Game 34 Recap: BU 7, UMass 2

Following up their impressive come-from behind victory at the Mullins Center Friday night, the Terriers convincingly showed why they are the number 1 team in the nation, scoring 7 consecutive goals en route to a 7-1 victory at Agganis Arena on Saturday night.  6 different Terriers factored in the scoring, showing just how talented this team is from top to bottom. Despite giving up an early goal to UMass, BU was able to surge and completely dominate the game, making it look very easy in the process.

The first Minuteman goal was scored when a BU defender was trying to pass the puck to Luke Popko, who lost an edge and ended up falling into the boards.  UMass sniper James Marcou was right there to pick up now loose puck, and fire a shot that beat Kieran Millan high.  BU would respond less than a minute later, as the Saponari - Trivino - Connolly line would rush into the UMass zone.  Trivino would tap in an easy goal.  The rest of the period had UMass holding the advantage in shots and possession, as the Terriers seemed a bit on their heels.  Coach Parker himself said that despite being down 2-0 on Saturday night, he felt that his club played better in that first period than they did tonight:

“Last night after being down 2-0 I went into the dressing room and said, ‘You’re playing well—just keep playing hard. I like the way we’re playing.’ Tonight I went in and got into them real bad because they were playing like they thought they could just put on the uniform and play.” - USCHO

Parker’s pep talk would pay off in the second period.  From this point on, the game was complete domination by the Terriers.  UMass again fell victim to their own lack of discipline, with BU converting on the power play 3 times in the second period.  Goals by Nick Bonino, Colby Cohen, and Jason Lawrence (20 goals this season) would put the game in a position where you could feel it was already over.  The Minutemen penalty killers just couldn’t move with the Terrier power play units, getting beaten to lose pucks, muscled off the puck, and spun around.

The third period would be much of the same.  The Terriers converted for another trio of goals in the third period, slamming the door shut on any possibility of a Minutemen comeback.  Kieran Millan would 28 of the 30 shots he faced tonight, performing much better than the previous night.  Any sort of loss in confidence was not evident at all.  Millan looked like his normal self again, not allowing himself to be fazed by any goal he gave up.

The Good

• The BU power play was excellent the entire weekend, outworking the penalty killers in almost any situation, and basically doing whatever they wanted.
• Kieran Millan looked more like his normal self.
• Excellent penalty killing and overall team defense.

The Bad

• Brian Strait is injured and will likely be out for 2 weeks.
• Nothing bad to report this week play wise, but I would like to be able to see this team play like they did this weekend against a team like Northeastern.

On an additional note, a few players are getting very close to 100 points in their career.  Brandon Yip has 96, and Jason Lawrence has 88.  It’d be nice to see these seniors make it to that milestone before they leave school, and its definitely possible with a long playoff run, though Yip should make it anyway.  With 25 wins this season so far, this class of Terrier seniors stands at 90-42-21… here’s hoping that this class makes it to 100 wins (hopefully my math is right!)

The Terriers are next in action against Providence  College on Friday night at Schneider Arena.  Game time is set for 7pm.

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