pereria found a loose puck in front of Nevin Hamilton and banged it homewith just 57 seconds remaining. Assists on Pereria’s goal went to David Warsofsky and Kevin Shattenkirk. It wasn’t a strong period for the Terriers though, as UML looked faster, winning a lot of races to loose pucks.
In the second period, the teams played pretty evenly, despite BU holding the territorial advantage. It would be UML who would light the lamp first, as a Maury Edwards floater found its way past Millan high on the glove side. Pretty weak goal in my opinion, it really seemed that he had a great chance to pick it out of the air. Probably more difficult to do than say, but from what I’ve seen it was something that could’ve been saved. Luckily for BU, the fourth line managed to save the day again, as Zach Cohen buried one right in front of the net off a pass from Luke Popko. The second assist went to Joe Pereria, who played well tonight, even though he didn’t get much ice time. BU did have a goal waved off in the second, as it was ruled to have been kicked in by Chris Higgins. From what I could tell… that didn’t happen. Also, Nevin Hamilton would leave near the end of the second with an apparent leg injury. Carter Hutton, who I thought was injured, would replace him in net. Anyway… onto the third.
BU’s power play would flex it’s muscles in the third. With Patrick Cey in the box for tripping, Chris Higgins would tip in Colby Cohen’s shot from the point. This added to Cohen’s Hockey East leading (for defensemen) points total. Pretty surprising that he has that many points considering he hasn’t exactly been stellar on the defensive end. He actually had a few bad passes today that nearly led to goals. Anyway, UML would pull Hutton for the extra attacker but wasn’t able to generate any good opportunities, and BU would earn the victory. Chris Higgins did have this to say:
“It was kind of ironic after they called the first one back,” Higgins said. “I had no kicking motion whatsoever [on the goal that was waved off] .” - USCHO
The Good
- Penalty Kill was excellent tonight, killing off all 6 UML opportunities.
- The Fourth line generated a good amount of pressure, and supplied a lot of offense…a good sign that the Terriers are very deep.
- BU moved the puck around very well when they had it.
The Bad
- The PP. While scoring a goal, the PP units looked pretty stagnant.
- Millan has had better games. Both of the goals he gave up looked pretty weak to me.
- UML seemed to have better overall speed. This is something that will come into play as the season moves along. BU is fast, but seems to lose too many races to loose pucks.
I twittered… or tweeted updates to this game as it progressed. You can follow me on twitter to get in game updates! They’re also there on the sidebar here. If you follow me, I will likely follow you as well!
More game recaps available: Hockey East — USCHO
Overall, a decent effort from the Terriers. I’d like to see BU get stronger in their next game. Hopefully the long layoff doesn’t hurt. BU is next in action against RPI on January 2, 2009, at the Denver Cup. Game time is set for 4:37 MT (7:37 ET) @ Magness Arena in Denver.
Image Credit: Hockey East Online
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Your site is way too technologically advanced for me haha.
How do you think BU will cope without Wilson? (and Shattenkirk of course)
Haha… I didn’t do most of the design work on it.. but I like the way its working for me. Thanks though!
I’m very curious as to how we’ll cope without Wilson. He’s been playing a very slick game this year, moving the puck around very well. He compliments Higgins and Lawrence very well…which is especially good for Lawrence who isn’t really that good at creating his own play. He’s more of a banger picking up the trash in front of the net.
We could potentially face Denver without Wilson/Shatty. I don’t know who gets time in their place. I suspect Andrew Glass or Kevin Gilroy (hopefully Glass.. I think he’s shown he’s better than Gilroy as of right now) will move up into the lineup… Saponari may go to line #1 as he’s been thrown around. Higgins could center that line.
Whatever the result, playing without those two will really show what this team is made of.
I think the WJC break is coming at just the right time for Wilson. I have not been impressed with him during the last three or so games, and I believe playing in the WJCs will give him the same boost as it did last year.
Shatty will be much more difficult to replace, because he has so come into his own this year as both a defensemen and an offensive threat.
I also think not having Wilson around to rely on might reenergize JLo and Higgins. (I’m crossing my fingers that this happens, because we all know who my favorite is.) I know the former hasn’t been doing much as of late, but if you look at his stats, he has never done well at this point in the season. I expect a scoring outburst from both as we enter January.
I’m really hoping that Wilson will get the same confidence boost that he got from going to the WJCs last year, and that it will rub off on Shattenkirk as well. On D, Ruikka might get some time, but the Smolinsky experiment was a disaster I think. I don’t know who will replace him, especially since Ruikka has been hurt.
As for the re-energizing of J-Lo and Higgy, I’d be more than happy to see that! If Wilson comes back and those two are hot, we’ve got a very very dangerous top line. Do you know if anybody will be carrying the Denver Cup so I can watch?
CN8 was originally to air the Denver Cup on the 2nd, but given that they are supposed to cease operations in “early January,” I don’t know what the plans are now. Comcast Sports Net said they would be picking up the majority of the package, but I don’t know when they start. I might have to email my friendly commenter from Comcast Sports Net and see if he might have more details.
If they’re not showing it, I may be forced to go out to the Fours…. usually they have the satellite package that will pick up all the College Hockey games. Me likey their Buffalo Chicken Nachos….
Maybe this needs to be a joint feature on our blogs - “Places you can watch the Denver Cup without spending $700 on a plane ticket to Denver.” I’ll start researching.
Sounds like a good idea to me… I’ll do some research and try to get that posted up later this week. Who knows, maybe we’ll get some fellow Terrier fans to join us!