Roberto Suspended

Nick Roberto has 11 goals and 19
assists in 74 games played with BU,
in two season.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Today, forward Nick Roberto was suspended for the remainder of the year for his involvement in a possible gambling situation. Roberto was originally suspended at the start of the year for a "team rules violation."

College Hockey News first broke the story this afternoon amid some pretty obscure rumors. They included, "BU threw the National Championship Game" as well as a point shaving scheme were tossed around on Twitter (be careful what you read, people), this afternoon prior to the CHN report.

The report also stated that "Roberto was not the only BU player involved, though those players are no longer with the hockey program. The identity of those players could not be confirmed. Other sources have indicated that players from other teams were involved, too"

"According to NCAA by-laws, a player who is found gambling on any sporting event, amateur or pro in any sport, via a “bookie” or the Internet, faces a minimum one-year suspension."

Boston University also released a statement this afternoon:

"Beyond confirming that Mr. Roberto will not play for the Boston University hockey team this season, federal privacy laws prevent us from discussing his status owever can say that several months ago, we heard rumors that a BU hockey player had engaged in gambling. Although the rumors did not involve gambling on either college or professional hockey games, we nonetheless immediately conducted a thorough investigation and turned the results over to the appropriate authorities at the NCAA. Based on that investigation, the NCAA made its own findings and took remedial action, and we would refer you to that organization for further information.”

Furthermore, BU Athletic Director added "the investigation that took place was focused on Roberto. Any involvement of any other former players is speculation at this point."

Just speculating here, but AJ Greer, who departed the team earlier this week was one player who was mentioned to be involved. This would clear up a lot of mystery as to why he left for the QMJHL on Thursday. Again, just speculating here.

I have heard rumors about others and their involvement the gambling issue. In the interest of not spreading any more rumors than have already been spread today, I don't really want to name names and I will leave it at that.

No one really knows exactly what was bet on, but sources indicate that it was not college hockey games, nor was it games involving Roberto.

More on this later when we all know more about the incident. I'm not trying to spread the fire here.

The AJ Greer Saga Timeline

So if you haven't heard, multiple reports came out today saying BU forward AJ Greer was leaving school and had signed with the Rouyn Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL. Then, a few hours later, more reports came out denying that Greer ever did sign and only his family had talked to the Huskies.

Here's a timeline from Twitter this afternoon of what unfolded:

11:13am

If you don't know French, here's the translation: "Here is the scoop - AJ Greer choice #Avalanche second round leaves and Boston University joins HuskiesRn more details to come #RDS"

Heres the link to the full RDS article: Link


"The negotiations with the Huskies and Greer began late last night. Everything took shape around 23:30."
12:00pm


12:03pm



12:09pm

12:13pm

12:28pm

1:42pm

"AJ Greer (@ ajgreer_10 ) denies rumors that send to #Huskies . Discussions with his agent and his family, but nothing more. #LHJMQ"

1:44pm

1:55pm

So we went from "he's 100% gone and playing with the Huskies this weekend" to "he's still taking finals at BU and isn't leaving"

It's been a strange afternoon. More to come as this whole thing continues to play out. Remember that there were similar rumors involving Jack Eichel last year and Adam Clendening a few years back. Charlie Coyle did in fact leave for the Q in 2012, so we have seen both sides of this. 

Top Five Pictures From Semester One

All photos taken by Matt Dresens

5
This was from the first ever game I got to shoot from ice level

4
Sean Maguire during introductions.

3
Brandon Fortunato and the BU crowd celebrate Matt Lane's
goals vs Michigan

2
Doyle Somerby and Matt Lane celebrate
after the first goal of the season is scored
at Union.

1
Bobo Carpenter celebrates after scoring against Yale, last
weekend. This picture was the inspiration for the ranking.   

Weekend Lookback: Solid

Even though BU split two games in Connecticut between Yale and Quinnipiac, to say the weekend wasn't a success would be utterly wrong.

