Connolly Goal Caps BU Comeback

In the closest most hard fought game of the season, BU was able to come back and beat what seemed to be a much better Lowell team the a night before.

BU celebrates after Chriss Connollys game winning goal
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

It was slow goings in the early stages of the game, as the scoring chances came few and far between. Many shots were blocked and the goalies stop any shots that did make it to the goal. BU netminder, Grant  Rollheiser made 24 saves in his second start of the year.

Max Nicastro was called for a 5 minute major for hitting from behind little less then 6:30 into the game. BU was able to kill of the penalty off, plus Lowell was called for to many men on the ice with about a minute and a half left on their power play.


Throughout the the first and second period the teams could not get on the board. There were many reasons why BU was not able to score. One was (at least is seamed) that every pass was just a little behind the intended receiver or a little too far in front. Also, the Terrier did not shoot enough and any shot that got to goalie Doug Carr was an easy save. 

Finally in the third Lowell, who had been out playing BU, got on the board. Joesph Pendenza took a pass from Joe Caveney at the top of the crease. With a one time wrist shot he beat beat Rolleiser who had no time to react.

BU broke the ice with an extra attacker on because of a delayed Lowell penalty. In a huge scrum infront of the goal, Alex Chiasson was able to some how (a) find the puck and then (b) put it in the back of the net.

After the goal BU had all the momentum. With less then a minute to go, David Warsofsky made a mad rush up the boards. He then fed Chris Connolly at the bottom of the slot who some how squeeked the puck between Carr's legs and in.

“It’s kind of a risky play because if ‘Conno’ misses the pass, they’re going the other way,” Warsofsky said. “I saw him out of the corner of my eye and luckily the pass got through; there were a lot of sticks there.”-USCHO

BU was able to hold on after Lowell pulled their goalie and win 2-0 in front of 4829 at Agganis Arena.

The Terriers will take on Maine next Saturday at Agganis. This will be the team's first real teast of the year.

Game Photos
Box Score

Terriers Topple Riverhawks

Last night BU stayed undefeated by crushing Lowell 5-1 at Tsongas Center. Kieran Millan once again played up to his high standards as he nearly missed recording his first shutout of the year.

Millan stops 1 of 27 Lowell shots, this one coming in the
second period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens) 

During a Lowell power play in the first, BU took the lead. David Warsofsky picked up a loose puck in the BU zone. He was then able to create space with his speed and find Alex Chiasson with a backhand pass on a two on one. Chassion took the pass and shot it all in one motion beating Lowelll goalie Marc Boulanger, who had no chance at stopping it. This was the team's first short handed goal of the season.

BU received excellent goaltending throughout  the game, but especially in the first. Lowell did out play the Terriers for the first few minutes of the game. Millan had to make some big saves to keep it 0-0 and maintain the lead.

In the second BU's offence exploded, scoring a season high four goals in one period.

Chris Connolly was able to tip Ryan Santana's shot past  Boulanger. The goal came less then two minutes into the period.

Not long after the Connolly goal, Corey Trivino picked up a loose puck by the side of the net. Like only he can, Corey seemed to take his sweet time to put it over the goal line.

Less than a minute later Sahir Gill found Charlie Coyle on a two on one. Coyle roofed his shot into the top corner over  Boulanger glove.

Gill would grab the second short handed goal of the contest on a break-a-way. He pulled his forehand backhand move on  Boulanger, and slid the puck between his legs. Gill pulled the same move on UMass goalie, Jeff Teglia one week ago.

At the end of the second BU lead 5-0.

Lowell's lone goal came from Joe Caveney in a scrum in front of the BU net.

This was BU's first win by more then one goal. The two teams will face off again tonight at Agganis Arena.

Game Photos
Box Score

A Weekend With the Riverhawks

This weekend BU will try and match the 2002 season start at 6-0-1, the best start of the century. Tonight BU will play at the Tsongas Arena, home of the Lowell Riverhawks. The next night the two teams will square of at Agganis on the back end of the Terrier's first home and home series of the year.

This season Lowell is 1-2-2. Their only win comes in overtime against Providence. They managed ties verses Niagara and RIT. They got waxed by Maine in the first weekend of the season, 8-2 and last Saturday lost to Northeastern 3-1.

Don't let their record fool you. The Riverhawks are a dangerous team and know how to play BU very well. This weekend will be hard fought, but I think BU should manage at least three points.

Millan gets the start in net tonight, while Rollie will see his first action since the Icebreaker on Saturday.

I will be attending both games so there will be game photos from both games.

What To Watch For... 

• Maury Edwards, Lowell defenseman. Edwards is the back bone of the the Lowell defensive corp. He is, and if he's not he should be, in the discussion as one of the best defenseman in the league. He scores goals and is also very solid on the blueline position. As a senior, Edwards will wear the "A" as the assistant Captain of the Riverhawks. BU must keep Edwards at bay this weekend to have success.

