(Box from my notes, online sources) Thursday, March 11, 2004 at Kelley Rink (Conte Forum), Chestnut Hill, MA BU 3, BC 2 HOCKEY EAST PLAYOFFS ROUND 1 GAME 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BOSTON UNIVERSITY (HE) 2 1 0 - 3 (11-15-9 overall, 6-13-5 HE) BOSTON COLLEGE (HE) 0 0 2 - 2 (26-7-4 overall, 17-4-3 HE) Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play BU 6- 2- 2-- 10 7 - 14 1 - 4 BC 10-10-10-- 30 4 - 8 0 - 7 BU - Sean Fields 10-10- 8 - 28 saves/2 goals (60:00) BC - Matti Kaltiainen 4- 1- 2 - 7 saves/3 goals (59:03) Referee - Scott Hansen Assistants - Jack Millea, Glen Cooke Attendance - 3250 1st Period BU1 Brian McConnell 11 (Jekabs Redlihs, Mark Mullen) PPG 8:57 BU2 Brad Zancanaro 4 (Matt Radoslovich, David Van der Gulik) 11:11 Penalties BC Dave Spina (obstruction - holding the stick) 0:41 BU David Van der Gulik (obstruction - tripping) 5:00 BC Chris Collins (slashing) 7:09 BU Dan Spang (obstruction - interference) 13:22 BU Sean Fields (contact to head - roughing, served by Greeley) 15:28 BU David Van der Gulik (delay of game) 15:28 BU Sean Sullivan (contact to head - high sticking) 19:34 2nd Period BU3 Kenny Roche 8 (Frantisek Skladany, John LaLiberte) 16:17 GWG Penalties BC Pat Eaves (obstruction - hooking) 9:35 3rd Period BC1 Andrew Alberts 4 (Ty Hennes) 5:40 BC2 Ben Eaves 7 (Chris Collins) 6x5 19:20 Penalties BC Dave Spina (contact to head - roughing) 7:09 BU Jekabs Redlihs (obstruction - holding) 11:38 BU (too many men, served by Steve Greeley) 13:28 3 Stars - None selected Boston University: F DAVID VAN DER GULIK, BRAD ZANCANARO, MATT RADOSLOVICH Mark Mullen, Brian McConnell, Bryan Miller Kenny Roche, John LaLiberte, Frantisek Skladany Steve Greeley, David Klema, Eric Thomassian D SEAN SULLIVAN, RYAN WHITNEY Dan Spang, Kevin Schaeffer Tom Morrow, Jekabs Redlihs G SEAN FIELDS, Stephan Siwiec, John Curry Boston College: F PATRICK EAVES, STEPHEN GIONTA, TONY VOCE Chris Collins, Ryan Shannon, Dave Spina Joe Rooney, Ty Hennes, Ryan Murphy Ned Havern, Brian Boyle, Justin Dziama Ben Eaves D ANDREW ALBERTS, J.D. FORREST John Adams, Peter Harrold Brett Peterson G MATTI KALTIAINEN, Joe Pearce, Robbie Miller COMMENTS -------- Boston University jumped to an early lead on a sluggish BC team, then held on for a 3-2 upset in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs Thursday night at BC. BU got a power play goal and a surprise goal on an outside shot to take a 2-0 lead after one, then took advantage of a Matti Kaltiainen miscue in goal to get the third score in the second period. BC made a late run, scoring a second goal with the goalie pulled in the last minute, but it was too little, too late for the Eagles. Sean Fields played well in net for the Terriers, who were content to play defense once they had the big lead. BU only had 4 shots on goal in the second and third periods total, while BC dominated possession and play. However, strong defense and penalty killing by BU, helped by BC hitting 2 posts and a crossbar, led to the surprising result. From the beginning of the first period, BC appeared less motivated and prepared for this game, while BU worked hard and was strong defensively. Kaltiainen was tested in the first minute after a BC turnover, but stopped both the shot and the rebound. BU was ineffective on a power play, and BC carried most of the play following that. The Terriers were able to block a lot of shots on a subsequent Eagles man-advantage, and got a breakaway as the penalty expired when David Van der Gulik was sent away clean as he left the box. Kaltiainen saved that one, but Chris Collins took another penalty trying to affect the shot, and BU made them pay. Late in the power play, Brian McConnell fed the puck to the right point and moved to the front of the net. He was able to tip the shot from Jekabs Redlihs and it popped up over the shoulder of the goalie to put BU up 1-0. Kaltiainen had to make a big save a couple minutes later when John LaLiberte fired one from the short slot. On a later deep forecheck, the puck was pushed free in the corner and passed to Brad Zancanaro at the outside of the circle. He flipped a quick wrist shot at the goal, and somehow Kaltiainen missed it as it cleanly hit the twine. BC cranked up the skating after that to try to rally and forced a BU penalty. The Terriers had a shorthanded 3-on-2 but tipped it wide, and BC was buzzing but could not put the puck away. As this power play ended, with BC storming the net, Sean Fields was called for a (delayed) penalty. On the delayed call, Van der Gulik deliberatly pushed the net off for a second penalty; a full 2-minute 5-on-3 advantage for BC. They fired several shots, some were saved, some were wide, 1 hit a pipe and 1 hit a crossbar. But none went in. BC had more chances the rest of the period but kept firing wide or high or Fields had the save. BC ended the period with a lot more shots, but many of them were off-target or blocked by the defense in front of Fields. Boston College opened the second period on another power play, and had 2 good shots from the slot that both sailed wide. Joe Rooney fired a hard wrister back at even strength that Fields got a piece of and it skittered wide of the post. A big save came from the BU netminder when Tony Voce was sent away on a clean breakaway (great saucer pass by Peter Harrold!) Voce tried moving to his left and shooting high but Sean was equal to the task. BC had all the possession and play, BU would just clear or ice the puck at every opportunity. BU did not get a shot on goal in the second period until