Player of the Week
Jordan Greenway: No goals, two assists
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

On Saturday night, BU out played Quinnipiac in pretty much all aspects of the game, but non more prevalent than goaltending. Sean Maguire, who had a sub .900 save percentage for the majority of the year was far better than Qpac goalie Michael Garteig, who was in the .950 range before the game. 

Maguire backstopped the Terriers with 17 third period saves, including a number of big stops on the PK, late. Maguire's play resembled his performance stretch in 2013 on the way to the Hockey East Championship game. What makes his effort all the more impressive is that he did it without arguably the team's best two defenseman on the ice against the best team in the country.

I'm not the only one to notice his standout play on Saturday as Maguire was named Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week, earlier today. This one game, has reopened the goalie competition between Mags and Connor LaCouvee. 

The Greenway

Jordan Greenway was, without a doubt, BU's best player of the weekend. Although he didn't score, he did register two assists that set up two pretty big goals. On Friday at Yale, he used his strength to ward off a Yale defender before hitting Ahti Oksanen in the slot for a one touch goal. "Using his strength" seems to come up again and again when talking abut the 6-5 winger, but it is easily the strongest part of his game. 

The amount of times this year he has won a battle in the corner and then protected the puck and set up a play in front, is astounding. That second line of Oksanen-Lane-Greenway was a force all weekend long. They bullied Yale with their size and tripped up QU with skill. 

Greenway set up Matt Lane to tie the QU game 1-1 with a sexy pass from behind the goal-line. He won a battle in the corner then skated behind the net, drawing a defender and taking Garteig off the post. From the middle post behind the goal, he rolled his wrists and found Lane uncovered in the low circle. It was an incredibly skilled play yes, but to have the presence of mind to throw it back against the grain was another thing all together. 

A Big Boost

Following the loss to Yale, BU dropped to 18th in the PairWise Rankings. After they dropped Qunnipiac from the ranks of the unbeaten, they moved all the way up to 12th. That is what happens when you play a strong schedule: A loss to high ranking opponent doesn't drop you all that far and a win against a high ranked team, in their barn, can catapult you. Currently, BU has the 8th hardest schedule in the nation.

BU faces Harvard at Harvard, who is ranked sixth in the PWR in their first game back from break.

At The Polls

BU jumped up from 12th to 11th in the USCHO poll. Providence was again number one, North Dakota slid up from fourth to second, with Quinnpiac, Boston College and St Cloud rounding out the top five in that order.

Around Hockey East
Thursday: Notre Dame handed BC their first conference loss, 4-3 at Conte… Providence topped Brown 4-1 at home to reclaim the Mayor's Cup.

Friday: Merrimack and UConn skated to a 3-3 tie in Hartford… Union took down UMass 4-3 in overtime at the Mullins Center… Vermont blanked St. Lawrence 4-0 at the Gutt… UNH doubled up Dartmouth 6-3 at the Whitt… BU fell to Yale 3-2 at the Whale.

Saturday: St Lawrence rebound to roll UVM 4-1… BU handed Quinnipiac their first loss, 4-1 in Hamden.

In Other News
- Brandon Hickey made it past the first round of cuts at the Canadian World Junior Camp.

- USA WJC camp takes place this week at BU and then Team USA will play against UMass at the Mullins Center on Friday night.

- This will be my last post for a while, probably before the Harvard game. I have to wrap up my own finals and everything at school.   

15-BU-2

Terriers Hand Bobcats First Loss 

Well, that was fun.

Tonight, BU handed Quinnipiac their first loss of the season with a 4-1 at TD Bank Arena in Hamden. That leaves just Providence as the only unbeaten team in the nation and BU tied them twice. So, against the last two unbeaten teams in the nation, BU is 1-0-2.

In a game where BU was without arguably their best two defenseman, their goaltender had to be their best player and Sean Maguire did not disappoint. He made 36 saves, including 17 in the third frame to preserve the BU win.

