Friday, at BC:
NEW HAMPSHIRE 1 1 2 - 4 2-5-2 HE (1-1 SO) 5-8-2 overall
BOSTON COLLEGE 1 0 4 - 5 3-5-1 HE (1-0 SO) 6-8-1 overall
Saturday, at UNH:
BOSTON COLLEGE 1 0 1 - 2 3-6-1 HE (1-0 SO) 6-9-1 overall
NEW HAMPSHIRE 2 1 0 - 3 3-5-2 HE (1-1 SO) 6-8-2 overall
(complete boxes posted to list INFO-HOCKEY-L).
UNH and BC split their weekend series; play was extremely even all
weekend long, with the teams matching goals scored, shots, penalties,
power plays, goalies dinged (each team's goalie had to spend a few
minutes recovering from slap shots to the head; Taylor on Friday,
Cavicchi on Saturday; neither came out of the game.) BC rode a
4-goal outburst in Friday's third period and held on for the win, and
UNH used freshman Derek Bekar's hat trick to win at home Saturday.
BC's David Hymovitz scored once on Friday and had both BC goals on
Saturday. Saturday's game started 30 minutes late after the BC bus
broke down in the snowstorm; though all but 10 tickets were sold for
the Saturday game, there were 2356 no-shows due to bad weather.
Friday:
BC carried much of the play for the first 2 periods but defensive
lapses allowed UNH to make the most of their chances; BC outshot UNH
18-11 and hit 3 posts before the 3rd period. Eric Nickulas opened
the scoring for UNH by sliding home a power-play rebound after
the first shot had hit the post behind Taylor. BC got that back on
a 5-on-3 opportunity (UNH's Dumont sent off for unsportsmanlike
conduct after shooting the puck after the whistle.) Hymovitz tapped
in a Mittleman crossing pass at the right corner of the net to even
at 9:42. Taylor was forced to make tough stops on a couple of UNH
2-on-1 breaks, Hockey East November Rookie-of-the-Month Marty
Reasoner had two good chances foiled by Cavicchi, and the first
period ended 1-1.
Ryan Harris scored the only 2nd period goal when Taylor kicked a
screened rebound directly to Harris between the circles and he
slapped it home upstairs at 4:01. UNH's Greg Dumont was injured as
this goal was scored; he appeared to hit the boards hard on a fall
and left the ice with a leg injury. BC carried most of the play for
the remainder of the period, with Reasoner hitting the post at the
17:30 mark and Cavicchi forced to stop another Reasoner bid on a
3-on-2 break a minute later.
BC opened the third period with an offensive surge; Brian Callahan
lifted home the tying goal at 1:46 after a scramble in the goal
crease. Tom Ashe put BC ahead 3-2 with a power-play goal at 5:53
when his blast from the right circle hit the net high above
Cavicchi's shoulder (I thought this shot was deflected by a UNH
stick.) Ken Hemenway made it 4-2 just 31 seconds later when he
kept the puck in at the right point, moved to the middle, and
whistled a low backhander past Cavicchi (possibly screened?)
UNH took a timeout at this point to reset, and started to play
better from that point on. It paid off with more pressure on BC,
and Mike Sullivan scored his second of the season at 11:57 during
a 4-on-3 powerplay scramble. The UNH pressure continued, with
Greg Taylor taking a hard shot to the head at the 13:40 mark; the
game was stopped for a couple minutes while he recovered. I was
worried that UNH would bombard the net while Taylor was shaky, but
it was BC who scored next. Hymovitz sent Reasoner in on the left
with a nice feed; Cavicchi stopped the shot but couldn't quite
clear the rebound, and freshman Ryan Mittleman pounced on it to
put BC in front 5-3 at 14:03. Reasoner took a retaliation roughing
penalty a couple minutes later, and the Wildcats had several good
chances while BC could not clear the puck from the zone. Todd Hall
brought UNH within one just after the power-play ended, slapping
home a one-timer on a feed from Mowers (18:51). Heavy pressure from
UNH continued for the rest of the game, but Taylor made numerous
stops to preserve the win for BC.
UNH players Dumont and Steve Pleau sustained injuries during the
game, and did not play Saturday night.
Saturday:
BC made its first trip to the new rink at UNH during a snow/sleet
storm in the Northeast. After a long, slow journey, the BC bus
broke down short of its destination, and the BC team completed
the trip courtesy of a UNH replacement bus. The game started
30 minutes late due to the trouble; 2356 fans also were no-shows
due to the inclement weather.
This game was very quiet, with lots of skating on the Olympic-sized
ice, not too many shots, and a grand total of 2 penalties. I don't
think that is a record for Hockey East, but it's close ....
Hymovitz opened the scoring just 45 seconds into the game, taking
a quick shot that popped through the goalie and trickled into the
far side of the net. BC got some good pressure early, and a hard
shot by Reasoner stunned Cavicchi at the 6:00 mark; he was able
to continue after a short stoppage. UNH gradually started to
control play after that, and sharp work by Eric Boguniecki behind
the BC net resulted in a steal and a centering pass to Derek Bekar,
who one-timed home the first of his hat trick at 11:03. 3 minutes
later Bekar scored again when he and Boguniecki criss-crossed at
the blue line and the BC defense let Bekar walk in alone to the
left of Taylor; a hard wrist shot to the right side made it 2-1.
