It was the Chris Drury show last night as the all-america forward broke out
of his scoring "slump" with two goals to lead the Terriers to a 4-2 win
over UNH.
The game started off slowly, I thought, with both teams feeling the other
out for most of the period.  Freshman Russ Bartlett scored the only goal of
the period, and the first of his career, when he put in a rebound at 2:10.
The play opened up in the second.  Drury got his first at 4:10 when he
busted down the left wing, turned a flat footed Christian Bragnalo, wheeled
in front of the net and tucked it past a sprawled Sean Matile for an
unassisted goal
 
At this point, I thought UNH was to suffer their usual fate at Walter
Brown, where they haven't won since 1993.  Instead, UNH's own GREAT, Mark
Mowers picked up a loose puck of his own at center ice, skated into the BU
zone on the right wing and whistled one past Michel Larocque at 6:16 (note:
this was not a power play goal).  20 seconds later, Drury and Mike Sylvia
were sent off by ref Jim Fitzgerald and UNH capitalized.  Jason Krog was
able to control the puck behind the goal line, bump it over to Derek Bekar,
who came out short side and stuffed the puck behind Larocque at 7:16.
 
The game remained tied until Drury put on a show again.  He took a short
pass from Sylvia along the left boards, wheeled into the slot untouched and
fired a wrist shot from Matile at 12:54. Just 38 seconds later BU got the
back breaker, with Greg Quebec scoring short side.  This goal was set up by
what I feel was a non-call by Fitzgerald.  Rob Gagnon (not Ficek) had
gathered the puck behind the net and was attempting to skate out at
Matile's left.  He was tripped, gave up the puck and Quebec took advantage.
A previous post indicated that it was a soft goal, but I don't think so,
it was a bang-bang play.  It was certainly no softer than Mowers' shot
earlier in the period that eluded Larocque.  Anyway, the goal was a killer
since it allowed BU to sit back a little, just as UNH did the previous
night, and just parry UNH's rushes out of the zone. BU played pretty well
in the third period as UNH could not mount any offense at all.
 
The weekend series, I guess, only proved that both teams can play with the
lead in their own rink.  Coupled with Merrimack's defeat of Maine Friday
night and Northeastern's upset of BC Saturday night, I think it's going to
be a much more competitive year in Hockey East than last.
 
BOX
 
UNH     0   2   0   -  2
BU      1   3   0   -  4
 
First Period
 
G       2:10    BU  - Bartlett, 1 (Vuori, Poti)
P       6:16    UNH - Bench (too many men on ice)
P       11:35   UNH - Bragnalo (slashing)
P       12:51   BU -  Kelleher (interference)
P       18:40   UNH   Enders (elbowing)
 
Second Period
 
G       4:10    BU    Drury, 4 (unassisted)
G       6:16    UNH   Mowers, 8 (unassisted)
P       6:36    BU    Drury (crosschecking)
P       6:36    BU    Sylvia (unsportsmanlike conduct)
G       7:16    UNH   Bekar, 5 (Krog, Nolan) PPG
P       7:42    UNH   Krog (high sticking)
P       10:37   BU    Poti (slashing)
G       12:54   BU    Drury, 5 (Ronan, Sylvia)
G       13:32   BU    Quebec, 2 (Donatelli, Hanson)
P       18:10   UNH   White (roughing)
P       19:08   UNH   Mowers (roughing)
P       19:08   BU    Corazzini (roughing)
P       19:22   BU    DiPenta (interference)
 
Third Period
 
P       1:51    BU    O'Connell (highsticking)
P       5:41    UNH   Nolan (holding)
P       12:01   UNH   Filipowicz (tripping)
P       15:46   UNH   Filipowicz (interference)
 
Saves
 
Matile (UNH)    9   3   1  -  23
Larocque (BU)   5   7   4  -  16
 
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