We will get back to Maguire in a second…

Quinnipiac opened the scoring 6:22 into the game on one of the prettiest goals you will see all year. Sam Anas was able to corral a hot pass from Landon Smith that was a bit behind him. Instead of using his stick, he caught the pass on his right skate, settled it and brought it to his forehand. In the high slot, he slipped through a BU defender and then shelfed a backhander by Maguire, who was sprawled out.

BU steadily worked their way back to tie things up later in the frame. Jordan Greenway won a battle in the near corner and skated in behind the net with the puck. When he got to the middle post of the goal, he through a pass back against the grain to an uncover Matt Lane in the low circle. Lane one touched the pass into the top corner, over the shoulder of QU goalie Michael Garteig, who had left the post to protect against the Greenway wraparound the other way.

Following a strong penalty kill, BU took the lead 2:56 into the second period. Charlie MacAvoy hit Robbie Baillargeon at the far blue line with a pass and Robbie fought his way through a defender. From the low circle, Baillargeon threw, what looked to be, a harmless shot on goal looking for a rebound. Instead of getting that rebound, the shot slipped through Garteig on the short side. It was a very weak goal to allow from a goaltending point of view.

QU had a few chances to level the game, but Bobo Carpenter separated the Terriers from the Bobcats and gave BU a two goal lead with more than 10 minted to play. Carpenter picked up a loose puck on the far wall, turned around and all in one motion, tossed a rising shot on goal. It somehow got through traffic in front and picked the top corner over the blocker of Garteig.

The Terriers had to kill off two late John MacLoud penalties to hold on to that two goal lead. Sean Maguire made one big save after another with his glove to stymie the Bobcat attack.

Matt Lane added an empty net goal with less than  minute left to round out the scoring.

On a night that had so much positive, there was a downside, too. Ahti Oksanen fell awkwardly into the end-boards and then was crunched from behind. He stayed down for a while and eventually was helped off the ice by both BU and Quinnipiac's trainers. He was holding his right arm, but I don't want to speculate on what exactly the injury was.

BU is off until January 7th, when they take on Harvard at the Bright Center in Cambridge.

Battle With An Unbeaten

Well here comes a test. Tonight, BU plays their last game before semester break against the best team in the nation, in their barn, nonetheless. The Terriers take on Quinnipiac for the first ever match up between the two schools.

Coming into the weekend, if the NCAA tournament was to have been selected this past week, BU and QU would have been a first round matchup. That has since gone by the wayside after the BU loss last night dropped them out of the top 16 in the PWR.

Qpac is not only undefeated, but they have played and beaten some of the best teams in the nation. They swept St. Cloud State at home (5-2 and 4-1), dropped Harvard 4-1 at home, and blanked Yale 3-0 at the whale last weekend. QU is hot, but they are also rested. They did not have to travel and play a game last night, but instead were idle. BU is banged up, missing two players to injury and one to WJC camp and had to play last night. It's not a good combination when having to face the top team in the county.

Quinnipiac is trying to become the second team this year to go into the holiday break with an undefeated record. Providence has already accomplished the feat, going 12-0-3 and becoming the first team since Colorado College in 1996. CC lost the national title game in overtime to Michigan, that year.

Scouting the Bobcats
The Q is led by Sam Anas, who has nine goals and nine assists for 18 points in 17 games played. Travis St. Denis is right behind him with 17 points. Honestly, I haven't seen Quinnipiac play nearly enough games to say who is a standout player on their roster. I know Anas is a skilled forward, but they also have eight other players who have double digit point totals. It seems that depth has been their greatest strength, so far.

I have watched two QU hockey games in my life: the 2013 national championship game and last year's regional semi with North Dakota. Not much to go off of there.

In goal, Michael Garteig has been out of his mind good this year. He is 15-0-2 with a .952 save percentage and a 1.13 goals against average. He has only allowed 19 goals total on the season.