•   Scott Campbell, Lowell forward. Campbell is the Lowell's most productive forward. In his career with the Riverhawks  he has scoreed 39 goals, including 2 this season. The Terriers need to keep an eye on him, especially on the power play.

• The Tsongas Arena boards. The board at Tsongas are like trampolines. If you haven't got it yet they are very lively and Lowell knows how to use them to their advantage. Last season I saw Lowell intentionally shooting the puck wide so they could get the bounce from the boards. They did score on  this against the Terriers last season.

The Last Time They Met...
Was February 5th. BU won 3-2, thanks two short handed goals, one from David Warsofsky and the other from Zach Cohen.

Cisse Done For The Year

In the middle of the first game of the season, against Wisconsin, one of BU's top freshman, Yasin Cisse went down next to the Terrier bench. He limped down the tunnel and into the locker room of the Scottrade Center. Cisse looked as if he hurt his ankle. This was confirmed when I saw him on crutches with his ankle rapped,while he was at diner with the team, after they won the Icebreaker.

It is now thought that Cisse will miss the remainder of the season with a high ankle sprain.

This is not the first time the Cisse will miss a long period of time. Last year, while with the Des Moines Buccaneers, he's season was cut short after a tendon in his leg was severed by an other skate blade. He missed from December on.  


In Other News
Tonight coach Jack Parker win receive the Lester Patrick award.The LP award is giving annually to recognize an individual's contribution to hockey in the United States by the NHL and USA Hockey. Parker, along with BC head coach Jerry York and Bruins great, Cam Neely will be given the award at a diner at the Garden tonight.


BU's Parker earns Patrick award with great service, an article from NHL.com

Freshman standout, Sahir Gill was also featured on NHL.com on the hot list. 

News and Notes

Great. BU is undefeated. But who have they played? Two teams, and this upcoming weekend's series with Lowell makes three teams picked by the coaches to finish in the bottom of Hockey East. Every game has been won by just one goal. Granted, over the weekend BU was up by two with less than a minute left to play and the other team had pulled their goalie. So, good BU is doing what they should do, beat poor teams.

The opening weekend in St. Louis at the Icebreaker has really been their only test so far. Beating two ranked teams in a neutral site in a tournament is great, no doubt about that. Again, how good were the teams they beat there? Wisconsin is ranked 18th this week and Notre Dame is 13. To give the Terriers some credit, Notre Dame did take down then #1 Boston College over the weekend.

All I'm saying is it is great to win games, don't get me wrong, but when Maine comes to town on the 6th, BU better be ready. The Black Bears just wiped the floor with #2 North Dakota, beating them 7-3 and 4-2.

Player of the weekend
Kieran Millan: played the best weekend of his career since his stelar freshman campaign in which he was the National Rookie of the Year. Millan made a combined 62 (23 & 39) saves over the course of two games this weekend including a 39 save performance on Saturday, his second best ever as a Terrier.

At The Polls 

With two wins over the weekend, BU moved from 8th to 6th in the USCHO poll and picked up two first place votes. There was a new #1 this week, with BC falling to #2 and Miami jumping from 3 to 1. Minnesota Duluth, Michigan, and Yale round out the top five. I still have a problem with Yale being in the top 5. The Bulldogs play their first game of the season this weekend against Brown in the Ivy Shootout tournament. 

BU moved from 8 to 5 in the USA Today poll. Also the Terriers were in the 5 slot in Inside College Hockey's Power Rankings. BU Women's team was also ranked 5th in the USA Today poll. 

Go Figure 

Andrew Glass scored his first goal of the season Saturday, part of BU's 4-3 win over UMass. The next night his picture was on the ticket to the Providence game.

Around Hockey East

Along with BU winning two games, Maine also notched two victories against North Dakota, as stated before. Lowell beat Providence Friday 5-4 (ot) then lost to Northeastern 3-1 the next night. NU on  Friday night tied UNH 2-2. Saturday night also saw Vermont tie Merrimack 2-2, as well.

In Other News

Former Terrier Colin Wilson scored his second goal of the year, as his Nashville Predators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3. Wilson's goal was the game winning goal. Video Highlights

Terriers Slip By Friars, Stay Undefeated

Ryan Ruikka scored his first goal as a
terrier in the first period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens) 

This weekend marked the first time BU has played back to back games and it showed tonight. In the beginning half of the first period BU looked tired. Providence, both out played and out shot BU, something that has happened just once this year. In total, PC out shot the Terriers 40-20.

