(Box from newspaper, USCHO, Hockey East online boxes)
Friday, January 12, 2001 at Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA
BC 2, UML 1                 HOCKEY EAST GAME
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSTON COLLEGE (HE)         0  0  2 - 2  (15-5-1 overall, 8-2-1 HE)
UMASS-LOWELL (HE)           0  0  1 - 1  (9-9-2 overall, 3-7-2 HE)

       Shots on Goal       Pen - Min    Power Play
BC     13- 6-12 -- 31        7 - 14       1 - 6
UML     7- 8-15 -- 30        9 - 18       1 - 4

BC - Scott Clemmensen    7- 8-14 - 29 saves/1 goal  (60:00)
UML- Jimi St. John      13- 6-10 - 29 saves/2 goals (57:51)

Referee - Jim Fitzgerald
Assistants - Paul Scleparis, Tim Low
Attendance - 4477

1st Period
  No scoring

  Penalties
  UML - Reed (cross-checking)                              6:41
  UML - Meunier (cross-checking)                           9:47

2nd Period
  No scoring

  Penalties
   BC - Peterson (interference)                            8:01
  UML - Slonina (tripping)                                11:13
   BC - Scuderi (slashing)                                16:49
  UML - Rouleau (slashing)                                16:49
  UML - Rooney (roughing)                                 19:26

3rd Period
  BC1 - J. D. Forrest 4 (Giuliano, Orpik)             PPG  1:26
  BC2 - Chuck Kobasew 12 (Giuliano, Scuderi)               8:49 GWG
      UML Timeout                                         17:10
 UML1 - Laurent Meunier 8 (Dan Fontas, Ed McGrane)    PPG 17:54 (6x4)

  Penalties
  UML - Meunier (slashing)                                 1:06
   BC - Peterson (cross-checking)                          3:14
  UML - Reed (cross-checking)                             10:20
   BC - Voce (high-sticking)                              12:28
  UML - Slonina (slashing)                                12:28
   BC - Scuderi (holding the stick)                       15:04
  UML - Slonina (roughing)                                15:04
   BC - Orpik (slashing)                                  16:43
   BC - Kobasew (roughing)                                18:22

3 Stars - 1. BC - Chuck Kobasew (1G)
          2. BC - J.D. Forrest (1G)
          3. UML - Laurent Meunier (1G)

COMMENTS
---------
In front of the biggest Lowell crowd of the year, BC holds on to win
a tough 2-1 game Friday night, extending their winning streak over UML
to 13 games.  No current BC player has lost to Lowell, and no Lowell player
has beaten BC -- the last Lowell win was in 1997.  Unlike the last meeting
between these 2 teams (an easy 6-1 BC win in November), this was a very
hard, close game that could have easily been tied at the end as the
River Hawks stormed the net in the final minute.  The 3 stars were given
to the 3 goalscorers in this one but the first 2 stars should have gone
to the goaltenders.  Jimi St. John was hard to beat until a power play
goal in the 3rd and Scott Clemmensen was huge in the third period to keep
Lowell at bay.

Unfortunately, the combination of a long weekend and enticing ski slopes
meant that traffic coming from Boston to the north was bumper-to-bumper,
moving at a slow crawl.  Thus I missed the first period and had to listen
to it on the radio driving up Route 3.  It was a defensively-oriented
period that BC had the most chances on due to a couple of power plays.
(After hearing the broadcaster describe heavy sustained BC pressure at
one point, I remarked that "usually when it's like this, someone has to
take a penalty."  Two seconds after that sentence was out of my mouth,
the penalty came.)  St. John was up to the task and BC could not dent
the net.  Comments from BC fans between the first and second periods
indicated there weren't a lot of golden chances, and it wasn't too
surprising that the period ended scoreless.  It was nice, though, to enter
the arena and see a large crowd for a change.  The recent Lowell resurgence
and winning streak, combined with a tough opponent with a lot of traveling
fans, made Tsongas a fun place to watch a game.  Too many times in recent
years it has been mostly empty, and usually with more BC fans than Lowell
fans.