BU Falls to Yale at the Whale

Brian Diffley and Chris Izmirlian get
into a shoving match along the boards
in the second period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Tonight was battle from start to finish. Both teams played a very physical contest and that led to many little scrums after the whistle. Jordan Greenway was at the center of practically all of those scrums.

It was a strange game, too. There were only two power plays the entire night. BU had one late and Yale had a five minute major on a Ryan Cloonan boarding call at the end of the second period. There were certainly calls, on both teams, that could have been made throughout the game and were not.

After a scoreless first period, BU jumped out to a 1-0 lead just under seven minutes into the second frame on Ahti Oksanen's ninth goal of the year. Jordan Greenway set the whole play with a strong rush up the ice that started deep in his own end. Inside the Yale zone, he made another impressive play to protect the puck and then find Oksanen in the slot. Ahti one-timmed the pass by Yale goalie Alex Lyon to his low blocker side.

Greenway and the second line were a force all night. They out worked Yale and used their size to their advantage. In the physical nature of this game, they were definitely BU's strongest line.

Yale struck twice in the closing minutes of the period. Before the Cloonan major and game misconduct, Ryan Hitchcock banged home a rebound goal to Connor LaCouvee's left side. It was his fifth goal of the year from Mitch Witek and Stu Willson at 18:13.

Cloonan was called for the major penalty at 19:03 of the second period. 37 seconds later, Yale had the lead. John Hayden scored his first of two on the evening off a similar onetime shot to the Oksanen goal.  Ryan Hitchcock and Joe Snively picked up the assists.

BU killed off the remaining 4:04 of the penally that overlapped into the third period and then controlled the play following the kill. They put two strong shifts together that generated several scoring opportunities, but nothing found the back of the net.

Mike Moran goes hard to the net in the third period. This was
just another example of how physical this game was.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Yale weathered the storm and caught a break on a defensive breakdown by the Terriers. John Hayden led an oddman rush the other way, chose not to pass and slipped a shot in five-hole on LaCouvee with 13:29 to play.

BU fought back, though. They were finally given a power play with under five minutes to play when Brandon Fortunato drew a tripping call. Coach Quinn rolled the dice and pulled LaCouvee with will over three minutes left to make it six on four.  Fortunato and Charlie McAvoy both set up Bobo Carpenter for a onetimer from the near circle. Carpenter drilled the shot pass Lyon with 2:42 to play.

BU almost tied things on the next shift, but Lyon stood tall to a well setup onetimer from Oksanen on the far side. Yale was able to close out the game from there and won 3-2.

Tomorrow night, BU head over to face undefeated Quinnipiac.

This Week In '06: Splitsville

BU wrapped up the first semester with two games in two different states in three nights as they travelled to Providence on Thursday night and then up to Dartmouth on Saturday.

Thursday December 8, 2005 @ Providence
Despite outshooting the Friars 41-26, BU fell 4-1 at Schneider Arena. Torry Gajda got PC on the board late in the first period. They added to the lead behind two second period goals, one by Jon Rheault and another by Gajda.

Brad Zancanaro finally got BU on the board in the third, before his brother Tony, scored an empty net goal for the PC.

John Curry made 25 saves.

Saturday December 10, 2005 @ Dartmouth
On this night, BU flipped the scrip from Thursday. The were outshot 41-22, but trounced the Big Green behind three third period goals.

Zancanaro struck first for the Terriers on power play and Brandon Yip scored midway through the second.

Jason Lawrence, Brain McGuirk, and Yip all scored in the first half of the third period. McGuirk's goal was a shorthanded tally assisted by Zancanaro. Zancanaro also had an assist on the Lawrence goal to give him a three point night.

Tanner Glass netted a power play goal in the closing minutes for Dartmouth. BU backup goalie Karson Gillespie turned aside 40 of 41 shots faced.