after 16 minutes had gone by, despite their own power play. On the play following a faceoff after that, BC failed to clear the puck, and a BU forward pushed it weakly toward the net. Kaltiainen came out to cover the puck to the side of the crease, only to see if slide under him and into the crease behind him. A mad scramble ensued but BU's Kenny Roche was able to collect it and push it into the vacated net for a 3-0 BU lead. That took some of the wind out of the Eagles and they did not do much the rest of the period. The third period went much the same way as the second, as BC put on most of the pressure and BU was content to play defense and counterpunch when possible. Play was physical to start, but without penalties. Steve Gionta was wide left on a clean shot from the slot, then BC finally broke through on another weak goalie maneuver. Fields went out of the net to play the puck behind the cage, but a BC forward beat him to the puck and was able to throw it out in front. Andrew Alberts pinched down and was able to shoot it low into the goal just as Fields slid back through the crease. The Eagles were flying after that, with BU again trying to dump the puck repeatedly. Brad Zancanaro did have one bright moment for the Terriers when he got a partial break, went around Ryan Shannon back on defense, and fired a shot that Kaltiainen had to save. BC took a stupid penalty when they had the momentum and cost themselves some precious time. BU got one more shot on goal on the power play but Matti K. flashed his glove for the save. BC again cranked up the pressure, Pat Eaves trying a wraparound, a stolen puck fed through the crease and out, and Fields made a great sprawling kick save on a penalty kill. It turns out the penalty kill was even better than expected because BU had 5 skaters out at the time, and they got caught for too many men. BC got 6 clean shots on the man-advantage and only one was on net, which Fields gloved. Time was getting short when Ned Havern clanked a quick shot off the near post and back out, and the BC crowd was getting very frustrated. A pass to the slot was tipped wide, Andrew Alberts was wide on a big slap shot, and a rebound was caromed off Fields' mask as he dove forward. Nothing was going in. With a minute left Kaltiainen came out for the extra skater, and everyone crashed toward the BU net. A shot was kicked free, and the rebound shot was saved by Fields, only to see it bounce off his defenseman and back into the net to make the score 3-2 with only 40 seconds left. BU took a timeout to settle down, but play immediately went back into the BU zone after that. There were 3 faceoffs at the end, and Zancanaro did a great job to win each one and his teammates iced the puck to waste time, and eventually win the game. While BU did play well defensively, and clearly wanted the game more than the Eagles at the start, it was a formula that obviously depended on them getting the early lead. Absent the 2 soft goals allowed by Kaltiainen, BU would have had a much harder time in this game, and they have to hope they can repeat the formula in the second game on Friday. The longer they let BC carry the puck and pepper the net, the less likely the Terriers can hold them off. They didn't vote 3 stars for the playoff game, but I would have put Zancanaro first, with good energy, a big goal, and some yeoman faceoff work at the end. Fields was probably number 2 for the accumulated saves, a few of them big saves. BU went much of the season having a hard time putting the puck in the net, and I'm not sure they can count on getting the easy goals they got in this game again. BC had a "sort of" full roster available, but Ben Eaves was hampered by his knee injury (made worse by his play last week at Maine.) He only dressed as an extra forward and played mostly on power plays and faceoff situations. A few other BC players were noticeably off their normal high- speed games; Steve Gionta, Ryan Shannon, J.D. Forrest. I don't know if they just had bad games or were still feeling affects of illness or injury (Gionta missed a game last week due to illness.) The BC top line didn't click, for whatever reason. In particular, their shots were almost always off target or blocked by the defense. Fields rarely had to make the stop on the top players, and BC as a whole had a hard time getting shots to the net (there were a ton of blocks by the defense.) That was partly the BU defense working hard to cut down shooting angles and clear looks, but BC didn't help matters any with their techniques. The Eagles were able to crank up the pressure in the second half of the game, and they did hit posts and crossbar, so they weren't far off. However, this is now 4 losses in a row for the former number 1 team, and they want to get back on track before the NCAA playoffs. Overall, this was an unusually tough #1-#8 matchup for Hockey East. BU is clearly a team that can be much better than their season-long form, with lots of talented players and a hot/cold goalie. Combine that with the rivalry factor and the season history (BC had won all 4 meetings before this, including a hard-fought Beanpot final), and this isn't your typical playoff series. Game one showed that clearly. The question now is, can BC recover its form and assert its superiority to advance in the playoffs? Can BU salvage one bright light in this dimmest of seasons? Game two is at 8 PM Friday, with a possible game three on Saturday at 7 PM should BC even the series Friday. Rick McAdoo "Volunteer reporter" A satisfied but concerned BC fan. GO EAGLES!