Monday Thoughts: Grab Your Broom

Player of the Week:
Freshman Danny O'Regan
O'Regan scored his first collegiate
goal in the second period of
Friday night's game and added
another, the eventual game
winner in the third. O'Regan
picked up two assists Saturday,
one on the game tying goal
and one on the game winner.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)  

Saturday night, BU completed their first weekend sweep of the season and their first since last February, when the Terriers took four points at Vermont. The weekend goes far deeper than that, as BU played much better than the previous weekend at New Hampshire.

Friday was BU's best all around game of the year. After a sluggish first period, the team really came together and played a strong 40 minutes. Danny O'Regan and Cason Hohmann (again, this is becoming a weekly theme) shined as they both picked up two goals. O'Regan's strong play carried into Saturday's game. He picked up an assist on the tying and winning goals at the Mullins Center.

Matt O'Connor further proved that he is the man to beat in goal, stopping 58 of 62 shots faced over two games. Assistant Coach Mike Bavis, who served as the team's head coach on Saturday because Jack Parker injured his back and could not make the tip, did say that Sean Maguire will play one of the two games at North Dakota next weekend.

 A Good Sign
Matt Nieto picked up his first goal of the season, the game tying goal on Saturday. Nieto will undoubtably be one of the Terriers top scorers at the end of the year, but for right now, getting that first goal is a good sign for Nieto, who had been held in check for the first three games of the year.

Sophomores lead the way
Last year, it was a rare site when either Evan Rodrigues or Cason Hohmann found the score sheet. A combined 4 goals and 20 points was clearly an underachievement for those two. This year is a completely different story. Take a quick glance at the stat sheet for the BU Hockey Team and you will find Hohmann and Rodrigues one/two respectively in scoring thus far with 11 points combined. Hohmann is tied with Wade Megan for the team lead in goals with three.

Happy Birthday
Saturday was Sean Escobedo's birthday and I don't think there was a better way for him to celebrate. With 1:22 left in the third period and the game tied 2-2, Escobedo banged home the eventual game winning goal on a loose rebound at the top of the crease. It was his first goal since March 3rd. In his career at BU, Sean has five goals three of which are game winners. Two of those game winners have come in the last two minutes of games. The first was back in 2010 when he won the Icebreaker Invitational with 1:07 left to beat Notre Dame. The other was Saturday night. His other game winner came last February against Vermont. He scored the first goal in a 5-0 shut out.

 At The Polls
BU moved up one slot in the USCHO poll from 13 to 12. Boston College was again number one, picking up 38 of 50 possible first place votes. Minnesota was two (3 first place votes), Denver third (6 first place votes), Miami dropped from 3 to 4 and North Dakota rounded out the top five. Number 9 New Hampshire picked up two first place votes. Somehow Union slotted at 10, received the final first place vote. Lowell and Northeastern were the other Hockey East schools to crack the top 20 coming in at 14 and 15, respectively.

 Around Hockey East
Friday: Boston College snuck by Lowell 1-0 at Tsongas... Providence upended Maine 3-2 at home... New Hampshire battled back to defeat Northeastern at the Whitt... Merrimack topped Vermont 6-3 at Lawler Rink... BU rolled past UMass 5-2 at home.

Saturday: Providence completed the sweep of Maine, blanking the Black Bears 3-0 at home... Northeastern and New Hampshire skated to a scoreless tie at Matthews Arena... Merrimack and Vermont tied 2-2... BU came back to defeat UMass 3-2 at the Mullins Center.

Sunday: Boston College throttled Lowell 6-3 at Conte.