"Between us not defending well in front and turning the puck over in the attacking zone when we didn’t have to, we gave them a lot of chances, and Karson had to come up big,” Boston University coach Jack Parker said. “If we don’t get great goaltending in the first period, it’s a completely different game.” -From USCHO

Weekend Lookback and WJC Camps

Player of the Week
Matt Lane, 2 goals, 2 assists
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Well, that was one ugly weekend of hockey.

Thankfully, BU rallied in the third period of Saturday's game with Vermont to salvage a weekend split with the Catamounts.

Friday saw the Terriers essentially handing the Cats three goals off turnovers and the theme continued the following night. I can count at least four UVM goals that came due to inexcusable turnovers in the BU zone.

Let's look at Friday first. Doyle Somerby committed the first miscue and he was tripped off the puck at his own blue line, creating a 2 on 1 bid for UVM that Jarrid Privitera scored on.

UVM's third goal on Friday was not solely one person's fault, but a collection of laziness by all five of the BU skaters on the ice. I think I said it looked like five trees were playing defense in the recap. It was bad.

Saturday didn't yield anything much better, other than the fact BU won. There were two more awful (I'm running out of negative words here) turnovers that led directly to UVM goals. John MacLoud and Charlie MacAvoy both coughed the puck up right in front of their own goal and UVM cashed in both times.

Overall, the team just played lazy on Friday and most of Saturday's game. UVM scored seven goals on the weekend and not one of them was either Connor LaCouvee or Sean Maguire's fault.

Some positives were the development of Jordan Greenway over the past month. It has been astounding. He's not nearly the fastest guy on the ice, but man is it tough to get the puck away from him. He almost single handedly set up BU's tying goal on Saturday. He battled through a few checks and then patiently found Matt Lane in the low circle for a onetimer.

Speaking of Lane, he was far and away BU's best player of the weekend. Yes, he scored two game tying goals and had two other assists on the weekend, but he provided more than that. He was a force on the penally kill, blocking shots all over the place and really adding some leadership to a very young team. Granted, that's what a captain is supposed to do, but he is doing it perfectly. There is nothing more this team could ask from Lane.

Lane does not lead the team in any statistical category, but practically all of his goals have been "big" or "clutch" goals. Lets just take a look at the goals he has scored this year:

vs Union, first BU goal of the game
vs Wisconsin, first BU goal of the game
vs Merrimack, tied the game 2-2 in the second period
vs Michigan, BU's first goal of the game
vs Vermont (Fri), tied the game 2-2 in the third period
vs Vermont (Sat), tied the game 2-2 in the third period.

Not bad, eh?

Gone Camping
A week or so ago, Hockey Canada released their preliminary World Junior camp roster. Terrier defenseman Brandon Hickey is among the 29 other Canucks who were invited.

Today, USA Hockey came out with their WJC eval camp roster and both Brandon Fortunato and Charlie MacAvoy were on the list. In addition to the two defenseman, 2016 BU recruits Kieffer Bellows and Clayton Keller of the USA U18 Team were also invited to camp.

Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson was invited to the Swedish WJC camp.

At The Polls
BU dropped one slot from 11th to 12th in the USCHO poll this afternoon. Undefeated Providence was once again number one. 15-0-2 Quinnipiac moved up one notch from 3rd to 2nd, while Boston College dropped a peg to third. North Dakota was 4th and Nebraska Omaha rounded out the top five.

BU is 15th in the Pairwise. What is slightly interesting here is that Quinnipiac is number one by a good margin in the PWR. If the NCAA brackets came out out today, BU and Qpac would be a first round matchup, probably held in Worcester. Well, we get to see that matchup anyway this weeked as BU makes their first ever trip down to the TD Bank Center in Hamden.

Around Hockey East
Friday: Providence edged Merrimack 2-1 at Lawler… Maine and New Hampshire skated to a 3-3 draw at the Whitt… Notre Dame dumped UMass 3-1 at home… Vermont doubled up BU 4-2 at Agganis.

