Portions of the game article from the Boston Herald (I could only find early
editions of the Globe that didn't have the game):
 
When Boston University looked at its schedule at the beginning of the season,
it had to consider this weekend's series with UMass-Lowell as something of a
reprieve.
 
Sandwiched between a two-game series with Maine and the first Beanpot game,
this must have looked like a two-game vacation.
 
It turned out to be the vacation from hell.
 
...
 
 
"This was the biggest hockey weekend in the history of the school, " said
Lowell coach Bruce Crowder.  "But we're not done yet.  This isn't the climax
to the season.  We just proved that we can play with people and be
competitive."
 
They were much more than that.  For virtually the entire game the Hawks, who
went into the series 2-34-3 lifetime against the Terriers, got to more loose
pucks, made more of their scoring chances and got better goaltending when
they needed it.
 
...
 
Lowell goalie Martin Fillion (35 saves) held tough, and the Hawks skated
away with their fifth straight victory to the thunderous applause of the
overflow crowd of 3,215.
 
 
[end of article excerpts]
 
Ryan Sandholm had two goals and an assist in the win.  Sandholm, a junior, had
only two goals going into the game but has stepped up his play and is now on
the second line with Christian Sbrocca and Jon Mahoney.  This really gives
Lowell three solid lines with Daw-Donovan-Concannon as the top line and
Dartsch-Salsman-Basaraba as the third.  And as Coach Crowder said at Friday's
luncheon, "we feel we have six defensemen who can play with anybody."
 
Fillion's emergence has certainly made all the difference this year.  Last
year's weak goaltending consistently held Lowell back.  Considering that Prop
59 has now converted Fillion back to a sophomore, the near future in nets
looks bright indeed for Lowell.  He's not in Allison's class yet, but
considering that Roloson didn't emerge until his junior year, continued
improvement could made Fillion something special (in Roloson terms) by his
senior year.
 
BU stuff
--------
 
I've been unimpressed with BU's goaltending for a couple years now.  They've
seemed to be average goalies made to look good by the terrific skaters in
front of them.  Even last year when they took the crown, I was unimpressed.
I've been told by some BU fans that Herlofsky was better than the current
crop, but it didn't seem that way to me.  Of course, I had a small sample
size to evaluate from last year and all the Lowell-BU games were 9-6, 8-7
type of scores and Herlofsky looked horrible the few times I did see them.
Some people questioned Parker playing Noble in the final last year simply
because that was the way the rotation worked, but I thought the rotation
worked to BU's advantage since Noble seemed the better goalie.  In any case,
BU may be up there in having a low GAA, but they got outgoaltended in both
games of this series.
 
Chris O'Sullivan apparently injured his hand late in the Friday game and
watched last night from the stands with a cast on his hand (thumb?).
 
Jack Parker was pointing to the officials after last night's game, seeming to
say, "I want to talk to you!" and after the game there appeared to be a heated
confrontation between him and the officials.  (The visitors locker room is
located next to the officials room at Tully.)  I could only see a bunch of
BU players in the area but a Lowell fan that had a better angle than I, claimed
that the BU players were having to restrain an irate Parker.  Well, let's just
say that during the game whenever Parker started whining I tried to start a
"Crybaby!" chant and when that one didn't take off "Shutup!" did.
There were calls that BU could dispute and calls that Lowell
could dispute.  I thought Lowell probably got the worst of it
in at BU on Friday in the third period, so if there was any advantage (I didn't
think so) the officiating on the weekend was roughly even.  I suspect that
Parker was just trying to get the advantage next time, getting the officials
to think that they owe him one even if they don't.  The fact is that Lowell
outskated and outgoaltended BU and if Parker and the players seriously
attribute the loss to officiating and don't address the areas in which they
were outgunned, they'll be watching someone else hoist the trophy in
Cincinnati.
 
DaveH
 
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