Despite getting out shot 2-1, BU grabbed the lead in the first.  Corey Trivino found defenseman, Ryan Ruikka at the top of the face-off circle. Ruikka then riffled a wicked wrist shot off the elbow (where the cross bar and the post meet) of the goal and in, past PC goalie Alex Beaudry. This was Ruikka's first collegiate goal

BU would tack on anther goal when Matt Nieto found Alex Chiasson at the top of the crease.  Chiasson made a good move  and scored while Beaudry was flopping around like a beached whale. This was Chiasson's first goal of the season. Ruikka picked up the third assist, giving him three points on the night.

The Terriers were badly out played in the second period but gave up no goals. There were some questionable penalties on BU, that caused most of the play to be in the BU end.

The third period saw Kieran Millan shine. BU again got into penalty trouble and Millan was there to back stop them the whole way. At least  until the last 6.9 seconds of the game. Providences's Aaron Jamnick finally beat Millan, who was looking to record his first shutout since the third game of the Hockey East Quarter finals against Merrimack.

Next weekend BU will face Lowell in a home and home series.

Game photos
Box score
video highlights 

Terriers Look to Stay Undefeated

Tonight BU will try and  move one step closer to their 2002 start (6-0-1), the best start to a season, of this century. to do that, BU will have to get by Providence College, who comes to town.

 After last night's win, BU moved up to #1 in Hockey East.

It is unclear who will start in the Terrier net tonight, but it would not shock me if Grant Rolliehiser would get the start. Then again, Parker did say that Millan was the number one goalie and he played pretty well last night.


Providence started the year strong, beating Northeastern 3-2 in their first game of the season. Since then, they have yet to record a point, losing two games (5-3 and 7-1) to Minnesota Duluth. Last night the struggles continued as they fell in overtime to Lowell 5-4.

What To Watch For:

• Alex Beaudry, Providence goalie. May be the best netminder in the league and certainly a Terrier killer. Beaudry has beaten BU three times in two seasons, including one in the National Championship year. Last season he posted a .916 save %. If he was on any other team in the league then he would have had a higher save% and many more wins. Simply, Providence just does not score enough goals to give Beaudry the recognition he deserves. Last year he only had a .355 win% due to the lack of offense.

• Kyle MacKinnon, PC goal scoring leader. MacKinnon leads the Friars in goals on the young season with just three, proving my point that this team does not score a lost of goals. MacKinnon is a senior and has only scored 26 goals in his whole career. Two of the goals scored this season were in the same game.

The Last Time They Met...

was back in February. The two teams had a home and home series with both teams winning at their home rink. PC won game one 5-4 and BU came back the next night and posted a 2-1 victory. 

BU One Better Then UMass

Andrew Glass scored his first goal of
the season and only his fourth
goal ever as a Terrier
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

We knew coming into tonight's game that the teams were very close. Last Saturday BU and UMass played to a 2-2 tie. Tonight one goal separated them in a back and forth, well played game by both teams.
Unlike last weekend, UMass came out and scored first on the power play. Darren Rowe received a great pass from Daniel Hobbs at the face-off dot. From there he beat a sliding Kieran Millan high over his glove.  Millan was already down before Rowe even took the shot giving him an opportunity to put the shot right where he wanted it. This was the Minutemen's first lead of the season. That was the only scoring in the first period, a period in which BU held a 10-4 shot advantage

BU would exploded for three goals in the second.

The Terriers would tie the game on the power play. Wade Meagan took a shot from the top of the slot. Freshman stud, Charlie Coyle was able to get a stick on the puck and tip it over the shoulder of UMass goalie Jeff Teglia.

Great play by the fourth line produced the go-ahead goal. Ross Gaudet and Kevin Gilroy worked hard to get the puck out of the corner. Gilroy then made a great pass to Andrew Glass, who made a great move on Taglia, beating him with a snipe to the top corner.

With Joe Pereira in the box for a questionable charging penalty, UMass was getting some momentum back. As soon as the penalty time was up, Chris Connolly found Joey coming out of the box, sending him on a break-a-way. Pereira then beat Teglia between the legs on a nice deek. This gave BU the momentum right back, and shut up one of the largest crowds in UMass Hockey history.

Like last Saturday, the Minutemen where not done, not by a long shot.

Darren Rowe notched his second goal of the game, again the assist and nice pass came from Daniel Hobbs. Rowe's shot somehow got through a pile of bodies in front of the goal and beat Millan, who never saw it.

Sahir Gill restored the two goal lead after a great play from Charlie Coyle  to prevent a UMass rush up ice. Coyle was able to wack the puck to Gill who then had a break-a-way. He made a great move on Teglia going  forehand backhand and sliding the puck over the goal line, giving the Terriers a lead, 4-2 with 1:33 left.

UMass yet again fought back and and cut the lead to one with the goalie pulled. Michael Marcou drilled home a slap shot passed Millan, who was screened.

The comeback proved to be to little to late and BU moves to 3-0-1 on the year. This is the first time since 2000 that BU is undefeated through four games.