Saturday: UConn took down Lowell 4-3 in Hartford… Notre Dame ran over UMass 5-1 to complete the weekend sweep… Providence shutout Merrimack at home… New Hampshire drubbed Maine 5-2 at the Whitt… Northeastern and Boston College tied 3-3 at Conte… BU comeback to beat Vermont 5-3 at home.
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Sunday: UConn finished the weekend sweep of Lowell, 2-1 at Tsongas… Boston College rallied past Northeastern 4-3 at Matthews.

Terriers Steal One From Vermont

Despite outshooting Vermont 51-27, last night, BU still needed another third period comeback to over come some pretty horrendous mistakes earlier in the game.

Matt Lane tied the game 3-3 with 3:29 remaining on a onetimer. He was set up by Ahti Oksasen and Jordan Greenway for his sixth goal of the year. Greenway did a great job not rushing the play and just throwing the puck on net. He patiently walked out of the corner and found Lane practically uncovered in the circle. Lane riffled a shot over the shoulder of UVM goalie Mike Santaguida, who had lost his stick in the play. Santaguida also injured and left the game following the goal and did not return.

Just over a minute later, with UVM backup goalie Pat Feeley in the game and the Terriers on a 5:00 power play for the remainder of the game, Brandon Hickey drilled home the game winner from the far side. Brandon Fortunato and Ahti Oksanen both had assists on the goal.

The 5:00 minute major was a strange call. Doyle Somerby was drilled in the head by Brady Shaw, but the play continued. Eventually, the whistle blew because Somerby was slow to get up. The refs then huddled and retroactively called the penalty. I had never seen that before.

In the first period, Vermont sprung out to a 2-0 lead behind some really bad hockey by BU. UVM's first goal came off a four on two rush that saw Conor O'Neil fly by John MacLoud and absolutely toast Connor LaCouvee on a wicked shot off the bottom of the cross bar and in. It was his first goal of the year.

A few minutes later, MacLoud committed a brutal turnover in front of his own goal and Brendan Bradley was there to cash in. It was a similar play that led to UVM's third goal. Charlie McAvoy skated right through his own slot and was stripped of the puck and Anthony Petruzzelli beat LaCouvee five hole to make it 3-2 with less than 10:00 to play in the third.

BU got on the board in first on Ahti Oksanen's eighth goal of the year from Greenway and Lane. Lane tried his spin around shot from the near low circle, hit Greenway's stick in the crease and the puck went to Oksanen back door. That made it 2-1 after BU played some of their worst hockey since the second semester of 2014.

32 seconds into the second period, Danny O'Regan tied the game 2-2 on a rebound. Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson and AJ Greer (who was shifted up to the first line for the afternoon) both picked up assists on the goal. It was O'Regan's 5th of the year.

Brandon Fortunato scored on the empty net with .3 seconds left.

Connor LaCouvee made 24 saves on the afternoon.

BU Upended by Catamounts

BU might have played their worst game of season tonight. They looked uninterested at times and really disjointed. The top line was completely inept and the defense was really no better. Without the play of Sean Maguire, Vermont could have could easily ran away with this one.

Chase Phelps gets sent for a ride by Rob Hamilton in the first
period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

You have to give credit where credit is due, though. UVM did a marvelous job of trapping the Terriers in the neutral zone. This gave BU all sorts of fits as the Cats forced them to skate through three, four and sometimes even five players to just get the puck over the redline.

UVM was opportunistic, as well. With BU up 1-0 on Tommy Kelley's first goal in almost two years, Vermont tied things back up on the power play. Anthony Petruzzelli fired off a seeing eye, warm-burner of a shot that slipped by Maguire low to his blocker side. Maguire never saw the shot though a sea of traffic out front.

