There’s the whole hatred thing.
The two legendary coaches. Eighty-eight years of competition.
Stir around some red and white with some maroon and
gold. Don’t forget that they’re only separated
by about three miles from each other on Commonwealth
Ave. That’s right, it’s BC and BU, the
most storied rivalry in all of college hockey; blah
blah blah, right? Well, not exactly.
Just to make sure that nothing about
this showdown could have possibly gotten boring before
their game last Friday, the Eagles were the new No.
1 team in the country and Cory Schneider seemingly
hadn’t allowed a puck to get past him since
goalies wore those Jason-like Halloween masks.
Add the fact that these two teams had
split their home-and-home series on Dec. 2-3 to make
last Friday's event the rubber match, and that this
could serve to be a preview to the Beanpot championship
a little more than two weeks from then, and it’s
safe to say that a few people were looking forward
to this game.
With a 2-0 lead in the second period
and Schneider looking solid between the pipes, it
appeared the Eagles weren’t going to receive
much of a challenge on their home ice, but things
changed in a hurry.
Defenseman Kevin Schaeffer, who had
a grand total of two goals this year and just four
goals in the team’s 63 games since the start
of last season, was leading the BU charge down the
right side of the ice and flipped the puck towards
Schneider on a tough, low-angle shot. The puck made
it through Schneider’s five-hole, and he ended
up kicking it into the net with his right skate, effectively
getting BU on the board and ending his shutout streak
at 242:19. It was a fluky goal, but don’t look
for any complaints from the Terriers.
After not allowing a goal for over four
hours of hockey, Schneider was just 12:04 from tying
BC alum Scott Clemmensen’s national record of
254:23.
The Terriers then went on to score the
game’s next three goals to take a 4-2 lead,
and BC’s comeback bid fell short, giving BU
a 4-3 win. With the fall of Schneider and the recent
play of Boston University goalie John Curry, it appears
there may be a new top dog in Beantown. Curry commented
on the duel he had with Schneider and the nearly unprecedented
run he was on.
“To have a shutout streak going
that long, not just the fact that you’re not
letting goals in, but it gets in your head. You start
thinking of shutouts and that is when it gets hard,”
Curry said. “It’s unbelievable that he
was able to keep it going as long as he did. He’s
obviously a great goaltender, and he’s a good
kid. It’s really fun to play against him, and
to get a win against a goalie like that and a team
like that is even sweeter.”
After ending BC’s seven-game winning
streak and 10-game unbeaten streak (9-0-1), BU accomplished
what may have been an equally tougher task by refocusing
for its game the next night with UMass. Curry made
another 25 saves in the Terriers’ 3-1 win to
extend their winning streak to seven games.
“It was a huge weekend,”
Curry said. “Obviously, it’s an intimidating
week of practice, and the hardest part was after getting
that emotional win [against BC]. You have to refocus
[for UMass]. That was hard for me during the day because
I kept thinking about [the BC game] and how big of
a win that was and how cool it was for the seniors.”
Boston University’s turnaround
has coincided with the return of captain David Van
der Gulik, who missed the first 15 games of the season
with an abdominal injury. His presence has allowed
Jack Parker to create more line depth, and his “White
Line” of Kenny Roche, Peter MacArthur and Bryan
Ewing have led the offensive charge. The Terriers
have scored 29 goals over the win streak but only
scored 47 goals in their first 17 games, an increase
of more than a goal per game.
“We’ve been having a lot
more confidence in terms of putting the puck in the
net,” Curry said. “Through the streak,
I don’t think I’m playing much better,
and the defense has been strong all year. But the
puck is going in for us and Van der Gulik has added
the extra depth to the lineup. We’ve got the
chemistry going on the White Line and the other lines
are contributing as well.
“The main thing is that we’ve
been able to get goals and even when we’re down
like we were at BC, the game isn’t over. Earlier
in the year, we weren’t sure if we were going
to score goals and that gets in your head. We’re
a confident team right now.”
SEEN AND HEARD IN HOCKEY EAST
Seven UNH Skaters Suspended:
Each side of the UNH and Maine rivalry has been involved
in some sort of scandal this season, most recently
in Durham. UNH coach Dick Umile has suspended seven
players, including two-thirds of one of the top scoring
lines in college hockey, for the first clip of this
weekend’s double-dip in Orono. They were suspended
for violating team rules.
All seven players are forwards and all
seven have played in at least 24 of the team’s
26 games this season. Brett Hemingway (12-14–26)
and Daniel Winnik (11-19–30) are the two first-liners
who won’t play Friday, meaning the Wildcats
will count on Jacob Micflikier to pick up some of
the slack. Also suspended are Josh Ciocco (2-9–11),
Greg Collins (2-0–2), Jerry Pollastrone (3-4–7),
Mike Radja (6-5–11) and Trevor Smith (3-8–11).
Great Weekend Getaway
New
Hampshire at Maine
(Fri.-Sat.) It’s not exactly BC and
BU, but these two fan bases hate each other
every bit the same. While Maine has gotten back
on track of late by winning three in a row,
the Wildcats have stumbled to back-to-back losses
and UNH is now just a single point ahead of
the Black Bears for home ice. This series will
go a long way to determining where each of these
teams play in the first round of the Hockey
East playoffs. In the pair’s only other
meeting this season, UNH skated to a 4-2 victory
at the Whitt on Nov. 12.