Tomorrow night BU will face Providence at Agganis. Game time 7:00 


Video highlights

Take Two

Tomorrow BU will head out to Amherst to face the Minuteman of the University of Massachusetts. Last Friday the two teams skated to a 2-2 draw. BU will look to stay undefeated on the young season as they play their first road league game of the year.

It is not clear on who will start in the Terrier net, as Kieran Millan played great last Friday night, but it would be Grant Rolliehiser's game if they followed the goalie rotation pattern.

Umass goalie, Jeff Teglia will likely get the start after his great play against the Terriers.

What To Watch For

• One problem will be watching the game it's self. I will not be at the game, so sorry no game photos, but the game will be on NESN starting at 7:00

• Something BU must correct is their second period laps. It cost them the game last Friday and almost both Icebreaker tournament games. The Terriers have yet to play a full 60 minute hockey game. They will really have to do this against a strong underrated Umass hockey team. 

• Umass's Mitchael Pereira, brother of BU captain Joe Pereira. He is only a freshman and is very fast, with a ton of skill. BU must stay on top of things when he is on the ice

Remembering Travis Roy

15 years ago yesterday, Terrier freshman Travis Roy made his college hockey debut. BU was playing North Dakota, on opening night of the 1996 season. Before the game BU raised its fourth national title banner to the roof of old Walter Brown Arena. All was going well for BU, who was up big and looked good doing it, when Roy stepped on the ice for a face off, just outside the ND zone. The puck was dumped into the zone and Roy was the first man in the zone for BU. A Sioux defender got to the puck first and as Roy attempted to check him, he missed and flew right into the dasher, head first. He has been paralyzed ever since. 

Durring the Bruins-Capitails game on Tuesday night, Verses had a special documentary on the Roy story 

Here is another inspirational video, it is not about Travis

Contact:               320.492.3447 (Kari Turkowski)   kturkowski@larsonallen.com

                                320.761-6577 (Jeremiah Minkel) jdminkel@stcloudstate.edu

                                Facebook site "Chris Garner Support and Benefit Page"

                                Please visit Facebook to keep track of Chris's recovery and          benefit/auction                        

Donated items and cash can be sent to:

St. Cloud State University

Attention: Jeremiah Minkel

720 4^th Avenue South

St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498

The Warrior Rink Rat has a list of items that will be at the auction  

Why Is Yale #5?

In Monday's USCHO poll Yale is ranked #5. Not a big deal right? Wrong!! they have yet to even play a game this year. How can a team be ranked if they have not even played a game?? I thought that you had to prove to the pollsters that you were worthy of being in the top 20. Yale has proved nothing!! 

A Closer Look

Saturday's 2-2 tie with Umass sure felt like a loss. Up 2-0 going into the third period and goalie Kieran Milain having one of his better games as a Terrier, it looked like they were going to hold on and win the game, but it was not to be. Umass stormed back scoring two goals in the third frame to tie the game. If BU were have to won the game, they would have started the season 3-0-0 for only the second time in the last ten years. The other time came in 2009.

Freshman defenseman, Adam Clendening, who looked great in his first two games as a Terrier, looked a little more human Saturday night. He had one crucial turnover deep in the defensive zone that almost lead to a goal. Luckily Millan was on his game and made the save.

"We turned the puck over an awful lot," said parker after the game


Matt Nieto scored his first collegiate goal in the first period. Nieto was due for a breakout game after coach parker said that he had been a standout in the early practices. He almost won the game in overtime, when he had a break-a-way in which he was slashed in the arm and his shot missed the net.

Kieran Millan, as mentioned before, played great in the home opener. He kept the Terriers in the game when they were getting out played in the second period. Unlike in the Icebreaker, Millan did recored some big saves. Both goals scored came when there were big scrums in front of the BU net.

Parker said that both BU goalie Kieran Millan and Umass netminder Jeff Teglia,were "the best players on the ice."

Parker was not happy with the way his team played

The two teams will go at it again Friday night, this time at Umass.

At The Polls 

BU moved up 5 slots form 14 to #9 in Inside College Hockey's power rankings. This is the lest important poll out of the three (USCHO, USA Today) 

In the USCHO rankings BU moved up 2 slots from #10 to #8, a little but unexpected I think. The big mover was Nebraska Omaha, who went to Minnesota and took two from the Gofers. BC is still #1

The Terriers are also moved form #10 to #8 in the USA Today poll. 

Around Hockey East 

Maine lost and tied two games respectively over the weekend to Michigan State. BC took two from Denver 6-2 and 3-0.  Merrimack crushed Uconn 7-1. UNH came back to tie Michigan. Lowell scored a goal with one second left in the third period to tie RIT. Providence was destroyed 7-1 by Minnesota Duluth. 

