Monday Thoughts: Two Big Dubs

Players of the week
Matt O'conner (top) and
Sean Maguire (bottom).
(Photos by Matt Dresens)

Over the weekend, BU did what they needed to do to end the first semester on a high note. They went up to New Hampshire and beat the number one team in the Nation and followed that up with a win over Maine at home.

Let's start with the UNH game:

BU came out flying, something they had previously not done against the Wildcats in the two prior losses. Wade Megan put the Terriers on the board less than five minutes in and that really set the stage for the remainder of the game. BU would eventually go up 3-0 in the second period before UNH finally cashed in on the power play to make it 3-1 (more on the PK to come). Jon Henrion made it 3-2 with less than ten minutes to play in the third. 

UNH threw everything but the kitchen sink at BU in the final minutes and even had a six on four power play in the final two minutes. Matt O'Connor played exceptionally well down the stretch, especially in the final two minutes on the kill.

Saturday night was a different story. Granted, I was only there for the third period, but that's really all I needed to see. BU played sloppy in the third period. Maine, a team with nothing to lose, looked like the more hungry team and really took it to the Terriers in the final frame. Things looked like they had gone from bad to worse in a flash. Ben Rosen took about eight strides and cross-checked a Maine player right in the back, deep in the Maine zone. Rosen was called for a five minute Major and Maine had an open buffet table for nearly the remainder of the game.

Rather than let their sloppy play carry over into the penalty kill, BU really stepped up their game and only allowed Maine two good scoring chances. Sean Maguire came up huge on both opportunities, the most impressive was a shot that was taken point blank from the slot, that he swallowed up with no rebound.

The PK

The story of the weekend was (if you couldn't figure it out all ready) was the penalty kill. The Terriers went 13 for 14 on kills over the weekend, including the two huge kills at the end of both games. It's a good sign because BU was torched by Boston College a week ago on the power play. BC scored four goals on the man advantage in their 5-2 win over BU.

Sahir Gill

In his first game back on the top line, the Junior forward made an immediate impression as he got his second goal of the year to put the Terriers up 2-0 on UNH. Gill will be a crucial part of the BU offense now that Yasin Cisse is gone. 

At the Polls

BU moved up one slot in the USCHO rankings from 7th to 6th, three slots higher than they were at this time last year. Boston College was the new number one with the previous top ranked team New Hampshire in second. Notre Dame, Minnesota and Miami rounded out the top five in that order.

Over in the Pairwise, BU up to 5th, actually dropping from 4th after they beat Maine. That is because UMass fell out out of the PWR as they are no longer a TUC (team under consideration). BC is One followed by New Hampshire, Dartmouth, Notre Dame and BU.

Around Hockey East
Wednesday: Dartmouth rolled over Vermont 4-2 at home.

Thursday: BU dropped UNH 3-2 at the Whitt.

Friday: Providence came back to tie Boston College 3-3 with 10 seconds left at home... Colgate thumped UMass 6-4 at the Mullins Center... Merrimack and Harvard skated to a 2-2 draw at Lawler Rink.

Saturday: Lowell blanked Northeastern 2-0 at home... Merrimack fell 3-1 to the USA U18's at Lawler Rink in an exhibition game... Colgate finished off the road sweep of UMass with a 5-2 win... BU shutout Maine 1-0 at Agganis.

Sunday: UNH and the USA U18's played to a 2-2 tied in Durham.

Honored
BU was named Hockey East Team of the Week for winning the two games over Maine and UNH. In addition, Matt O'Connor was named Hockey East Player of the Week after he stopped 31 shots against UNH Thursday night.