Game 35 recap - BU 8, Providence 2

Having just returned from a trip down I-95 to Schneider Arena at Providence College, in a game the Terriers knew that they needed and thus could not concern themselves with Payback from the only loss that they have suffered since Thanksgiving when newcomer Friar Goalie Alex Beaudry previously looked to be every bit the second coming of former Friar Great and Hockey East legend Chris Terreri, BU was business like from the outset, having outshot Providence 8 to 5 in the first period but in all honesty 5 of the 8 were Not Grade A, but A+ scoring chances – with no lack of puck luck or bumpy ice surface to use as scapegoats as the passing was crisp and the shots were at all heights and angles and thus Alex Beaudry was guessing as opposed to STONING BU cold like he did in the first meeting.

B.U.’s approach to this game was 180 degrees from the previous time the two teams met, in early January with a strangely scheduled midweek game and at a time when Beaudry was the next big thing; The New Kid on The Block; about to win a slew of Hockey East player-of-the-week and Goaltending awards in his first month after arriving mid-season.  In a game that the Terriers should have been able to simply skate hard and assure themselves an interrupted winning streak, Beaudry was steaming hot in that early January outing, so rattling the Terriers in first meeting that they started aiming for that three inches in the corner, or not rushing for rebounds as the allegedly skilled stick handling that they had read about in scouting reports of Beaudry made for non-existent rebound shots in that inaugural 2008-9 season matchup, and not because Beaudry wasn’t giving up rebounds but because we were not positioning ourselves for rebounds. In that loss, rather than just throwing the puck at the net and believing with enough second chances they would get at least one more goal, The Terriers cursed their bad breaks and hence the quick and dirty synopsis of the last B.U. loss.

Thankfully, tonight the Terriers came out with a mission and again counted on senior leadership to deliver. The Class of 2009 did not disappoint. Knowing that they couldn’t depend on BC getting the job done this weekend and that their best Chance was to post a big score tonight, hope that between the end of their game tonight and The drop of their regular season finale on Sunday that BC would somehow find a way to steal two, or at worst one, point from the Huskies. But even though BU owns the tie-breaker should they wind up with the same number of points as Northeastern, Coach Parker has made it abundantly clear that he does not want to share the Hockey East regular season pennant with anyone, and his best chance at that is to take four points this weekend.

Tonight’s game left no doubt. The goalie who was being referred to in the same breath by some Providence alum only a month ago and who has been the steadying rudder on their ship was overwhelmed by the chances that BU had in the first period. It is not that they peppered the Friars with a large number of shots, but the quality of the shots to be marveled. In both the first and third periods BU scored on 50 percent of its shots – four for eight in the first and two for four in the third.

BU started with a Jason Lawrence slapper just past the midway point of the first period, followed shortly thereafter by a Brandon Yip goal, a Zach Cohen Goal, and a Nick Bonino goal in the span of eight minutes to go into the locker room with a 4-0 lead after one period.

The second period, BU outshot Providence, but it was actually the only period of the game that was actually evenly played. They played almost eight minutes of even hockey until Nick Bonino again scored as BU beautifully ran its umbrella Powe Play with the z pass coming from down low, making it harder to intercept, and immediately buried by Bonino for his second.

After a goal by Providence, BU scored again on a scrambled rebound in front of the Providence net, originally credited to Bonino and announced in the arena without ever a correction over the speaker that it was Bonino’s third goal of the evening, or so we thought at the time. Ironically, this is not the only play nor the only hat trick that was affected by the fact that there was NO VIDEO REPLAY available for the referees on the evening. The official scorer’s at some point changed this goal to Jon McCarthy and truthfully, no one on the BU bench knew as when Bonino was announced as First Star after the game he was announced with three goals and two assists and not the opposite, the funny thing is that is honestly what his line should have been, but I am glad that Yip was able to get his first career Hat Trick.

The second period came to an end at 6-1 with a pathetic crowd in the house. It was announced at 1500 but between the first and second periods I counted half of the arena, and there were only 335 or so in the one half of the arena, and the fans were spread out evenly SO AT MOST there was a crowd of 800 to be extremely generous.

Ironically enough, the Terriers returned to scoring at a 50 percent clip in the third period, and the seventh and most beautiful goal was the seventh overall Terrier goal, which was credited to Yip, never questioned, but I was not even 10 feet from the play with a perfect view as Bonino made a beautiful drop pass to Yip, then skated behind him and to the far post and Yip put the puck hard towards the net and was credited with the goal, but I saw clear as day that the goal was actually redirected by the hard charging Bonino, whose momentum at the time that he redirected a puck that was on its way in anyhow in all likelihood his entire body momentum was taking him further away from the goal, after coming to a hard stop on the initial charge, and towards the boards yet he was unmarked and he redirected Yip’s goal to guarantee that it made it in the half-empty net in what was one of the most beautiful goals of the year, but one that will never be credited to him as again THERE WAS NO CAMERA and Bonino was still under the impression he had a Hat Trick at the time so arguing at the scorer’s table for a fourth (which we later found out would have been third) goal seemed unsavory, and thankfully our terriers are classier than that. Regardless of whether it is a phantom goal on Yip’s part or not is irrelevant (if he hadn’t been credited with the goal, he would have rightfully been credited with an assist) as he absolutely scored the eighth goal which made him the second member of the Terriers current roster to join the 100 point club.

After the game, which was very chippy and had an awful lot of interferences by Providence in particular go uncalled by the refs who seemed to keep in mind – albeit subconsciously – that it was Senior Night for The Providence Friars and if the game had been called even at average league standards BU would have had at least four to six additional power plays, and I honestly think that neither the refs NOR Coach Parker wanted BU to reach double digits in this game. And it could have been the case easily.

As you know by now, due to some boneheaded decisions made down the stretch BC blew a chance to win at Matthews outright in regulation in the final seconds and again with just under a minute in the OT, on a night where BU should have at worst picked up a point on Northeastern they go home having gained no ground.

Still, assuming BC can find its way to earn at least a point at home against Northeastern in the comfy confines of the Snooks Arena tonight; do not expect the Terriers to take Providence lightly in their home finale. Knowing going in that two points may be the difference between a win (or a tie) for the Hockey East title, BU has learned the hard way this season in having home and homes in which they dominated the first game turn into barnburners for the second game. After the point left at Maine that is still haunting this team and might actually not allow the Terriers any say in their own fate for the League Title on Sunday, BU realizes that Providence has beaten them once already this season, have outstanding senior leadership in the Cavanaugh cousins, and so look for them to come out hard if anything at all is on the line – and even if not in HE standings 2 points is a must to ensure that a stumble in The HE playoffs, God Forbid, will not cost us a number one seed, and taking four this weekend as well as winning our first round hosted of HE playoffs virtually ensures a number one seed for the NCAAs, regardless of what happens in the semis and finals of the tourney (which they have every intention of winning, but it is good to leave yourself a soft landing).

Note: It was nice to see Senior Steve Smolinsky skating in place of the injured Brian Strait Friday. He started at defense opposite Matt Gilroy, logged a lot of ice time, played well enough for the coach to use him on special teams in both Power Play and PK situations, and even had him run the umbrella several times on the PP from the point of the umbrella, a slot usually reserved for Mattie Gilroy or David Warsofsky.

SCOTT MARTINEAU IS A CONTRIBUTOR TO LET’S GO TERRIERS

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!