Less than two minutes later, UVM had the lead. Doyle Somerby made a horrendous turnover at his own blue line allowing Kevin Irwin to swoop in and steal the puck. Irwin slipped a pass over to former Terrier commit Jarrid Privitera and he beat Maguire five hole on a backhand shot on a essentially a breakaway.

It looked like once again that BU was going to get their ___ together in the third period as they have so many times this year. A hard working shift by Jordan Greenway, Matt Lane and Ryan Cloonan produced a goal with 12:48 to play. Lane had the puck facing center ice in high slot. All in one motion, he spun around on his forehand side and released a shot. It looked like he was going for a redirection, but the shot cleanly found it's way through, off the post and in behind UVM goalie Mike Santaguida. It was post redemption for Lane, who rang the iron on power play, earlier in the second period.

Matt Lane gets off a shot on an
odd man rush in the the third
period. UVM's Chris Muscoby
lays out to try and block.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

That's as close as BU got.

With less than 9:00 to play, BU's first line got caught out a little too long and the opportunistic Catamounts took full advantage. Liam Coughlin (another former Terrier commit) and Alexx Privitera, a former BU player, both set up Brendan Bradley for a tap-in goal. One person in the stands behind me said the BU defense looked like five trees trying to defend a hockey team.

I don't know if it was that bad, but Maguire was hung out to dry. No one picked up Bradley, who was all alone at the top of the crease and all he had to do was shovel the pass home.

UVM added an empty net goal with less than a second left to round out the scoring, 4-2.

BU has to find a way to beat the trap and really just come to play, tomorrow night. Nothing about their game (other than Sean Maguire and Matt Lane) looked sharp tonight. Passes were wildly inaccurate and some times it looked like guys didn't even want the puck. They would get and immediately just turn and throw it somewhere. Overall, it was just a very disappointing game.

Weekend With The Catamounts

This weekend, BU hosts Vermont in the final home series of the calendar year at Agganis. Last year, Vermont was a scrappy, better than average team that made it through the octofinals in the Hockey East playoffs and beat Boston College at the Heights in the quarterfinals, before falling to Lowell at the Garden.

From the Vault
BU celebrates Jake Eichel's game winner in overtime last year
at Gutterson Field House.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

This year, the Cat's are not faring so well. They are 3-9-2 (2-4-2, HE) on the year and are coming off three straight loses, including being swept at Maine. Those two wins for Maine were their first of the year. UVM did shutout Minnesota 3-0 in Minnesota and the Gophers were, at the time, ranked ninth in the nation. They have since fallen out of the rankings and have just four wins on the season. As for other action in Hockey East, the Catamounts were swept by Lowell in early November, at home nevertheless.

Scouting the Catamounts 
Mario Puskarich has a commanding lead on the points race up in Burlington. In 14 games played, the junior has five goals and seven assists for twelve points, nearly double anyone else on the roster. Former Terrier Alexx Privitera and his brother Jarrid are second and third, respectively. Alexx has two goals and five assists and Jarrid is tied with Puskarich with a team leading five goals.

In net, Mike Santaduida is the only goalie to take the crease for UVM. He holds a .908 save percentage and a 2.72 goals against average. In three career games played against BU, he is 1-1-0 with a no-decision mixed in there, as well.

The Last Time They Met...
was in January in a two game set up in Burlington. BU doubled up the Cats 4-2 in game one, behind two-point games form Robbie Baillargeon, Brandon Fortunato and Evan Rodrigues. The following night, Rodrigues tied the game 1-1 with just 3:18 left. Jack Eichel won the game in overtime off a deflection from a Rodrigues shot from the point.

BU Notes
- Matt Grzelcyk is unlikely to play this weekend as he is still recovering from a left knee injury suffered in the second Michigan game.

- Sean Maguire will get the start in net tonight, with (presumably) Connor LaCouvee in goal on Saturday.

