January 29, 1993
Hockey East league game at Joe Tully Forum, Billerica, Mass.
 
Boston Univ. (17-5-2, 11-4-1 HE)  1  -  2  -  2  -  1  --  6
UMass-Lowell (15-11-0, 7-8-0 HE)  2  -  2  -  1  -  0  --  5
 
Scoring                                                           BU-UM-L
first period:
 
1. BU, Mike Bavis (K O'Sullivan)  5:09  ppg                        1-0
2. UM-L, Daw (Henry, Murray)  12:27 ppg                            1-1
3. UM-L, Daw (Pensa, Murray)  16:01                                1-2
 
second period:
 
4. UM-L, Daw (Tucker) 3:04 shg/hat trick (!)                       1-3
5. BU, Joubert (Friedman, Pomichter) 8:39                          2-3
6. UM-L, O'Connell (Hebert, Henry) 14:43                           2-4
7. BU, Brennan (O'Sullivan) 16:42 ppg                              3-4
 
third period:
 
8. BU, Lachance (O'Sullivan) 2:03                                  4-4
9. UM-L, Henry (Hebert, Mayes) 14:55                               4-5
10.BU, Friedman (Sacco, Thornton) 16:52 ppg                        5-5
 
overtime:
11. BU, Sacco (Pomichter, Friedman) 2:37 ppg                       6-5
 
Saves: BU, J.P. McKersie 33; UM-L, Dwayne Roloson 31
Referees: Ned Bunyon, John Gravellese.
Linesman: Andy Hennigar
Attendance: 2,152
 
summary (and some comments, too)
 