Shots in the period were 7-5, UNH.
The second period was even quieter than the first, with up-and-down
action, lots of icings, lots of checking, few shots, no penalties,
and few scoring opportunities. UNH carried the best of the play,
with Mowers hitting the far post early in the period, and then
setting up Bekar's 3rd goal of the night at 10:28. (I think this
shot deflected off a BC player's stick, high above Taylor's glove;
Taylor was visibly upset at this one.)
The crowd was sitting on their hands entering the third due to the
nature of the game. There was a brief flurry early and UNH's Jason
Krog hit the post on a 2-on-1 break, but BC started to push the
puck offensively and had more good chances. Hymovitz brought BC
within one at 5:36 when he deflected home Ken Hemenway's slap shot,
David's 13th goal of the season. Although it was just a one-goal
lead, UNH didn't seem to pick up their intensity, and BC pushed
hard to get the equalizer. Greg Callahan's screened blast went
right past Cavicchi and bounced off the crossbar halfway through
the period, and several other good chances went wide. Some good
forechecking by Mark Mowers late in the game kept Taylor in the
BC net until the last few seconds, and UNH held on for the win.
Observations:
Traveling to the new rink at UNH: The snowstorm made the trip up to
UNH no fun, with heavy traffic on the roads (Christmas shopping) and
the weather/roads getting worse. But it turned to mostly rain for
the trip home and the return was fine. And it will be nice if the
UNH officials ever build a walkway from the parking lots over to
the nice new arena, rather than make us walk up snow and ice-covered
stairs and down an uncleared, snowy sidewalk to get to the game.
It appears they are still doing some construction, so maybe that is
coming later. As far as the arena is concerned, it was nice, and
I imagine it is much noisier when it is full and the game is more
intense. The seats were very comfortable, it is brightly lit (and we
enjoyed the sound system.) Just a little too bare for my taste,
though; a lot of steel, concrete, and cement block, with a high
ceiling. And you could land a jet in those spacious men's rest
rooms. :-)
UNH gained the split after having lost 6 of the previous 8, but I'm
sure they expected to do much better to this point of the season.
Injuries and other factors have affected the team, not to mention
adjusting to their new home and bigger ice surface, and they have
played a reasonably stiff schedule so far (Vermont, Colgate, 3 with
Maine, 2 with BU, Harvard, Lowell.)
The top two lines played well -- Mowers is a star, though only
collecting 2 assists on the weekend, and Boguniecki continues to
be a thorn in the side of BC. Bekar's hat trick gives him 6 for
his freshman season, and he looked good in Saturday's game. The
defense has been most affected by the injuries, and they seemed
much more comfortable on the bigger ice than in the harder-hitting
game at BC on Friday.
All-in-all, I would expect UNH to play better after the New Year,
and make a move up in Hockey East. (First they have a tough
assignment, facing Bowling Green and then Harvard/Minnesota in the
Mariucci Classic.) As others have pointed out recently, though,
there are no easy games in Hockey East this year.
BC still is playing as a .500 team, but that is more than most of
us expected at the beginning of the year (they are 6-7-1 after you
throw out the Great Western Freezeout games, where Greg Taylor did
not play in net.) They are beginning to score more, take fewer
bad penalties, and have usually been in every game they've played
since the lost weekend at Maine. The defense still struggles with
teams with fast, shifty forwards, giving up too many good shots on
Taylor, but they have gotten much better at clearing the puck from
the zone, taking players to the boards, and shifting from defense
to offense. When the forwards check aggressively and effectively,
the defense is fine. When they don't, the defensive weaknesses are
exposed. Offensively there are bright spots: David Hymovitz is
one of the top scorers in Hockey East, Reasoner has brought play-
making skills and shiftiness along with better puck control, and
Chase, Mittleman, Brian Callahan, and Hemenway have shown the
scoring touch. The rest of the team is trying to find the net,
but with so many young forwards Jerry York is trying to find the
right combinations, as well as playing some defensemen out of
position occasionally (Ashe, Wainwright, and recently Andy Powers.)
To his credit, Peter Masters has shown signs of adjusting to the
wing position after 2 years at defense, with better positioning and
some good forechecking.
Given the youth, the recent down period, and the difficulties of
playing in Hockey East, most BC fans are not too disappointed in
the results so far. With that said, however, people are starting
to expect more from this team, especially after Christmas. The
freshmen will be expected to start playing more consistently, the
defense should give up fewer breaks, and the scorers should start
lighting the lamp more frequently. Jerry York has had a year and
a half to teach his system, the off-ice distractions have started
to fade, and the alumni want to start seeing results (me, too,
though I'm not an alum.) A strong showing in the Sheraton/US Air
tournament in Vermont will help; the first game is against
Dartmouth on Dec. 29, a game BC expects to win (and paying the
Big Green back for last year's stumble would be nice ....) The
other teams are Vermont/Minn.-Duluth, either of which provides a
nice challenge. Then, 7 of the next 10 Hockey East games are at
BC's Conte Forum. If the team comes around, they could move into
the middle of the pack in HE (of course, the way things are going,
almost every team is in the middle of the pack in HE!)
--------------- ----------------------
Rick McAdoo [log in to unmask]
Quiz: what is the FAQ? A .500 BC fan? GO EAGLES!
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