The second period was also a bit defensive, though Lowell started to get
more chances, playing physically along the boards and not allowing the BC
forwards to move the puck around.  Combined with some nice breakout play
from the defense, the River Hawks were able to force the play into the
Eagles' end a fair bit and get a few chances of their own.  The best
chance came later in the period on an end-to-end rush by one of the UML
defensemen, skipping right around the BC player and moving toward the net.
He couldn't quite control it, though, and the shot ended up wide (I don't
know if Clemmensen got a piece of it or not.)  Both teams got a little
chippy in the period, though it didn't get out of hand.  Rob Scuderi and
Tom Rouleau went off for matching slashings late in the frame (they battled
all night) and the 4-on-4 ice started to produce more offense.  A lot of
grabbing and jabbing and stickwork continued as each team tried to slow
the other down.  Slightly away from the puck, Brad Rooney was called in
the last minute for roughing after giving Brian Gionta a knock in the head.
Gionta was down on the ice at the blue line for a few seconds, Rooney was
unhappy (probably asserting that he was retaliating for similar treatment
from Gionta, given the trend in the game), and coach Whitehead voiced
vigorous disagreement to referee Fitzgerald.  At that point BC was going on
their 4th power play to only 1 for Lowell, and I think the home fans felt
their team was getting disserved by the officials.  Lowell has a history of
getting frustrated by BC, partly because of the speed differental in the
teams which forces the River Hawks to play physically to counterbalance
the mismatches.  (In the first meeting between the teams in November, UML
took 13 penalties for 37 minutes, surrendering 3 power play goals.)  BC
was unable to score before the period ended, but would start the third on
the continuing power play.

Second intermission interlude -- with the large crowd, Tsongas Arena saw
what had to be one of their larger "Chuck-A-Puck" contests.  The ice was
virtually covered in orange foam pucks during the blizzard of attempts.
Then the kids got to run all over the ice to help the cleanup, so it was
like a carnival for a short while.  The Zamboni driver and various other
staff were targets for some saved pucks afterward as well.  I guess it
beats the tennis ball throwing we used to see at Merrimack ...

Tension was getting high as the 3rd period started, with a scoreless game
and BC pressing on the power play.  UML cleared the puck just outside their
zone, and BC's Scuderi slipped trying to control it.  Lowell surged forward,
hoping to get a shorthanded bid, and the BC player flailed with his body
to try to shove the puck away.  As he did so, he and a Lowell player tangled,
the player fell, and the home crowd howled for a penalty.  No call.  (And
a good no-call in my opinion; there was no intent to interfere and the man
fell due to an inadvertent collision, and there was no clear advantage.)
BC regrouped and pushed back into the Lowell zone, firing the puck at the
net.  Lowell's Laurent Meunier then tried to interfere with a man in the
slot and was whistled for a slashing penalty, giving the Eagles a 5-on-3
power play for 20 seconds.  The crowd was not happy.  BC pushed hard,
getting one quick shot and then controlling the puck at the blue line. It
was pushed to the left side, fed back to the left circle, and freshman
J.D. Forrest fired a low shot just as the Rooney penalty expired, denting
the net for the first goal of the game.  UML cranked up the pressure right
after the faceoff, getting one hard shot that Clemmensen barely deflected,
then getting another good chance from the right circle.  That slap shot
rang off the crossbar and flew into the stands, coming oh-so-close to making
it a tie game.  BC settled down a bit and tried to knock Lowell off the
puck to clear the zone.  Brett Peterson used his stick to clear a player
away and got the cross-checking penalty, giving Lowell a chance to get right
back in the game.  It was from this point forward that Clemmensen played his
best, stopping low shots with leg splits and positioning himself well, even
when he couldn't see the outside shots through the screens.  Despite several
good chances, Lowell couldn't even the game.

Play was hard and fast for the remainder of the period, with more offense
than the first 2 periods and a fairly entertaining game.  BC carried the
play for a few minutes in the middle of the period and the hard work
produced the 2nd goal.  The line of Kolanos/Giuliano/Kobasew, which had
given the River Hawks all sorts of problems in their first matchup in
November, had a monster shift at the 8 minute mark.  They were cycling the
puck back and forth along the boards to the right of the goal, always able
to get someone free to keep it moving rather than allowing the Lowell
defense to tie them up as they had done much of the game.  Finally, as
it was shifted to another player moving in the opposite direction to the
first, a sharp pass to the slot was made, and Kobasew quickly one-timed
it past St. John.  It was in-and-out so quick, at first it looked like it
was saved and was a rebound, but the red light came on and the Eagles
celebrated.  Lowell took another penalty shortly after that, and it looked
like BC would put it away with good pressure, but St. John showed a quick
glove to snatch away 2 hard shots to keep it 2-0.  Things continued to be
chippy, with matching penalties at 12:28 (with other extra-curriculars not
called.)  Lowell pushed hard, keeping the puck in the BC end for long
stretches, forcing Clemmensen and the defense to deflect shots, clear
rebounds, and work very hard.  Heavy pressure finally resulted in a BC
penalty at 15:04 (Scuderi holding the stick in the slot), and the fans
thought they would have a power play.  However, a couple of other skirmishes
had broken out, and UML ended up getting a matching roughing penalty to
result in a 4-on-4.  While the battling was going on, Lowell's Domish
and BC's Orpik were tangled at the boards, and Domish slammed Orpik's head
into the glass.  We expected a retaliation and a donnybrook, but Orpik just
skated away.  No call was made.  It wasn't hard to figure that a retaliation
would follow, and sure enough, Orpik went off for slashing at 16:43.  That
made it 4-on-3 for Lowell, and they called a timeout shortly thereafter and
pulled the goalie.  With the 2 extra men, they kept the pressure on for the
next minute.  A couple of shots were barely kicked out, then a screened shot
was blocked, but the rebound squirted loose to the right side, and Meunier
spun around and fired a low shot point-blank for the Lowell goal.  Now
within one, all the action was UML pressing forward for the tying goal and
BC trying to resist.  Clemmensen was huge during the end of the game,
sometimes stopping shots he never saw through the screens, a couple of
times seeing deflections at the last second and barely tipping them wide.
At one point a player had charged hard to the net at the left side and
tried a stuff shot.  It was blocked but he lifted the rebound at the post
and it bounced in the crease as bodies crashed the net.  The puck may or
may not have crossed the line as the net came off; the crowd and the
Lowell players screamed for a goal but the referee clearly and emphatically
signaled no goal.  It wasn't clear if he was saying it didn't go in, or it
was in after a whistle, or if the net was off, or what.  BC's Kobasew took
an ill-advised roughing penalty during the scramble (a minute and a half
left,) with Lowell again pulling the goalie as soon as possible and storming
the BC end with 2 extra men.  The Eagles managed to clear the puck 2 or 3
times during this stretch, including a chance for Gionta to outskate
everyone with the empty net, but he had to take it behind the Lowell goal
and ended up with no shot.  BC's defense worked hard to beat UML skaters
to the corner in the last few seconds and prevented good shots.  A last-
second clear into the crowd as the clock ran down forced them to put one
second back on the clock and have a final faceoff, but no one could get a
shot off and BC ended up with the win.

