Undisciplined Terriers Fall at Union

Tonight, BU got exactly what they deserved: an L on the schedule. Union had 6 power plays, all of which probably could have been avoided. The most glaring example of this came in the third period when BU was trying to make a comeback. Brian Diffley fired a dropped Union stick out the zone, resulting in a two minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Granted, Union did not score on the power play, but it was just a dumb play.

Spencer Foo rips off a shot that Sean Maguire was able to control
on a 2 on 1 in the second period. Brandon Hickey is down to
prevent the cross ice pass.
(Photo by Matt Dresens) 

BU came out strong, outshooting the Dutchman 16-10 in the first, but it was Union who struck first on their first power play attempt of the game. Nick DeSimone rifled off a shot on the rush from the top of the near circle. Sean Maguire kicked out the shot, but the rebound landed right on the stick Ryan Scarfo who slammed home his first goal of the year. 

Matt Lane celebrates after his goal in the first period (Photo by Matt Dresens)

The Terriers answered about 10 minutes later. Bobo Carpenter blew up a play on the far wall and forced the puck up top to Doyle Somerby at the point. The whole play was sliding to the left when Somerby fed to an uncovered Matt Lane at the right post. Lane had the entire net as Union goalie Alex Sakellaropoulos never saw the pass and was caught going one way and the puck was going the other. 

Not long after, BU grabbed the lead. Somerby threw a shot on net that created a rebound that looked to get behind Sakellaropoulos. The whole play was really hard to follow and it was difficult to see exactly who hit the puck in. Mike Moran got one touch and was originally given credit for the goal, but it was later changed and given to Ryan Cloonan. I thought it was Cloonan from the start because of his reaction. It was his first collegiate goal. 

BU took the 2-1 lead into the second period and held onto it for a while. The only reason they got out of the second not down by four goals was Sean Maguire. He stopped two 2 on 1's and one semi breakaway and that doesn't even include the potential save of the year he made. A play out the far corner set up a one-timer right in the slot that looked like a sure goal. Maguire threw his glove up and absolutely robbed Union. The goal judge even turned on the red light thinking there was no way he could have made the save. And then there was a pause where everyone thought it was in fact a goal before Maguire casually opened his gloved and dropped the puck after the whistle.

Finally, Union cracked the Maguire code in the closing minutes of the second. Sebastian Vidmar set up Michael Pontarelli in the low circle for a one-timer. Maguire got a good piece of it, but it did sneak through and fell in the net to tie things up 2-2.

Union didn't waste any time in taking the lead in the third. Brendan Taylor was left all alone in front of the Terrier goal and from the near corner Connor Light hit him with a pass. Taylor was stuffed by Maguire, but the rebound was never cleared and Eli Lichtenwald was there to deposit the puck in the open goal. 

BU had a few chances to re-tie the game. Most notable was an odd-man rush where Jordan Greenway was denied, went throttling into the goal, dislodged the frame and then crashed into the boards. A little later, Robbie Baillargeon picked up a turnover in the slot, made a move to get around one man, and then slid a pass over to AJ Greer. From where I was, it looked like Greer had a wide open net, but he
was stopped by Sakellaropoulos point blank.

With 4:36 left, BU cashed in on a far lower percent scoring chance compared to the two just mentioned. Nick Olsson dished the puck to Charlie McAvoy in the neutral. From there, McAvoy carried in and let go a shot from the mid slot, continued to drive the net, got his own rebound and slammed it home. It was also his first collegiate goal.

At this point, it was looking better. The feeling was that BU was going to force OT or maybe get a go-ahead goal with the time remaining.

Wrong.

Union went right back down the other way and scored again to regain the lead less than two minutes after the McAvoy goal. Matt Wilkins was Johnny on the spot to bang home a rebound after another Maguire save. He finished with 26 but it seemed more like 56.

Spencer Foo added an empty netter to round out the scoring.

More to come on this game in the Tuesday look back. Next weekend, BU plays their final exhibition game against the US U18 team on Friday and then Wisconsin on Saturday.