(Box from BC game summary sheet)
Saturday, December 9, 2006 at Kelley Rink, Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA
BC 5, UMA 2 HOCKEY EAST GAME
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UNIV. OF MASSACHUSETTS-AMHERST 1 1 0 - 2 (8-5-2 overall, 5-4-1 HE)
BOSTON COLLEGE (HE) 2 1 2 - 5 (9-5-1 overall, 6-3-1 HE)
Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
UMA 11- 9- 4 -- 24 6 - 12 2 - 6
BC 13-20-16 -- 49 6 - 12 0 - 5
UMA- Jon Quick 11-19-14 - 44 saves/5 goals (59:45)
BC - Cory Schneider 10- 8- 4 - 22 saves/2 goals (60:00)
Referee - Dave Hansen
Assistants - Bob Bernard, Brendan Kelleher
Attendance - 5447
1st Period
BC1 Nathan Gerbe 8 (Brock Bradford, Anthony Aiello) 0:48
BC2 Brian Boyle 6 (Carl Sneep, Joe Rooney) 17:36
UMA1 Chris Davis 6 (Chris Capraro, Cory Quirk) PPG 18:42
Penalties
BC - Brian O'Hanley (holding) 3:23
BC - Kyle Kucharski (hit from behind) 9:09
UMA - Chris Capraro (holding) 9:57
BC - Nathan Gerbe (hit from behind) 17:55
UMA - David Leaderer (holding) 19:29
2nd Period
BC3 Pat Gannon 1 (Mike Brennan, Matt Lombardi) 6:14
UMA2 P.J. Fenton 6 (Will Ortiz) PPG 9:00
Penalties
BC - Benn Ferriero (tripping) 7:33
UMA - Justin Braun (hooking) 11:49
3rd Period
BC4 Brian Boyle 7 (Anthony Aiello, Joe Rooney) 0:50
BC5 Brock Bradford 5 (Nathan Gerbe, Dan Bertram) 1:26
Penalties
BC - Joe Adams (tripping) 3:21
UMA - Justin Braun (hooking) 10:43
UMA - (too many men - served by Alex Berry) 11:39
BC - Brett Motherwell (tripping) 11:50
UMA - Chris Davis (unsportsmanlike conduct) 17:41
3 Stars - 1. BC, Brian Boyle (2G)
2. BC, Nathan Gerbe (1G, 1A)
3. UMA, P.J. Fenton (1G)
University of Massachusetts-Amherst: (pairings not accurate)
F CHRIS DAVIS, CORY QUIRK, P.J. FENTON
Chris Capraro, Matt Anderson, Will Ortiz
Matt Burto, Brett Watson, Topher Bevis
Sam D'Agostino, Alex Berry, Scott Crowder
D DAVID LEADERER, JUSTIN BRAUN
Mark Matheson, Mike Kostka
Martin Nolet, John Wessbecker
G JON QUICK, Dan Meyers
Boston College:
F JOE ROONEY, BRIAN BOYLE, BENN FERRIERO
Nathan Gerbe, Dan Bertram, Brock Bradford
Joe Adams, Pat Gannon, Kyle Kucharski
Matt Price, Ben Smith, Matt Lombardi
D BRETT MOTHERWELL, CARL SNEEP
Anthony Aiello, Mike Brennan
Tim Kunes, Brian O'Hanley
G CORY SCHNEIDER, Joe Pearce, Adam Reasoner
COMMENTS
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Boston College paid back UMass Saturday night with a 5-2 triumph at
Chestnut Hill, on the heels of a UMass victory Friday, 2-1 in Amherst.
The Eagles scored first in each period to put the pressure on the visitors,
with Brian Boyle scoring 2 goals while camped in front of the net. Nathan
Gerbe was the second star with a goal and an assist for BC, while P.J.
Fenton and Chris Davis scored for the Minutemen. BC also received goals
from Pat Gannon on a deflection, and Brock Bradford finished the scoring
with a tip-in at the far post.
BC jumped out early in the first when Gerbe collected a pass in the inside
left circle area and immediately ripped a sharp wrister to the far post. He
almost got his second at the 3:15 mark when his blast ricocheted off the
crossbar and out. UMass was relatively ineffective on their first two
power plays, and BC had the best chances through the middle of the period.
Benn Ferriero and Joe Rooney both saw close-in shots deflected wide or
saved by Jon Quick. Frosh Ben Smith just missed for the Eagles at the
12:04 mark with a breakaway shot over Quick's shoulder but off the
crossbar.
Action settled into a defensive style for minutes, with most shots coming
from outside and not troubling the keepers. Late in the period BC
increased
the lead to 2 with a nice passing play. Joe Rooney cycled out of the right
corner and dropped the puck for Carl Sneep as he pinched in from the point.
Sneep looked up to see Boyle camped in front of the net and fired the puck
just outside the crease where Boyle easily tipped it through the 5-hole.
