Sunday, October 29, 2000 at Kelley Rink (Conte Forum), Chestnut Hill, MA
BC 9, UMA 5 HOCKEY EAST GAME
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UMASS-AMHERST (HE) 2 3 0 - 5 (1-1-0 HE, 1-3-1 overall)
BOSTON COLLEGE (HE) 4 2 3 - 9 (1-0-0 HE, 5-1-0 overall)
Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
UMA 11- 6- 7 -- 24 18 - 39 0 - 9
BC 15-16-21 -- 52 17 - 45 5 - 12
UMA - Markus Helanen 11- 7- x - 18 saves/5 goals (31:45)
Mike Johnson x- 7-18 - 25 saves/4 goals (28:15)
BC - Tim Kelleher 9- 3- x - 12 saves/4 goals (33:57)
Scott Clemmensen x- 0- 7 - 7 saves/1 goal (26:03)
3 Stars: BC Krys Kolanos, UMA Darcy King, BC Bobby Allen
COMMENTS
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Boston College opened their Hockey East schedule with a wild 9-5 shootout
over UMass-Amherst Sunday night. This game was very choppy and long with
lots of penalties, especially involving stick play. Friday's game with
Wisconsin was a joy to watch, this one was painful. Lots of points to
go around, with Krys Kolanos having 2 goals and 3 assists, UMA's Darcy
King having a good game with 2 goals and 2 assists, and BC's Bobby Allen
with 2 goals and an assist. Both starting goalies got pulled in the 2nd
period when it seemed that no one could play defense, but BC dominated
the third period to pull away in the end. The Eagles outshot the
Minutemen 52 to 24 overall.
The first period started innocently, with BC carrying the early play, only
to see UMass score first. BC's Mark McLennan failed to control the puck
in his zone, and it squirted into the slot where Brad Nizwantowski fired
a 1-timer into the left side. Shortly thereafter the penalties started,
with referee Tim Benedetto calling lots of things, perhaps trying to set
a tone early in the season. Most of the penalties in this game were not
matching ones, leading to a large number of power plays. That worked to
BC's advantage, as they scored 5 power play goals, one 4-on-4 goal, and
one shorthanded goal, while UMass failed to score on any power play. BC
tied the score at 12:48 on a 4-on-3 when Bobby Allen drove to the net to
collect a nice flip pass from Brion Gionta and hammer it home. The 2nd
Eagle goal was an unassisted effort by Kolanos right off a faceoff. He
won the faceoff, pushed the puck toward the net, skipped past the other
centerman, and fired a quick 1-timer that popped thru Markus Helanen's
pads. BC scored again on the power play when UMA could not clear the
puck after several attempts, leaving Ben Eaves free to send a quick wrister
toward Helanen from the left circle. It somehow managed to squirt thru
the pads and trickle just barely over the line. Darcy King got that one
back for the Minutemen by firing a hard slapper to Kelleher's glove side,
where it tipped off the glove and fell into the net. Then BC responded
with a rebound goal by Jeff Giuliano, who collected a loose puck in front
following a hard Allen wrist shot from the right side through a crowd.
Both teams had a hard time controlling the other team's offense, and it
continued in the 2nd period. BC got most of the shots in this period but
the score favored the Minutemen. Good work by UMass led to their 3rd goal,
a rocket from Kris Wallis from the high right circle that rang in off the
far post. Penalties came into play again as both teams did a fair amount
of cross-checking and whacking. BC made it 5-3 on a nice play by Kolanos,
whose hard shot from the right side hit the far post and bounced out for
frosh J.D. Forrest, who popped in the rebound for his first goal. That
got Helanen replaced by Mike Johnson. More up-and-down play followed,
and UMass scored on an absolutely beautiful shot by Mike Warner. Jay Shaw
feathered a pass into the zone as Warner streaked in on the right side.
He beat the defense to the puck and immediately lifted a laser-like
backhand shot high to the far side of the net. No goalie would have saved
this one! But Coach York decided it was time to let his team know they
needed to play defense, so Kelleher got replaced by Clemmensen in net.
More second period goals followed. Forrest took the puck deep into the
right side of the UMass zone and slid a nice pass to the slot, where
Chuck Kobasew hammered it home to make it 6-4, BC. UMass got it back
when lazy defense by BC let a player work the puck free and feed it out
front to King. He slid across the face of the goal, waited, waited, got
Clemmensen to go down, and reached the puck around him into the net.
Shortly thereafter, in the final minute of the period, things got a bit
nasty. With the referee signalling a penalty on Toni Soderholm (for
cross-checking Gionta), BC's Marty Hughes and UMA's Luke Duplessis got
tangled up in the slot. They had to be separated after a major wrestling
match and struggle. Both players got double minors for roughing, Hughes
got a major and game DQ for spearing, and Soderholm got a 5-minute major.
It would set the tone for the third period.
BC carried play from the start of the third period and controlled things
fairly well. Johnson had to make a nice save early, but was left hanging
at 4:38 when his D was caught in a line change. Brett Peterson poked the
puck free to the blue line and Kolanos circled back to collect it and
drive all alone to the net. He scored on a low wrist shot to make it
7-5, BC. Then the stickwork started. 7 consecutive penalties, all were
either slashing or high-sticking. Play was extremely choppy and rough,
and UMass was getting no offense at all. BC got another power play goal
at 14:34 to effectively finish the game when Bobby Allen's right point
slap shot bounced off the defense and lifted over Johnson's shoulder.
More penalties, leading to a shorthanded BC goal to finish the scoring.
Mike Lephart worked hard on the forecheck, finally leading to a Rob
Scuderi shot from the point. Brion Gionta tipped the shot past the
keeper for the final 9-5 margin. And, of course, we finished with 3
more penalties ... (sigh)
UMass has some definite offensive talent, and this game they relied on
King, Wallis, and Nizwantowski to provide 4 of the 5 goals and 6 assists.
They had 5 goals and none of them involved the Turner brothers, which is
hard to believe. Defense, on the other hand, especially on special teams,
was sorely lacking. Even given that BC is a good offensive team, this
was a very poor performance by the Minutemen. If they had gotten good
goaltending and a somewhat improved defensive effort, they could have won
this game. But you can't give up 5 power play goals, can you, and hope
to win.
BC rebounded nicely from a hard-fought game Friday night, and found their
scoring touch, often on rebounds or odd-man breaks. They lost Marty
Hughes for next game due to the DQ, and freshman Ben Eaves missed the 3rd
period with some sort of injury. No further word on that. The offense
was the good stuff. The defense, and the goaltending, was not so good.
They let UMass have a lot of open ice to maneuver, and were just plain
lazy at times, trying to let their sticks play defense instead of skating
hard. Kelleher did not look confident in net, and fought the puck the
whole time, though he had apparently played well in the game at Denver
last week. It remains to be seen if this game was an aberration, or if
it indicates some stamina problems following tough Friday night games.
A final comment on the flow of the game. Maybe 35 penalties were deserved
in this one; certainly we noticed a bunch that were dutifully called. And
there was an early effort to call the new emphasis, obstruction penalties.
But Benedetto has a reputation of trying to control the game via the
whistle, and this one was not entertaining to watch as a result. I hope
this does not indicate a trend for the rest of the season. BC takes
plenty of penalties (and is fairly good at the PK, saving them.) But if
for no other reason than artistic enjoyment, I hope things change for the
rest of the season.
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Rick McAdoo [log in to unmask]
"Volunteer reporter" A pleased BC fan. GO EAGLES!
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