        BU visited UMass-Lowell's Tully Forum and to the disappointment
of most (but not all :-) of the 2,152 on hand, escaped with a 6-5 OT win
in one of the most exciting games this season.
        The players and crowd got quite a laugh before the opening face-off
when some brave soul played a rendition of the national anthem that sounded
like the ones "Radar" plays on 'M*A*S*H' --even fiesty Ned Bunyon cracked
a smile for this one! (however, I probably wouldn't have played it much
better myself :-)
        The first period opened with a fired-up UM-L team getting many goos
sorry, good chances. About 4 minutes in BU got a power play when UM-L's
Travis Tucker went off for a slash, but IMHO this was the worst BU power-play
all season. The Chiefs had no trouble controlling play even while down a man,
and continued to test BU goalie J.P. McKersie. Somehow, the puck finally
cleared the BU zone, and with over half the power play gone the Terriers
finally set it up. BU managed a few shots which Cheifs' goalie Dwayne
Roloson handled easily..until Kevin O'Sullivan's slap shot from the far point
was kicked right back out into the slot, where Mike Bavis blindly flippied
it towards the goal. Roloson was screened and the puck sauntered across the
line for the big BU goal to put the Terriers up 1-0 at 5:09.
        The Chiefs continued their pressure, using good forechecking to
throw BU off the puck. At 12:14 a bench minor was called when the Terriers
had too many men on the ice during a slow line change, and was served by
Doug Friedman. UM-L's constant pressure payed off just 13 seconds into the
power play, when rookie sensation Jeff Daw slipped a Mike Murray rebound
just under McKersie's pads to tie at 1.
        BU improved a bit as the period went on, and the tying goal fired
things up a bit, possibly making them realize a game against the Cheifs was
no cakewalk. (I personally thought Wednesday's 6-4 win would have done that,
but the first 15 minutes certainly didn't look like it).  At 16:00 Mike
Pomichter stole a loose puck at center ice and broke in all alone,
but Roloson made a spectacular glove save to keep the game tied.  But less
than 4 minutes after his first goal, Jeff Daw took a nice feed from Tony
Pensa right on the doorstep and wrapped a shot right around McKersie to
give the Chiefs a 2-1. With just under a minute to play, Dave Sacco and
Mike Pomichter skated in on a 2-on-1 but Roloson was again equal to the
task, with a great pad save, leaving the Chiefs' lead intact at the end
of the first.
        The second period opened with a flurry of penalties, and BU
over two minutes of a man advantage (including 10 seconds of 5-3) but
Roloson stonewalled the Terriers again...and again...and again. Dan
O'Connell went off at 2:30 for interference to give BU even more 5x4.
BU's ensuing power play looked, well, awful. Rich Brennan lost a pass
at center ice, where Daw picked it up and scored a very humiliating
short-handed and third of the evening goal to give UM-L a 3-1 lead and
put the Forum in a frenzy.
        At 7:13 Dave Pensa went off for a hi-stick and at 8:39 Jacques
Joubert knocked in a shot from the slot to beat Roloson on his blocker
side. The goal was disputed for several minutes, but ref Andy Hennigar
finally signaled a goal and a face-off at center ice, prompting a 5+
minute onslaught of rather impolite comments from Chiefs' coach Bruce
Crowder. Dan O'Connell decided to resolve the matter himself when his
stuff under McKersie's skate put the Chiefs back up by 2 at 14:43.
Another BU power play came at 15:55 when Eric Brown poked Ken Rausch
in the face for a hit after the whistle, and 47 seconds later Rich
Brennan's slap shot from the point sailed through traffic and past
Roloson to cut the UM-L lead to 1.
        The third opened with one of the evening's two non-power
play goals for BU when Bob Lachance took a pass from Kevin O'Sullivan
and skated it right in on Roloson to tie it at 4 at 2:03. The teams skated
pretty evenly for the next 10 minutes, with each getting several good
chances. On one play Jeff Daw couldn't poke a rebound in as McKersie was
cleanly beat, and BU got a big break. On the ensuing play Joubert walked
right in on Roloson, but to no avail as Roloson made a great split save.
With just 5:05 left on the clock Chiefs' leading scorer Shane Henry
took a feed from Ian Hebert right in front and poked it past McKersie
for the 5-4 UM-L lead. But Scott Meehan made a grave mistake when he went
off for roughing at 16:15 for a BU 5x4...and the Terriers' 3rd power play
goal of the night. This time it was Doug Friedman who did the honors,
slapping a soft pass over Roloson's skate tie it back up, just 37 seconds
into the power play and with 3:08 left to play.
        Mike Bavis went off for interference at 18:42, giving the Chiefs
a 5x4 that would carry over into OT, but the BU penalty killing unit
was able to keep the Chiefs at bay.
        At about 2:20 of the OT, UM-L's Jon Mahoney was called for a hook
on Dave Sacco, sending Bruce Crowder into a screaming fit of rage for
the ?? time that evening. At 2:37 Sacco got the sweetest revenge of all,
when he took a nice pass from Mike Pomichter and put it over Roloson's
outstrechted pad for the 6-5 victory and BU's 4th power play goal of the
night.
 
just a few more comments...
        I took along a radio to listen to WLLH (Lawrence, Mass.) and
Bob Ellis's call of the game. If those of you in the greater Boston area
thought the Harvard announcers were biased, see if anything they said
compares with Ellis's post-game comments last night:
 
1. "and at 14:55, Eric Brown went off for a hit after the whistle...
    (long pause, brief laughter) ...I didn't see any hit after the
    whistle...(long pause, more laughter).
 
2. "the refs in this game are definitely favoring the visiting team."
                               Ellis, after third BU ppg to tie the game.
 
3. "if this game had been played without referees, Lowell definitely
    would have won."
                        (my personal favorite, one of the last comments
                         made in his post-game wrap up).
 
Ellis's play-by-play was actually very good, and as Mike said to me,
it's worth bringing the radio along just to hear him say
"SCORRRRRRRE!"  But I'd like to let you be the judge of the above
comments.
 
UM-L journeys to Orono for a dreaded weekend series with the Black Bears,
while BU swings back into action Monday night in the nightcap of the
opening round of the Beanpot tournament.
 
--Sid
BU "94