at BU 5, BC 1
UNH 7, at Mass Lowell 2
NU 3, at Maine 3 (NU wins SO, 3-2)
Merrimack at Alaska-Fairbanks (NC, still underway)
With BU's win and Maine's SO loss, Maine holds a 10 point lead on BU
(in 2nd) with each team having 9 HE games left. That's the equivalent
of two wins.
UNH remains only 2 points behind BU, also with 9 left, and the
Wildcats have a big home and home upcoming with BU next week.
UML's loss combined with NU's SO win means UML is in 4th, 1 point up
on NU, with 2 games in hand on NU. And in another big home and home,
these two teams will also meet this coming weekend.
*** BU-BC comments... ***
Unofficial line - all info gleaned from the tv broadcast.
BC (6-15-2, 4-9-2 HE 7th) 0 1 0 - 1 shots 7--6--5 = 18
BU (16-4-3, 9-3-3 HE 2nd) 1 4 0 - 5 shots 25-24-16 = 65
BC goalie Greg Taylor smashed the HE single game regular season record
for saves in a game with 60, according to WABU-68. That is one save a
minute. However, it was not nearly enough as BU won easily. The
Terriers unofficially outshot BC 65-18 for the game, 103-34 on the
weekend.
This marks the third time this season that an opposing goalie has set
the record against BU. It also comes only 8 days after Merrimack's
Eric Thibeault stopped 54 of 56 BU shots to break the record set by
Mass Amherst's Dave Kilduff (50 of 57) back on 11/18/94. Kilduff had
broken a record that was set by PC's Chris Terreri (49) vs BC on 11/4/84,
only a few weeks into the inaugural HE campaign. Terreri's record had
stood for over 10 years but has been broken 3 times this season alone.
With the way BU has been launching shots on opposing netminders
lately (210 in last 4 games, avg 52.5), I wouldn't say Taylor's record
is firm by any stretch of the imagination.
At least one other HE record was set tonight, this one for most
penalty minutes in a period, with the teams combining unofficially for
25 penalties and 76 PIM in a chippy second. Unofficial totals for the
game were 56 for 138 - not a record, btw.
Taylor should sue his teammates for lack of support. Without him, BC
could have easily lost 15-1. He was forced to make perhaps 15-20 saves
from point blank range this evening. BC also continued to take
numerous very bad penalties that destroyed any hope they had of
remaining in the game. When the only reason you are in it is because
your goalie is playing superbly, this is the last thing you do.
BU took a 1-0 lead after the first, in which the Terriers outshot BC
something like 25-7. But after a period-plus of outstanding
netminding, in the second Taylor allowed a soft goal on a shot from
the circle by Linna that went through his pads to make it 2-0, and the
game deteriorated after that. BU would take a 5-1 lead after two and it
stayed that way, with the only suspense being whether Taylor would get
the record, as he had 44 saves through 40 minutes.
BU's Mike Grier was ejected along with BC's Jerry Buckley in the wild
second. The two never dropped their gloves, but there were some clear
punches thrown on both sides after Buckley harassed the Terrier
forward. Technically, it was fighting, but it came at a time when the
game was beginning to get out of hand and the referees had apparently
decided to start calling things VERY tightly. Had it happened in a
different situation, the call would have probably been double roughs.
But as I am pretty sure the call included game DQs (as opposed to game
misconducts), Grier and Buckley will both miss their first games of
next weekend, BU vs UNH and BC vs PC.
The funny thing was that Sports Illustrated had sent a photographer to
get some shots of Grier for the swimsuit issue article on him, and
once he was ejected, WABU showed the photographer quickly packing up
and clearing out - although he did reappear for a second intermission
interview with Howard "It's Not Easy Being" Green.
Another oddity came after a BU penalty put BC on the power play, but
before the puck was dropped, referee Jim Fitzgerald whistled a bench
minor against the Eagles - apparently on the manager. Don't know if I
have seen that before.
BC's only goal came late in the second with the score 5-0 as David
Hymovitz stole the puck from Linna deep in the zone and beat Tom Noble
with a knuckleball shot. At times the Eagles looked like they had
their forecheck working okay and were able to keep play close, but
more often than not, they got caught up ice and had to take bad
penalties to try to bail themselves out.
A TALE OF TWO COACHES
In a game that was very chippy, I would think that Parker is satisfied
with BU's effort. They handily outshot BC in every period, and
despite being stoned by Taylor through the first and beginning of the
second, they did take advantage of BC's poor D and penalties to put it
away in the second. Unlike Friday at BC, BU did not let up in the
third, and only Taylor prevented the score from reaching double
digits and beyond. Noble again played well despite not seeing much
work.
Jerry York, on the other hand, cannot be happy...I thought that in
both games, BC allowed their tempers to get the better of them and they
continually took dumb, behind-the-play or after-the-whistle penalties.
If BC was able to give Taylor any help in their own zone, their record
would be better than it is. Out of curiosity, I checked the records
of Merrimack and BC to see how they fared in low scoring games, since
both teams have outstanding netminders who need their team defense to
be solid in order to have success.
Merrimack has held the opponents to 3 goals or less in 13 of their 24
games with a record of 8-2-3, including games against Maine (2), BU,
UNH, NU, and RPI. BC has done this in only 6 of their 23 games, going
3-3-0, and only Clarkson, Maine, and UML (once each) were quality
opponents. The difference is that MC's D has played much better than
BC's has.
BC has a decent offense, but their inability to play total team
defense is what has hurt them. BC has now allowed 5.07 goals/game in
HE play, 8th ahead of only UMA. A team with a goaltender as good as
Taylor should not be doing that. It just goes to show you how
important defense is. Tonight, BU buckled down and contained BC much
better defensively than Friday night, meaning BC would have to do the
same in order to have a chance. But it did not happen.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
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