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 



BU once again fell behind 2-0 early and again was faced with an early 5 on 3 that they could not kill off. Stephen Gionta scored 4:47 into the game and Pat Gannon added the eventual game winner at the 7:12 marker of the first.

BU battled back in the third, when John McCarthy scored with less than 10:00 to play. Curry made 24 saves and the BU power play went a dismal 0-6.

December 3, 2005 vs #6 Boston College
Instead of falling behind 2-0 early, It was the Terriers jumping out to a two goal lead. John Laliberte scored on the power play 2:59 into the game, and Kenny Roche found twine in the final four minutes of the period.

BC struck back, scoring the only goal of the second period. Dan Bertram tied the game for BC 2:34 into the third and looked like this was going to be yet another disappointing loss. That was not the case. BU exploded for four third period goals and it not only won them the game, but really seemed to spring board their entire season. Brad Zancanaro, Jason Lawrence, Kenny Roache and Eric Thomassian all scored in the final eight minutes and change to run away from BC, 6-2 . Curry made 33 saves in the game.

BU would go on win 21 of their remaining 27 games...

“That was an amazing turnaround for both teams from last night,” Terrier coach Jack Parker said. “I think we gave up an average of two grade-A shots per period (last night), and they gave up an average of two grade-A shots a period, so we wound up with some real great defense out front, a lot of tight control out front, and tonight it was much more wide-open-many more shots were grade-A-so I don’t know who turned the emotions on, but that was much more like a BC-BU game. It was that way right till the very end.”

“Much like last night, I thought the game itself was very well-played, fast-paced,” Eagle coach Jerry York said, comparing tonight’s game to last night’s 2-1 win for BC. “Even more so tonight because I think Timmy Benedetto probably did the best refereeing job that I’ve seen this year from my vantage point. The players deserve a lot of credit too: There wasn’t a lot of stuff after whistles, and the play was
much more five-on-five situations. I think all of us enjoy that type of game." -From USCHO

Current Record: 6-5-2

Current Ranking: 18th, up two slots from 20