Umass Comes Back and Ties #10 BU

BU goalie Kieran Millan makes
 one of 28 saves, this one
came in the second period
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Tonight was a classic example of two young teams that are still figuring themselves out. In spurts the teams looked like they had played together for four years. In other times it looks as if they just met each other. Both squads looked dead even throughout the game, skating to a 2-2 draw.

BU looked great early and started the scoring in the first. Alex Chiasson, coming off a three game suspension,  made a great play to get the puck out of a scrum in the corner. He then made another great play, this time a pass to freshman Matt Nieto who took a one time wrist shot into the top corner. This was Nieto first collegiate goal. He had one back in the exhibition game against Toronto.

The Terriers were not done in the first. Co Captain, Chris Connolly had the puck at the top of the face off  circle, looking to make a pass to the front of the net. The pass never connected with Connolly's intended receiver and with  Umass goalie, Jeff Teglia  being screened by Joe Pereira, the puck missed everything but the back of the net.

BU lead 2-0 throughout the second period, thanks in large part to great goaltending of Kieran Millan. He looked sharp, keeping the Minutemen in check while they outplayed the Terrier for the latter half of the second period an into the start of the third.

Millan's shutout bid ended in the third when Darren Rowe beat him with a deflected shot from the top of the slot.

Umass would tie the game later in the period after Conor Sheary made a great move to get to the front of the net. His shot left a big rebound for Marc Concannon, who slipped the puck between Millan's legs and into the goal.

After both Umass goals the Terriers looked like they picked their game up. Players were skating harder and passes were a little crisper.

In overtime, BU held a slim advantage in shots, as they did for regulation. The best scoring chance came from Matt Nieto, who was sent on a break-a-way following an Alex Chiasson pass. After Nieto was in the clear he was hacked by Umass defensmen Conor Allen. Nieto's shot missed wide right and Allen was sent to the box with 9 seconds left, for slashing. Neito was not given a well deserved penalty shot, that has been given in overtime before.

Back at the start of the 2007 season, BU played in a tournament at the University of Dartmouth. Late in overtime BU knocked off their own net and St. Lawrence was given a penalty shot for delay of game. SLU scored and won the game.

On the power play BU got one good shot that was deflected away into the corner and the game ended.

Final score BU, 2 Umass, 2

The two teams faceoff next Friday night at the Mullen Center on the Umass campus.

Video Highlights and Box Score from goterriers.com
Game Photos 

BU Hosts Umass in Home Opener

Tonight, BU will host Umass in the home opener and their first Hockey East league game of the season. BU will be getting a boost to their offense with Corey Trivino and Alex Chiasson back in the line up, after they both served three game suspension.

Kieran Millan will get the start in the Terrier net.

BU is coming off an impressive start to their season, after winning the Icebreaker Invitational in St Louis, last weekend. Umass on the other hand lost two games to Minnesota (5-4 and 5-3) respectively. BU will shoot to go 3-0 for only the second time in the last 10 years. The last time they reached that feet was 2009 The Terriers could realistically run the table for the month of October. They face Umass, Providence and Lowell, all teams picked to finish in the bottom of the Hockey East standings by the coaches.

Brotherly Love
BU captain Joe Pereira will face his younger brother Mitchael, a freshman on the Minutemen. Last weekend Joey picked up three goals including the game winner against Wisconsin.

Getting to know the Minutemen
Michael Marcou, brother of James Marcou who was a standout at Umass last season as a senior, looks to be following in his brother footsteps as he is the scoring lead for the Minutemen. TJ Snyer is also someone to look out for, as he had 8 goals and 12 assists last season.

The Last Time They Met...
was January 30. BU rolled 6-2, thanks in large part to Ross Guadet's two goals. The teams have met 59 time total and the Terrier have a 47-9-3 record against Umass and they have only lost once at Aggains. The lost came back in 2008.

Game Notes

Welcome Back

Alex Chiasson had only 7 goals
last season, 3 of which came
against Umass

Saturday BU will get Corey Trivino and Alex Chiasson back in the line up, together for the first time since mid-Febuary. In the first period of the Terrier's February 13th contest with the University of Maine, Corey Trivino took a hard fall into the boards and fractured his right fibula, ending his season.

Then in the middle of May Trivino and Chiasson, along with 13 other members of the team, were caught in a drinking incident. To make matters worse, this happened to take place two nights before the biggest game of the year, the Hockey East semi finals. Now the current roster shows former Terriers Vinny and Victor Saponari have been kicked off the team, and others have departed early for the NHL. While Chiasson and Trivino remain on the team, they had been suspended for the first three game of this season (the exhibition game against Toronto and both Icebreaker games).

BU faces Umass Saturday, in their official home opener, kicking off their Hockey East schedule. Look for big nights out of Trivino and Chiasson. You have to think they have something to prove.