Common Opponents
Northeastern:

BU 5, NU 4 (November 6)
BU 4, @ NU 1 (November 7)

UVM 3, @ NU 2 (October 29)
UVM 3, NU 3 (October 30)

Connecticut:

BU 3, UConn 2 (October 24)
BU 2, @ UConn 5 (October 27)

UVM 3, UConn 2 (November 13)

This Week In '06: Mixed Bag

Last week I was a little busy over Thanksgiving, so I give you the last two weeks in the 2006 season. 

BU was about to enter one of the toughest stretches on their schedule. They would be facing four ranked in five games: #14 Harvard, #13 Denver, #3 Colorado College, and #6 Boston College (twice) in a two week span.

Tuesday November 22, 2005 @ #14 Harvard
The Terriers and Crimson played in their usual Tuesday before Thanksgiving game at the Bright Center. This was my first time seeing a game at Harvard and the game did not disappoint.

Harvard stormed out of the gate, scoring just 3:09 into the contest on a 5 on 3 goal from Dan Murphy. Midway through the first, Harvard extended that lead on a Dave Watters goal. John Curry made 18 saves in the first period as the Terriers were outshot 20-7.

“John Curry played great,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “They could have had three or four goals in the first period." - From USCHO
BU cut the lead in half in the closing minutes of the second period when Brian McGuirk potted a goal. Just as the game was about to slip away and it looked as if it was going to be another disappointing L in the loss column, Kevin Schaeffer scored with just 1:40 left. The game ended in a 2-2 tie, and BU nearly won it in overtime as John Laliberte rang the post. I still can see the puck cleanly beating Harvard goalie John Daigneau and just drilling the iron.

Friday November 25, 2005 vs #13 Denver
I have zero recollection of this game, which means I probably was not there, but I don't remember. Anyway, BU won the game 1-0 behind Karson Gillespie's first shutout of the year. Dan Spang scored the lone goal of the game 12:34 into the game. Gillespie stopped all 24 Denver shots he faced.

Saturday November 26, 2005 vs #3 Colorado College 
This was CC's first and only trip to date to Agganis and boy was this a wild game. The Tigers scored 1:31 into the game on a 5 on 3 goal. Brett Sterling scored later in the frame for CC and just 2:36 into the second, it was 3-0 Colorado College on the back of Jack Hillen's goal.

BU got back in the game with two power play goals. Jason Lawrence scored at 11:02 and Peter MacArthur netted a man advantage goal with just 17 seconds left in the second.

The momentum did not cary over to the third period though as CC scored two goals in the first 3:25 of the final stanza to make it 5-2. Boomer Ewing slashed the lead to 5-3 with a little less than 15miutes to play and then things got weird.

With the goalie pulled, Kenny Roche scored a 6 on 4 goal with 1:30 left with assists going to John Laliberte and Sean Sullivan. 30 seconds later, the game game was tied. Brad Zancanarao found the back of the net with a minute left to force an improbable overtime.

52 seconds into the overtime period, Brett Sterling scored his second goal of the game and CC walked off with a 6-5 OT win. CC went 2-8 on the power play with two 5 on 3's. BU was 3-11.

“There were two things that were bizarre-absolutely bizarre-in that game that have to be stopped,” Terrier coach Jack Parker said in closing his general comments. “The first is our team’s play in the first period. Any questions?"
“Like I say, there were two things that had to be stopped and one of them is we have to stop our play in the first period,” Parker said. “And something else has to be stopped. The referee gave my assistant coach a bench minor for clapping his hands and smiling at him. That’s what he told me. He told me ‘That is a travesty.’
“After they disallowed the goal because of a penalty, my assistant coach was standing in his normal spot and looked at him and caught his eye and clapped his hands and smiled at him. And the referee-that’s exactly what he said he did and what my assistant coach told me he did-and I asked him, I said ‘You gave him a bench minor for that?’ And he said, ‘Yes: That’s a travesty.” Well, he’s correct: It was a travesty out there, but he didn’t get the right one.” - From USCHO

December 2, 2005 @ #6Boston College