Laroque was very rusty, letting in a number of weak goals.  The freshman
goalie played the third period, but the damage had already been done.
Vermont played tough and kept digging, especially on the power-play.  The BU
defense played well enough to win, but wasn't dominating.  I can't remember
any Vermont odd-man rushes, but BU's defense was guilty of backing too far
into the zone on a number of occasions, especially on the power play.  On
one Vermont power play, BU didn't even forecheck (can't remember ever seeing
that?), and Vermont just skated in, made a couple of passes, and scored.
 
BU's offense looked good and fast, but not dominating.  No super-stars, just
a lot of hard work and team speed.  BU got a number of goals off of
scrambles.  Other than that, Vermont did a good job of clearing the puck,
and their goalie played well, especially during the first period, letting
them take an early 3-1 lead in spite of being heavily outshot.
 
The backbreakers were three goals scored with under a minute remaining, one
with less than a second in the first, and two at the end of the second.  BU
just let up, trying to coast into the intermission, looking especially
deflated on the last of those three.
 
Of course, this is all from a "BU" perspective.  I do believe that Vermont
played well, and were much more determined to win than BU was, and certainly
deserved the game.  While BU blew a 5-3 lead, Vermont had blown a 3-1 lead,
so both teams were not very sharp.
 
From this game, I think that BU won't have a dominating first or second line
(but they will have speed), and they will depend on their offensive depth to
carry them.  But, without any snipers stepping up, BU will have a hard time
getting goals against the tough defenses.  No matter what, if BU's
goaltending doesn't shape up, it is going to be a very long season.
 
Adam
 
> greenie wrote:
>
> All I know about this matchup was what one could gleam from the box:
>
> BU blew a 5-3 lead.
> 42 total penalty minutes.
> UVM was 5-7 on the PP, BU 2-13.
> UVM scored 8 goals on 18 shots.
> Only 5 of the 14 total goals were scored even-strength.
> BU took out Laroque after 2 and put in Jason Tapp, who
> tallied a sv% of .500
>
>
> Was there anyone at this game, maybe who at least listened to
> it on the
> radio, than can shed some light on this?
>
> Was the BU defense that bad, did they give up too many
> breakaways, or was
> Laroque simply rusty? Are Jason Reid and Matt Sanders of UVM
> that good?
>
>
> Enquring minds want to know...
 
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