In Other News 

Brando Yip scored his first goal of season, Tuesday night in the sixth round of a shootout. His goal was the difference in the Avalanche's  5-4 win over Detroit. (video highlight) 

Fellow former Terrier, Colin Wilson netted the game winning goal for Nashville in a 3-2 win over the Blackhawks. (video highlight) 

Honored

David Warsofsky received Hockey East's Athletic Republic player of the week honor.  Warsofsky had two goals and three assists over the weekend, along with a +4 rating.

Freshman Sahir Gill (photo) was given the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the week award for his great play in St Louis. He racked up five points total, including four points (a goal and 3 assists) in the championship game, to help the Terriers to a 5-4 win over Notre Dame.

BU was also named the Hockey East team of the week after winning the Icebreaker tournament over the past weekend.

Freshman Charlie Coyle and senior captain, Joe Pereira were also Hockey East top performers. Pereira had three goals in the tournament, while Coyle picked up his first collegiate goal against Wisconsin.
Hockey East Press Release 

David Warsofsky was also named Inside College Hockey's player of the week

In Other News 

Formet Terrier stanout, Brandon Yip scored his first goal of the season last night, but it was in a losing effort, as his Colorado Avalanche fell 4-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers 

So Long From St Louis

There were many good things that came out of the past weekend of hockey. BU claimed their first tournament of the season. In the proscess, they beat two nationally ranked teams in a tournament at a neutral site, which will be huge down the road in the PareWise ranking. The PW determines the NCAA tournament.

Something that stood out was the play of freshman defenseman Adam Clendening. He did not have a goal but came very close when he took a rocket of a slap shot from CENTER ice that Notre Dame goalie Steven Summerhays had a hard time handling. He also looked very solid on defense with David Warsofsky.

Grant Rolleihiser looked sharp in his first start of the year, recording 30 saves in the championship game. This was the second time Rolliehiser got a win in the Icebreaker championship game.  He beat Michigan State 2-1 back in the 2008-2009 Icebreaker at Agganis.

The play of Sahir Gill really stood out in the championship game. He tallied three points (a goal and two assists) to help the Terriers to their second win of the season.

“Sahir Gill had a coming-out party for himself,” said BU head coach Jack Parker. “He was playing on the fourth line where he didn’t get a lot of ice time and he gets one goal and three assists. It was to the point where we had him playing on the power play a couple of times and he did a good job. We’re real proud of him.”

Ross Guadet was great on the penalty kill in both games. He really stood out in the Notre Dame game, where he blocked four or five shots by going to his knees. BU could not get the puck out of the zone for the two minute span of the power play but Guadet was the main reason that the Irish did not score.

The was some"bad", though.

After Joe Pereira scored early in the third period of the Wisconsin game, BU sat on the lead. The Badgers way out played BU but really did not get that many shots on goal. They did have a goal disallowed because it was kicked in with a skate.

BU also gave up two very quick goals to Wisconsin in the first period. Derek Lee scored the first one and the Badger's Ryan Little scored the second. The goals came within nine seconds of each other. This happened a lot last season and BU was unable to overcome it almost every time. Thankfully, they did overcome it this weekend.

BU's penalty kill looked a little shaky in the first game, giving up two power play goals in the first period to Wisconsin. The next night BU would not allow a single power play goal.

At The Polls

After the tournament win, BU moved up four slots from 14th to 10th in the USCHO poll. In the USA Today rankings they are tied for tenth with St. Cloud State. 

Escobedo's late goal gives BU the Icebreacker

Sean Escobedo hoists the Icebreaker trophy
 after he scored the tournament winning goal
(photo by Matt Dresens) 

For the second time in three years BU will take home the Icebreaker tournament championship, thanks to Sean Escobedo's goal with little over a minute left in the game.   
BU started the scoring in the first when Sahir Gill scored his first collegiate goal. David Warsofsky took a wicked slap shot from the top of the circle. Notre Dame goalie, Steven Summerhays was able to stop with his left leg pad. It created a rebound the Gill was able to put past Summerhays.  


BU looked to get a 2-0 lead on the power play in the middle of the frame, but it was Notre Dame who capitalized on the short hand. Bryan Rust scored on a break a way, beating BU goalie Grant Rollheiser with a roofed backhand shot.


The Terriers would take back the lead before the end of the period, as Gill made a great pass to David Warsosky who took a stellar shot, hitting right the post before going in.

Notre Dame grabbed the first goal of the second period when Nick Larson netted his first of two on the afternoon.

BU's Joe Pereira scored his third goal of the tournament when he put in Garent Noonan’s rebound making it a 3-2 BU lead. Although it would not last long as ND potted the next two. Shayne Taker tided he game at 15:50. Then about two minutes late Nick Larson scored his second of the game from behind the net. It looked as if he was going to try and make a past to the front of the goal but instead it hit off Rolleihiser’s sick and crossed the goal line giving Notre Dame their only lead of the game.

