Wednesday, January 27, 1993
Hockey East league game at Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA
 
UMass-Lowell (15-10-0, 7-7-0 HE 4th)  1  -  0  -  3  --  4
Boston Univ. (16-5-2, 10-4-1 HE 2nd)  2  -  2  -  2  --  6
 
Scoring:                                                       UM-L-BU
first period:
1. BU, Rausch 5 (Joubert, Wood) 9:24                              0-1
2. BU, Thornton 12 (unassisted) 10:27                             0-2
3. UM-L, Pensa 11 (Henry, Hebert) 14:57 ppg                       1-2
 
second period:
4. BU, Pomichter 8 (Sacco, Brennan) 00:38 ppg                     1-3
5. BU, Pomichter 9 (Thornton, Brennan) 19:03 ppg                  1-4
 
third period:
6. UM-L, Murray 15 (Hebert, Pensa) 5:00                           2-4
7. UM-L, Murray 16 (Henry, Daw) 8:42 ppg                          3-4
8. UM-L, O'Connell 12 (unassisted) 14:30                          4-4
9. BU, Joubert 11 (unassisted) 17:05                              5-4
10.BU, Pomichter 10 (Mike Bavis) 18:11 *hat trick*                6-4
 
Referees: Fitzgerald, R. Fowkes.
Linesman: Hughes.
 
Saves: BU, Scott Cashman 34; UM-L, Dwayne Roloson 38.
Att: 1,573
 
summary:
        Mike Pomichter nailed his second career hat trick and defenseman
Rich Brennan had a pair of assists to help BU hold off a late rally by
UMass-Lowell and edge out a 6-4 win over the visiting Chiefs. UM-L has
been playing their best hockey away from Tully Forum and was looking to
derail BU's efforts to get back on track following the Terriers' loss to
UNH last Saturday.
        Freshman Ken Rausch got the first tally of the game just over
10 minutes into the first when he took a nice feed from Joubert and railed
a low shot that rang the inside of *both* posts for his 5th of the year and
a 1-0 BU lead. Just over a minute later, at 10:27, UM-L workhorse goalie
Dwayne Roloson (has seen all but 5 mins. of action this season) strayed behind
the net to play a loose puck but Steve Thornton poked it away and stuffed it
around the corner for a quick 2-0 lead. UM-L got a chance to redeem themselves
on a 5x4 power play. The always-dangerous Shane Henry made nice pass right
into the slot to Dave Pensa on a bang-bang play that made BU netminder
Scott Cashman's head spin and cut BU's lead to 1.
        BU came out in the second looking to put the pressure on right
from the start, and at 00:38 Mike Pomichter followed as Dave Sacco broke
into the zone on the far side. Roloson made a nice pad save on Sacco
but the rebound landed right on Pomichter's stick and Roloson was caught
out of position, so Pomichter flipped it over him for the easy goal, putting
BU back up by 2.
        The Chiefs who were tied with BU going into the game for overall
wins (15) took advantage of their speed and size to lay some heavy pressure
on the Terriers in the second. At about 4:00 into the period Shane Henry
stole the puck at center ice, eluded defenseman Kaj Linna, and broke in
all alone on Scott Cashman. Cashman planted himself just a few feet in front
of the crease, completely cutting off the angle, and Henry was forced to shoot
wide.
        12:00 into the period O'Connell took the puck off a face-off deep
in the BU zone and crashed the net, trying to stuff it past Cashman, but
Cashman got his skate over and kicked it into the far corner. The BU defense
suddenly stalled and O'Connell went right over, casually picked up his rebound,
then raced behind and around the net to try and stuff it in the corner. I think
Cashman was the only BU player in the game at this point because he watched the
whole play and dove right around the corner to cover the puck before it got off
O'Connell's stick. Another big play by Cashman.
        The Chiefs' relentless pressure came to a screeching halt with a
BU power play late in the period, and luckily for the Terriers, they were able
to capitalize on it. Mike Pomichter got his 9th of the season and second of
the period when his low wrist shot squeaked through Roloson's pads with
under a minute to play, giving BU a 4-1 lead to take to the locker room after
two periods.
        The third period opened with BU defenseman Kaj Linna injuring his
right leg and taking a trip to the hospital. (I'm not of the exact nature
of the injury or how long he'll be out; he was scheduled for an MRI today).
BU seemed a little shaken by the loss of Linna, and at 5:00 even Mike Murray
got his 15th of the season for UM-L when he redirected Ian Hebert's shot
over Cashman's glove and into the upper right-hand corner to cut the lead
back down to 2.
        BU then took a flurry of penalties to give UM-L a full two minutes
of 5x3 advantage. It didn't take long for the Chiefs to make the most of it;
at 8:42 Murray got his second of the period on a pass from Shane Henry, which
he slid under Cashman's knee for UM-L's third power play goal of the game.
Things were really starting to look like last Saturday's BU-UNH game when
the Terriers squandered a 2-goal lead in the third period. With the Chiefs
down only 4-3 now, O'Connell broke into the slot and walked in on Cashman
and beat him with quick shot to the upper corner to tie it at 4 at 14:30.
But at 17:05 the Chiefs were unable to break the puck out of their zone and
Jacques Joubert came up the far boards and put a shot right through Roloson's
pads for a 5-4 lead and the eventual game-winner. The play came right after
Roloson had slashed Joubert on the ankle (no call) and a few kind words
exchanged, and Roloson was especially disturbed after giving up that goal.
Just over a minute later at 18:11 Mike Pomichter took a pass at mid-ice from
Mike Bavis and came in on a breakaway, faking Roloson the whole way. It
was Roloson who committed too soon though, and Pomichter flipped the puck
over him after a foiled poke-check attempt left Roloson down and out.
This was Pomichter's second career hat-trick (last one came a year ago
today against Brown) and couldn't have come at a better time for the Terriers.
The Chiefs pulled Roloson right after the goal for the extra attacker, and
even with a BU penalty for a 6x4 advantage they couldn't muster anything as
the puck was jammed in traffic at center ice as time ran out.
        This was a big win for BU, but they'll need to take the return
engagment with the Chiefs Friday at Tully Forum to put as much distance as
possible between themselves and third-place UNH, who hosts Maine. This was
BU's second win of the season over UM-L, but rest assured the Chiefs will be
seeking revenge in that third contest.
        A very disappointing crowd was on hand to watch two of the league's
better teams--only 1,573 passed through the turnstiles last night. Bernie
Corbett, BU's play-by-play man, joked on-air that he went out and got
everybody from the Dugout (local BU bar, just down Comm. Ave from the rink)
to come up and watch the game. This was easily the smallest draw of the
season, surpassing the 2300 that attended the season opener against Colgate.
This would lead one to believe that the Hockey-L talk about fans certainly
holds true here at BU, sadly enough.
 
--Sid
BU '94