Seniors, Trusted Second Goalie Keys to Friday’s Comeback Win

After possibly leaving a point on the ice, frankly, by inexplicably sitting Kieran Millan while on his way to improving his greatest winning percentage to start an NCAA career start record that he set (breaking BU’s own and current Terrier Women’s Ice Hockey Coach Brian Durocher) after getting Grant Rollheiser much-needed ice minutes the previous evening when The Terriers jumped out to a multi-goal lead and had a four goal insurmountable lead less than 20 seconds into the second period in the first game at Orono two weekends ago, pulling Millan and getting Rollheiser into that first game made good sense as Maine had already pulled Darling and waived the white flag. But the interruption of the streak that the team and Millan were on and subsequent starting of Rollheiser in Game Two of that series, when Maine clearly was going to do everything to shake things up and emerge with at least a point from their series with BU this season, cost BU a weekend sweep as Rollheiser in that game was solid if unspectacular but DID ALLOW a soft goal and we wound up taking three points when there were four to be had in that series at Orono.

But the carryover effect to sitting Millan was demonstrable by the lethargy shown by the team in the latter two periods of Game One of the home and home series against Northeastern last weekend. And Millan’s winning streak, which had been hand-in-hand simultaneous with his starting streak, having been interrupted clearly played mind games with the freshman Millan and more importantly with the team’s expectancy of earning two points every time out so long as the Terriers outworked their opponent.

Jump ahead to last night. After taking 25 of a possible 28 points in 14 prior games to the last game at Orono, including the Rollheiser start and last weekends two ties against the Huntington Street Huskies and suddenly the team that had been the hottest in the country came into last night on a three game winless streak and looked to be on the way to taking zero points in what would have been game four of a winless streak, as Millan lets in one soft goal and one goal on a breakaway where he didn’t realize that there was a second skater breaking in alone on him until it was too late. The two goal deficit at the end of the first period could easily be blamed as much on Colin Wilson’s seeming desire to set up the perfect goal on the Power Play instead of just powering the puck to and on the net. At the time minutes into the second period that the coaching staff pulled Millan, the fact that we had given up three goals was the least of our worries. Our PP, which had been shut down by Northeastern both games effectively last weekend, was getting opportunities aplenty but nobody was finishing.

When Coach Jack Parker yanked Millan after the third goal, the message was sent to the team: No complaining about pucks dancing over blades, or composite sticks breaking at unfortunate times; it was time to go dance with the date that brung ya, which in BU’s case is its senior class. Their mixture of on-ice Hockey IQ as well as talent is at the core of what makes this team a special one. Ergo when Matt Gilroy scored the goal to cut the lead to two on PP rushing the net and putting away his own rebound, he reminded his team that they were not up against bad puck luck NOR was this goalie the second coming of Ken Dryden or Rick DiPietro. We did not get to have the leading Power Play percentage in the country by looking for the perfect goal, but by trusting in our special teams play. After Gilroy netted a second goal on another PP minutes later, not surprisingly another member of this special senior class Joey Lawrence puts home goals three, four, and five in getting the Natural Hat Trick, and by two minutes into the third period the question of which maxim would hold true and which would become a footnote on the season – that BU had not come back from a two goal deficit at the end of the first period on the season to win a game OR that BU had won every game that Mattie Gilroy had scored a goal in – became rhetorical as the rout was on and the two goal deficit at the end of a period no longer being insurmountable for the 2008-9 Terrier team.

And though I am critical of having sat Millan for Game Two of the Maine series, I am overwhelmingly gushing with praise for Coach Parker for having the confidence in Rollheiser and knowing that the boys needed a wake up delivered that for some reason did not resonate with his speech between periods one and two and not hesitating in inserting Rollie in a game that BU really needed as Northeastern was already up three goals at home against Lowell at the time the goalie switch was made. If this team was EXACTLY the same roster but had the goalies of the 2008 team on the roster the move could not have been made, as neither Brett Bennett NOR Karson Gillespie STOLE a single game for the 2007-8 Terrier team and to be honest the best that Terriers coaches could hope for with the goalies of last season was that they not cost us games. But in going from having zero trusted backstops to two in one season, Parker was able, without hesitation, to pull Millan to deliver the jolt that his words in the locker room could not, and know that Rollie would step in and play like the starter he would be on most other teams. Yes, our Chesnut Hill rivals rode a single frosh goalie to a Beanpot and a NCAA title last season, but how is that working out for them now that Muse is having something of a sophomore slump? And while I would love to hold on to Rollheiser and Millan for four years apiece as last night was Exhibit A for why it is important to have talent in your goaltending tandem, I realize that might be a pipe dream. Still, Millan – while arguably the team MVP thus far this season – might do well to watch from the bench again tonight. Rollheiser earned a start in not allowing a single goal in several Grade A chances that he stoned last night, and after having started the season in a rotation that Millan took over in part by necessity due to injury and in part due to the fact that a number one goalie had to emerge between the two and Millan took advantage of the opportunity and did just that, so too will the perspective gained from being pulled that while it was indeed great when he stole two points for us in the second game of a four point weekend on the Whittemore Sheet at UNH — which was the first time since Curry’s regime that a goalie had outright stolen a game for the Terriers — the realization that the team does not need Millan to stand on his head to win is good for Millan when he return’s relaxed and ready, be it tonight or next weekend, and is good for the 20 skaters in front wearing the BOSTON sweaters who also needed reminding that whether or not we go on a run deep into the NCAA’s is not dependent on whether Millan or Rollheiser is in net; but it is dependent on even the most talented of the youthful high draft picks on this team (Wilson, Shattenkirk, et al) learning a lesson that was driven home by two members of our stellar senior class last night: We are likely the most talented roster in the in college hockey on paper at both the forward and the defense position when you compare rosters, but the way to win games is to return to the form that allowed us to play to a perfect record while two of our most promising players were representing our Country in the World Juniors yet we didn’t miss a beat in absolutely dismantling Denver in their own holiday tournament. The talent, leadership and experience of our seniors in combination with a two goalie tandem in whom the entire team trusts are the key to what makes this team a truly special one. That trusted backstop duo, in combination with the natural talents of Colin Wilson, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Nick Bonino are needed performers in this stretch run to ensure that this team achieves all that it can, but #’s 3, 13, 33, and the rest of Boston University’s talented underclassmen must look to complement the seniors, and not each other, if this team is going to make a deep run at a successful and memorable April trip to see the Cherry blossoms in our Nation’s Capital.

Scott Martineau will be a regular contributor to Let’s Go Terriers!

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