While You’re
There: Pay your respects to the popular Orono
nightspot Ushuaia, which is reportedly closing
down by the end of the month. Sing and dance,
but make sure you take it all in because when
it’s gone for good, Ushuaia will be sorely
missed.
Stick
Salute
Raise your sticks for Mark Dennehy, who led Merrimack
to its first Hockey East road victory in more
than two years with a 4-2 triumph at Vermont
on Friday night. The last time the Warriors
walked out of an opponent’s doors with
a "W" under their belt was on Jan.
17, 2004, after taking down UMass Lowell, 3-0.
Bench
Minor
When you’re an upperclassman
and you play for one of the most successful
programs in Division I athletics, regardless
of the sport, it’s your responsibility
to set a good example for the younger guys in
your locker room, especially late in the season
when your team is struggling and you’re
about to play two of the biggest games of the
year. Brett Hemingway and Daniel Winnik
– among others – failed to do that
this week for the Wildcats and they are now
at a serious disadvantage, not just for the
first game of the series, but both games at
Alfond this weekend.
“We’ve done something wrong,
and we have to be punished for it,” Winnik said
to Roger Brown in the Portsmouth Herald.
“We’re just kind of disappointed in ourselves.
We’re looking forward to getting back to it
and repay our team Saturday with a win. I really want
to pay my team back for what I did.”
In November, Black Bears Wes Clark and
Mike Hamilton were suspended indefinitely after being
charged with assault and aggravated criminal trespass
for an off-campus fight that involved several other
members of the hockey team. The other players were
Travis Wright, Brent Shepheard, Bret Tyler and Rob
Bellamy were charged with criminal trespass and suspended
by the team for just one game – an exhibition
contest against the U.S. Under-18 Team on Nov. 19.
Umile, however, has suspended his players during one
of the most important weekends of his team’s
entire season.
“It makes no difference if we’re
going to play Maine on Friday night or we’re
playing a non-league game,” Umile said to the
Herald. “That’s how we’ve
done it, regardless of who we’re playing, what
it means, whether we’re on TV or not.”
Pair(not-so)Wise
Rankings: In this day in age, you’d
be hard pressed to find a coach at any level in any
sport who would comment on his team’s postseason
chances, media polls or anything that isn’t
related to the next game on the schedule. So when
Jack Parker was asked in the press conference following
BU’s 3-1 win over UMass on Saturday night about
the Terriers’ jump from No. 14 all the way up
to No. 4 in the PairWise Rankings as a result of BU’s
4-3 win over BC the night before, this was his take
on the system.
“The system
is no good until the last game is played,” Parker
said. “I liked the old RPI anyways. In my mind,
they made a big mistake going to the PairWise. It’s
not dissimilar. They both have the same problem. People
look at it during the year and think it’s important.
It’s absolutely useless. It doesn’t mean
a thing.
“The polls
don’t mean a thing, either, because they don’t
count. But at least they are indicative of what people
are thinking. The PairWise poll has nothing to do
with anything until all of the games are played, and
that is what people don’t understand. Then,
it’s reality. Then, it’s judging all the
teams, the way they played, how their strength of
schedule was, and bonus points. But all of that doesn’t
mean a thing because we could lose a game tomorrow
and go back to 14th. It’s topsy-turvy all the
time.
“I know that
people in Hockey East are a little bit concerned about
not having a lot of teams in the top 10 in PairWise,
but the season isn’t over yet. When the regular
season is over, I’m sure that we’ll have
good representation in Hockey East teams.”
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
• Boston College
forward Chris Collins has been on fire of late, posting
four goals and nine assists in his last four games
and he is now head and shoulders above the rest of
the league for the scoring title as a result. But
even more importantly, he has just been named Hockey
East Player of the Month for the second time in a
row, which could serve as a precurson for conference
Player of the Year honors.
• UMass freshman forward Chris
Davis’ short-handed, third-period breakaway
goal on Terrier goalie John Curry caught BU Nation
a bit off guard, but his quick backhanded move also
got his coach’s jaw to drop, too.
“I didn't expect to see that move
from Chris to be honest with you. It was a nifty,
backhand, five-hole dribble. I hope he's got a few
more tricks up his sleeve,” Don Cahoon said.
• Friday marked the first time
since Dec. 17 that Vermont and netminder Joe Fallon
allowed an opponent to score a goal at The Gut. Merrimack’s
Hank Carisio lit the lamp at 1:57 of the second period
to end the streak at 266:03, nearly four-and-a-half
hours of shutout hockey. The Warriors went on to score
three more goals that game and came away with a 4-2
win.
• Northeastern, the most highly
penalized team in the league, set season-lows with
five penalties and 10 penalty minutes on Saturday
night. It was also just the fourth time all season
the Huskies were penalized less than their opponent.
• UMass senior Gabe Winer
broke the school’s all-time record for appearances
by a goaltender over the weekend. He surpassed Brian
Regan’s mark of 108 games played on Friday night
and then extended his personal record to 110 games
with his start at BU on Saturday.
A
variety of sources were utilized in the compilation
of this report.