BC had another good chance while killing a penalty, as Rooney drove the
slot and tried to stuff a shot past Quick, but the UMass goalie made a
big save. That really paid dividends when the Minutemen went to the other
end and used their own nice passing play to score a power-play goal. A
feed
from the right point to the lower left circle was immediately fed back
across the face of the goal to Chris Davis for a quick and easy score.
The Eagles opened the second period on a power play and carried the early
momentum in the frame. Ferriero had a breakaway 4 minutes in and got too
fancy with his moves, with the goalie making the save. Another scramble
after that gave BC a couple of quick chances with another shot nicking the
post. Finally the pressure paid off when Mike Brennan threw a shot toward
the net from the left point, and it deflected off the back shoulder of
Pat Gannon as he skated toward the crease and up to the right corner of
the goal. BC took a cheap penalty shortly thereafter, though, and again
UMass made them pay. After a couple of big saves by Schneider, Fenton got
a pass at the high right circle with time to wind up for the big slap shot.
It skimmed past a BC defender and beat Schneider low to the near post (I
thought it might have deflected off the defender's skate.) For some time
after the goal the Minutemen had more speed and energy, and that carried
through most of the remainder of the period. BC's Bertram made a shifty
move around a defenseman and fired a hard shot that Quick had to save in
the final minute, but it seemed that UMass might have the ability to rally
in the third.
It didn't happen that way, though, as BC scored 2 quick goals in the first
2 minutes of the final period to put this game on ice. A hard BC breakout
led to a shot by Joe Rooney that was saved. But he collected his own
rebound, circled the net, and slid a pass all the way back to Aiello at
the point. He wound up a big slap shot that zipped through a crowd and
past the goalie for the score. It was initially announced as Aiello's
goal, but later amended to note that it was tipped in front by Boyle. The
very next shift led to the final score when Gerbe and Bradford charged up
ice and broke into the zone together. Gerbe slid a pass from the left
circle across the face of the goal to Bradford, who reached out and tipped
it past the goalie's outstretched leg and just inside the right post.
Play was mostly uninspired by UMass after that point, and BC carried almost
all of the play in the third period. UMass didn't even get a shot on
goal until about 9 minutes left to play in the game. They had a chance on
a shorthanded breakaway but the player was tripped during a stick check
by the retreating BC defense. BC saw Boyle wind up for 2 successive huge
slap shots on their own power play, one ringing loudly off the post, the
second ringing (less loudly) squarely off the goalie's face mask. BC had
a couple of good chances left, with Rooney losing the puck on a breakaway
chance, and Bertram tipping it just wide on a point-blank setup. It was
all academic at that point, though, and the Eagles got back to winning
ways.
BC had outshot UMass by a large margin on Friday but could score only once
in the loss. This game saw a similar large margin but better results, with
5 goals, 4 posts/crossbars, and numerous other good chances. Unlike past
games, where Boyle would set up along the wing and attempt to move the puck
to teammates, he was placed in front of the goal for this game. It paid
off
big time, as he scored twice, set up other chances, and occupied a lot of
attention in the slot. Though the BC power play didn't score, it did
generate some very good chances. The penalty kill for the Eagles was not
consistent, and gave up 2 power play goals to the Minutemen. Certainly
this game was not nearly as good as the Eagles can play, but it showed
some improvement in key areas and was more than enough to handle UMass.
The Minutemen were caught relying on their goalie too much in this contest,
repeatedly getting caught too far up ice or out of position defensively.
They gave up large numbers of shots and way too many quality shots for
comfort. Jon Quick played reasonably well, but needed a lot more help than
he got. The UMass power play moved the puck pretty well, and it paid off
with 2 scores, but their even strength play was not strong enough. Perhaps
it reflects the talent and speed differences in these 2 teams, as BC was
able to often gain odd man advantages on the rush. UMass is still a very
young team with some quality players; given more maturity and some good
recruits to match, and they could move up in Hockey East. They have a
decent goaltender but need to shore up defensively a bit more, at least
against the better teams in the league.
The Eagles were happy enough to play better and come away with the win,
but there are still many elements of the BC game that need improvement.
They have played well at times, but have been curiously ineffective on
offense at other times. Their well-known woes on the power play continue
to hamper them, costing them goals that they really need to move up in
the standings. More disturbing is the continued inconsistency on defense.
This was expected to be the strength of the team, backed by an All-American
goaltender in Cory Schneider. There are times when they perform
admirably and shut down most opposition, but they cannot seem to maintain
that intensity and concentration. The Eagles, of course, are also still
a young team themselves, but expectations were high following the run to
last year's championship game. Perhaps the struggles so far this year
just serve to highlight how amazing that run last year was. To be fair,
the team in still 9-5-1 and ranked in the top 10, a position most teams
would be happy to be in. They have no more games until the season starts
again after the New Year. If they can improve some of their weaker areas
while maintaining the strong parts of their game, they will continue to
be a challenger for the Hockey East title and NCAA playoffs.
Rick McAdoo
"Volunteer reporter"
An enthusiastic BC fan. GO EAGLES!
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