This Week In '06: Merrimack Is No Match

This weekend, BU squared off with Merrimack in a home in home series. Friday night, the Terriers travailed to Lawler and a night later Merrimack headed down to Boston.

Friday January 20, 2006.
BU was propelled by an offensive outburst by Kenny Roche. The junior forward racked up his first career hat trick in the 5-3 BU win. It was Merrimack who got on the board first as Derek Pallardy found the back of the net just 2:35 in.

Roche netted his first of three in the later half of the first frame. BU took their first lead in the second period behind a goal from Jason Lawrence and Roche's second of the game, again on the man advantage.

Merrimack's Matt Byrnes cut the BU lead to 3-2 at the 11:34 maker of the second. 27 seconds into the third, Merrimack tied the game on the power play. Peter MacArthur put BU up for good in the final five minutes. Roche rounded out his hat trick with an empty netter with a little over a minute left. Roche finished with four points on the night and MacArthur had three.

Karson Gillespie started the game for BU and played the first two periods. He allowed three goals on 12 shots. John Curry took over at the start of the third and stopped all three shots he faced.

Saturday January 21, 2006
Peter MacArthur struck on the power play 49 seconds into the game and BU never looked back. Chris Higgins, Matt Gilroy, Dan Spang and Steve Smolinsky all scored in a 5-0 win at home for BU. Curry stopped all 20 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the year.

“I thought we were terrible in the first period after getting a 2-0 lead — numb, brain dead, didn’t play very well at all,” Terrier coach Jack Parker said. “Gave them chances: they were beating us to pucks. We were trying to play on the offensive side and not playing very well. I was real disappointed with my team and let them know it after the first period.

“We came out in the second period and played very well; I think they attempted only seven shots in the second period. It was a real good shutdown by us. We did a real good job on the penalty kill all night, and in general controlled the game. The best part of the night was how we rebounded in the second.” - From USCHO

Current Record: 12-8-2

Current Ranking: 13, up three spots from last week.