You couldn't have asked for 2 more contrasting games between 2 teams than
the 2 they have played this season.  The first time, with a most-empty
arena, BC dominated in every way and had an easy win.  Lowell was not playing
well at that time and it showed.  This game, with Lowell on a hot streak,
was a battle the whole way.  BC ended up with the victory, and was probably
the better team overall, but it was razor-thin.  This game was reminiscent
of some of Lowell's tough teams from the past in the way they worked and
played defense, along with sharp goaltending.  They just didn't have the
scorers to finish off plays and put goals on the board.  Perhaps if they
had injured scorer Yorick Treille back, it might have been different.  If
the River Hawks play like this the rest of the way, they will win a lot of
times.  Their recent winning streak is understandable after watching this
game.

BC again found a way to win, with 2 freshmen lighting the lamp.  Kobasew
is a leading candidate for rookie of the year in Hockey East, and shows a
scorer's touch around the net with physical ability in the corners.  While
Krys Kolanos didn't end up with an assist on the Kobasew goal (it was
originally awarded but the latest box shows the assist to Scuderi), he
is a threat at all times and almost scored a couple himself.  The players
that were missing tonight were the seniors.  Brian Gionta found himself a
marked man all night and was credited with no shots on goal, and Mike
Lephart has been unable to find his scoring touch lately.  Perhaps Lowell
had decided that they would not let Gionta beat them, as he has had 27
points against them in his 12 previous matchups with UML.  BC has to work
very hard in these types of games to score, and most teams have found that
they cannot play an up-and-down offensive shootout with the Eagles, so they
check closely and try to reduce rebound chances (where BC scores a lot.)

I am disappointed at the selections of the 3 stars in the game.  I don't
think there is any way that anyone can defend not choosing the 2 goaltenders
as the top 2 stars.  If Meunier does not score that late 6-on-4 goal,
Clemmensen would have had his shutout and would have been the easy number
one choice.  So, in a defensive game with great keepers, how to you award
all the stars to the goal scorers?  For all the Clemmensen bashers out
there, this is a game that Lowell would probably have won 3-2 or 4-2 in
Scott's first 2 years.  He has improved his coverage and positioning a
great deal, and it really showed tonight.  And after looking like a piece
of Swiss cheese in their first meeting, Jimi St. John was extremely tough
here.  Overall he looks to have a confidence that he didn't have at
the beginning of the season.  For that matter, the whole Lowell team is
showing a confidence that they didn't have 2 months ago.  Perhaps it just
took some time for them to learn to play together, or get the younger
players to adjust to the speed of this level.

BC takes the 2 points and moves ahead of Providence for first place in
Hockey East.  Their next game is at Merrimack Tuesday night, where the
Warriors will try to slow their recent skid and pay the Eagles back for
the first 2 lopsided games earlier this year.  Lowell is also off until
Tuesday, when they play at Brown in a non-conference matchup.  This could
be a trap game for Lowell, being out of league and against a team that is
not doing that well.  But if they play with near the same intensity as
this game, they should beat the Bears.
--------------------               ----------------------
Rick McAdoo                        [log in to unmask]
"Volunteer reporter"               A pleased BC fan.  GO EAGLES!