BU would tie the game with less then a minute left in the second period. Kevin Gilroy picked up Sahir Gill's rebound and roofed it into the top shelf, over the shoulder of Summerhays, making it 4-4. This was freshman's (Gill's) third point on the day.

BU survived the third period full of penalties and ND dominance, by a good effort from goalie Grant Rolliehiser, who stopped 30 of 34 shots.


As the third period wore on, it looked like there would overtime. Sean Escobedo changed that after he found the back of the net with only a minute and seven seconds to go in regulation. This gave BU the Warrior Icebreaker Invitational and their second win of the season. Something that took BU four of the season to accomplish last year.


The Terriers will open their home schedule next Saturday against unranked Umass.


Game photos 
 box score

Pereira caps BU comeback, advance to championship game

Captain Joe Pereira had two goals in BU's come
back win
(Photo by Matt Dresens) 

In front 4,000 not very spirited or loud fans, BU and Wisconsin kicked off their 2011 season in St Louis at Icebreaker.

Wisconsin jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first. Derek Lee notched a power play goal off a great pass from Justin Shcutlz. He then beat an out of position Kieran Millan. Only nine seconds later the Badgers made it a two goal lead. Sean Dolan found a wide open Ryan Little in the slot. Little one timed the pass passed Millan, who had no shot at stoping it.

BU got one back on the power play when Joe Pereira netted his first of two on the night. Pereira picked up his own rebound and got just enough on it to put it past Badger goalie Scott Gudmandson.

BU would tie it up when David Warsofsky found the back of the net with a slapper from the blue line. The shot beat Gudmandson high blocker side. 

The Terriers celebrate after Charlie
Coyle's goal
(photo by Matt Dresens) 

Wisconsin would have the last say in the period, again on the power play. Jordy Murray scored on another great passing play, which left Millan unable to have and play on the shot. 

In the second BU came to life, tying it on a power play of their own. David Warsofsky made great pass to Charlie Coyle who pushed it past Gudmandson on the left post.

Early in the third the Terriers took the lead for the first and only time. Sahir Gill made an excellent pass to Pereira at the blue line which sprung him for a breakaway. Joey then beat Gudmandson high blocker side, to give BU a 4-3 lead. 

After this BU really sat on the lead. Millan had some big saves and some luck. Wisconsin had a goal called back because it was kicked in with a skate. Even though the Badgers were out playing BU, the were not out shooting them. It seemed that the the Cheese Heads only had  three or four shots in the third frame. 

Sunday BU will play Notre Dame for the Icebreaker Championship. The Irish beat Holy Cross 6-3 in the first game.


Game Photos

Breaking The Ice

Tomorrow BU will officially open its season in St. Louis at the Icebreaker Invitational. Game one of the Tournament will see Notre Dame and Holy Cross, while BU takes on Wisconsin in the night cap.

This will be the second time in three years that BU has opened their season at the Icebreaker. Back in 2009 BU hosted the tournament at Agganis Arena. The #9 Terriers upset #5 North Dakota in game one. The following night they beat Michigan State for the tournament championship. It was one of five tournaments the Terrier's won that season, including the national championship (in case you forgot). Also, in 2002, BU won the Icebreaker in Madison Wisconsin. Beating Northern Michigan in a shootout, thanks in large part to Brad Zancanaro's first two goals as a Terrier. One being the game winner in the shootout. The next night BU beat RPI 5-1.

BU's head coach Jack Parker, who had bypass surgery over the summer, was cleared by doctors to make the trip to St Louis.

Kieran Millan, who missed the exhibition game against Toronto, due to a family conflict will start game one against Wisconsin.

There is no TV coverage of the tournament but there is pay-per-view coverage of the tournament from Hockey Prime Time.

Scouting the Badgers 
Last season Wisconsin rolled through the NCAA regionals and past RIT in the first round of the Frozen Four. They were crushed by BC in the National Championship game, 5-0. Like BU last season, Wisconsin lost alot of leadership and talent over the offseason.  Hobey Backer winner, Blake Geoffrion left as a senior,  but they also lost Derek Stepan to the NHL. Stepan last season scored 12 goals in 41 games, one being on the short hand. 


Good news to any BU fan is that Wisconsin will likely have a goalie rotation with Scott Gudmanson and former Terrier Bret Bennett. This is according to a Wisconsin blog, Sixty Minutes. No Alibis. No Regrets. I quote from the blog "DO NOT write off Brett Bennett". This should be music to BU fan's ears. Bennett played one full season with BU, 2007-2008. He was by far the worst goalie BU has had this decade. He had a Hockey East low .888 save%. 


The Last Time They Met 
Was in the the 2001 season. BU lost 3-2 in the Championship game of the Badger Showdown.  

