This Week In 2006

October 21 - October 29, 2005

The 21st was a Friday and the Terriers hosted RPI at Agganis for the first time. BU had a 2-0 lead midway though the second frame on goals from John Laliberte and Brandon Yip. The lead didn't hold up though, as RPI scored three unanswered goals, including two in the third. John Curry did not have his best game in net as he made just 10 saves on 13 shots. 

A week later, BU headed up to Lowell for their first road-trip of he season. Lowell at one point had a 6-1 lead on the Terriers in the third period, before BU stormed back. Sean Sullivan, Brandon Yip and John Laliberte all scored to make it 6-4 with around 8 minutes left. The comeback was a little to late, though. Lowell added an empty net goal in the final seconds to close out the scoring for a 7-4 win. Curry again was fighting the puck and was pulled halfway through the game for Stephan Siwic, who was actually credited with the loss.

A night later, the USA U18's were in town and they gave BU all they could handle. A kid named Patrick Kane - you might have heard of him before - picked up two early assists and the U18s were up 2-0 well into the second period. Yip finally got the Terriers on the board with a power play goal. Chris Higgins tied the game with less than two minutes to play, before Kevin Schaeffer potted the game winner in overtime on the power play. BU threw 46 shots on the USA goal that night.

Current Record: 1-2-0, ranked 19th in the nation, down from 16th a week ago.

At this point in the year, it didn't look very good. Curry was shaky at best and the team just wasn't scoring. David Van der Gulik was still out with an injury and the team had not gelled yet. 

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November 4, 2005 vs Vermont 



BU got on the board just over five minutes into the game when Eric Thomassian scored from Jason Lawrence. Less than a two minutes later, Peter MacArthur added  power play goal to take a 2-0 less than 10 minutes into the game. Vermont battled back though, tying the game before the period ended, including a power play goal with just 10 seconds left in the frame.

BU struck back just a minute into the second on MacArthur's second of the game. Brandon Yip added a goal in the closing minutes of the period to round out the scoring and win 4-2. John Curry made 19 saves in the winning effort.

November 6, 2005 @ Maine 



The Terriers picked up a gutty 2-1 come-from-behind road win at the Alfond in this Sunday afternoon tilt. Maine took a 1-0 lead midway through the first on a power play goal from Greg Moore. The Terriers again responded like in the UVM game with two second period goals. Jason Lawrence tied things up 1-1 five minutes into the frame and Brad Zancanaro scored the eventual game winner at the 16:41 mark.

The lead held and BU won their first road game against a team that eventually would be in the Frozen Four come tournament time. This was easily Curry's best game so far. He made 37 saves, including 19 in the third period alone.



“The best thing about game tonight was how well John Curry played,” said Parker. “He looked like John Curry of last year, very poised, from the get-go he was like ‘shoot, see what happens.”
- From USCHO

“This was definitely my best game of the year and it was right up there among the best of my career,” said Curry.

“I felt really good tonight as far as just being poised and seeing the puck really well,” added Curry, who credited his teammates with playing well in front of him.


Current Record: 3-2-0

Current Ranking: 14th, up 5 slots from last week   

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BU's topsy-turvy start continued this week. A week ago they came away with four points in two games. This week was the exact opposite. Friday saw the team fall in close game 3-2 at home against UNH and then get doubled up 4-2 at UMass the next night.   

Friday, November 11, 2005... BU vs UNH 

Jakob Micflikier got the Wildcats on the board in the first with a power play goal and Brett Hemingway tacked on another man advantage goal midway through the second frame. BU would battle back, though with two third period goals to tie the game.

Brad Zancanaro scored just 20 seconds into the stanza and Bryan Ewing knotted the game with less than 10 minutes to play, but, UNH again found pay dirt on the power play with a little over five minutes to play. The Wildcats went 3-7 on the power play.

John Curry again played well, making 34 saves.


“We were back on our heels and played a horrible first period-got outshot badly-but got out-chanced badly as well,” Terrier Coach Jack Parker said. “As the game progressed, we played better, but they get three power-play goals, and we go oh-for-three, so that’s obviously the difference in the game.


“You’re not going to beat UNH with two goals, and I think we had five two-on-ones: four of them we shot wide, and one we shot right into his chest. We had some good looks on the power play but didn’t bury them when we were down in the four-foot area. And Pietrasiak played very, very well. Curry played great too. It was a really well-played game by both teams.” - From USCHO


Saturday, November 12, 2005... BU @ UMass


BU once again fell behind 2-0 and had to fight back in the game. Chris Capraro notched yet another power play goal against the Terriers just five minutes into the game. To make the special teams play look even worse, Stephen Werner scored an unassisted shorthanded goal just eight minutes later. 

Brian McGuirk got the train back on the tracks midway through the second with a BU power play goal. Kenny Roche and Dan Spang picked up the assists. Just as BU was getting back in the game, they allowed they only 5x5 goal against of the weekend, when Scott Crowder scored the eventual game winner at the 15:37 mark of the second period.

John Laliberte scored BU's second power play goal and the UMass lead was 3-2 with more than half a period play. UMass goalie John Quick would not yield another goal, though. Werner added an empty net goal in the closing minute to seal the deal.

"For starters, it was a real good performance by UMass Amherst and it was a real good performance by John Curry, said BU Head Coach Jack Parker. And then the rest of the players that were out there on my club gave us absolutely nothing. Maybe a couple of guys played pretty hard but in general as a team there was no sense of urgency, there was no effort." - From Go Terriers

Current Record: 3-4-0
Current Ranking: 18th, down 4 slots from 14 last week. 

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The Terriers played just one game this week as the travailed to Providence to face the Friars. A year before, BU had to battle back from being down 1-0 in the Hockey East Quarterfinals to win the series two games to one. 

Friday November 18, 2005... @ Providence 
Providence took a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the game on a Torry Gajda goal from Bryan Horan. The Friars extended their lead less than three minutes into the second period as Kyle Laughlin scored.

BU etched the lead back to one,  just a few minutes later. Boomer Ewing found the back of the net from Peter MacArthur and Chris Higgins and the Terriers tied things up midway through the third on a Dan Spang goal. MacArthur again had an assist and so did Kevin Schaeffer.

The game would go to overtime with that 2-2 score and no one would find the back of the nat again. It was the first tie of the year.

John Curry made 26 saves in the non-decision.

“It was a real solid game by us, I was really pleased with how hard we played and how thorough we were in our own zone,” said Terriers coach Jack Parker. “The only that really bothered me is how we reverted back a little bit on our power play but that was a slight negative in a 60-minute game that we played extremely well in all three zones and all three periods.

“The most important thing we needed to get out of this game was to get our defense back in order again, and we played very well defensively,” continued Parker. “The six defensemen and the four centers played real well in our own zone they limited the shots and played hard.” - From USCHO

Current Record: 3-4-1
Current Ranking: 20th, down two slots from 18th.

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