In other News

According to the Boston Hockey Blog, former Terrier Vinny Saponari, who was kicked off the team back in march will go to Boston College next season. Thanks for the memories Vinny!!!  

At The Polls

Last week BU was ranked 14th in the nation In the USA Today/Hockey Magazine poll. This week was  BU was ranked in that exact same slot in the USCHO poll.

BC is ranked #1 followed by North Dakota, Miami St. Cloud State, and Michigan making up the top five.

New comers  to this week's ranking include BU (14), Minnesota (15), Notre Dame (17) and Colorado College at 20.

Coyle's Three Goals Leads Rout Over Toronto

Charlie Coyle notched a hat trick in 

his frist game as a Terrier

(photo by Matt Dresens)

Freshman, Charlie Coyle was selected 28th overall by the San Jose Sharks in this years draft and tonight he showed why. Scoring three goals, one in every period giving the Terrier's and the fans the impression of "the kid can play".

BU drew first blood as Ross Gaudet popped in a rebound from a Ben Rosen shot. The lead did not last long as Toronto answered with a power play goal, in less than a minute.

The Scarlet and White tied the game at the 13:40 mark of the first, when Charlie Coyle roofed a one time pass from Chris Connolly.

Toronto then took the lead again, when Byron Elliot made a nice move to get out of the corner. He then drove to the net and made two more crafty plays on Terrier goalie, Adam Kraus and defenseman Ben Rosen. He beat Kraus, low glove side for the goal.

With 10 seconds to go in the frame BU's Chris Connolly took a wicked shot from the top of the faceoff dot, beating Toronto's goalie Andrew Martin high blocker side.

All three Toronto goals were scored in the first period. All on Adam Kraus.

In the second stanza, was where BU pulled away. Ryan Santana pushed in freshman, Matt Nieto's pass to give the Terriers a 4-3 lead.

Two minutes later Connolly set up Coyle for his second of the night.  Then at the 17:18 mark, Ben Rosen wound up and took a bomb of a slap shot that hit the cross bar before beating Martin.

Later in the third BU poured it on.  Connolly picked up his second of the game on the power play, making it 7-3. Then after a short handed rush, Coyle knocked in fellow freshman Adam Clendening's rebound, giving Coyle the hat trick.


“He reminds me of Colin Wilson when he was here—a big strong kid with a lot of skill. We’re looking for him to contribute a lot this year.”-USCHO


Kevin Gilroy scored the 9th Terrier goal.

Next week the Terriers pack their bags and head to St. Louis for the Icebreaker Invitational where they will play the University of Wisconsin in game one. Then in game two they will either play Notre Dame or Holy Cross.

Pictures from the game 
USCHO box score and recap

Back In Action

Tomorrow night BU takes the ice against the University of Toronto for their first game of the season. Of course this is only an exhibition game, but it is the start of the long awaited season at last. Yesterday, Friday, was the first time the Terriers had a full practice with the coaches. For the past few weeks, captains practices have taken place.

Tomorrow the Terriers will be short handed. Junior Corey Trivino and sophomore Alex Chiasson will not play due to suspensions.

The Terriers head coach will be Mike Bavis, Jack Parker has yet to get clearance from doctors to return to the bench.

Expect all three goalies to see action in tomorrows game.

Scouting U Toronto  
The University of Toronto started a mens hockey program, way back in 1891 and in 1903 joined Queens and McGill to form an intercollegiate hockey league. This was Canada's first. Former players from the Blues played in the 1928 Olympic games and won the gold medal for Canada. In 1993 Toronto lost the Canadian collegiate National Championship game to Acadia. The Blues have won 10 National Titles, there last coming in 1984.

“During my years in hockey I have been fortunate to have been part of many great traditions. However, the tradition of excellence at the University of Toronto is unsurpassed by any I have seen. It’s great people who have created this great program. Being a part of Blues Hockey is something I hold very close to my heart.” - Mike Keenan, former GM of NHL’s Florida Panthers.-Toronto Varsity Blues.ca


Things to watch 
The freshman and sophomores. See what they can do. This season depends on what the underclassmen can do. 

In Other News 

Agganis Gets Prepped For Season Opener 

Over the summer a few of changes have been made to BU's ice palace, Agganis Arena. The main change was a new ice surface. This also includes new lines on the ice and a new BU logo at center. Other changes made include new carpet in the club room and some updates to the locker rooms.

One Last Shot For Hockey's Lone Senior Skater 

Senior Captain, Joe Pereira  was the topic of this "BU Today" article. It talks about Joey's time at BU and his thoughts on this season.

“I get one more chance here at BU,” says Pereira. “I get one last ‘kick of the can’ as associate head coach Mike Bavis says. Last chance at Beanpot and Hockey East titles and last chance at NCAAs. You have to lay it on the line.”- BU Today