It was a disappointing weekend for the BU Terriers are they only took one point from Merrimack. The Terriers failed to hold onto a 2-1 lead entering the third period Friday night at Lawler Arena before settling for a tie Saturday night back at Agganis Arena against the same Warriors. The Terriers had plenty of highs and lows throughout both nights which has been on par with how the season has gone thus far.
Friday night started off bad from the very beginning as Merrimack scored a goal less than four minutes into the game off a deflection off of freshman dman Dalton MacAfee's stick. Certainly not a play that you can fault him for as he was trying to block a shot from the point and he just got a bad bounce. He came back well from it as senior Pat MacGregor pointed out in his post game press conference. MacAfee, in general, has made huge strides since arriving on campus and I think he will only play better as he gets more comfortable.
BU got back in the game late in the first on a great rush from Matt Grzelcyk(get used to reading that ) to tie the game up on a pass from freshman Nick Roberto. The Terriers would take the lead in the second on freshman Tommy Kelley's second goal of the year off a great look from classmate Robbie Baillargeon. The Terriers would then to play one of their worst periods of the season in the third as gave up quality chances to Merrimack and allowed them to escape with a 3-2 win. People will point to the 13-3 shot total but it was the quality of shots that was the problem not the quantity. If you want to shoot from the blue line all day at O'Connor or Maguire, I'll take my chances(see Saturday night). They simply couldn't maintain possession in the third period and generate any quality offensive chances for themselves. BU still almost tied the game with less than 10 second left after a shaky save from Merrimack goalie Rasmus Tirronen. That is the thing that "writers" and fans are overlooking with this team. They may be young and have their struggles but they aren't going to give up. They are going to do whatever they can to find a way to win games.
Saturday night was more of the same for the first 35 minutes as they were outpossessed but remained tied 1-1 thanks to an early Evan Rodrigues goal. The game would end in a 1-1 tie after BU pressed hard in the third to take the lead back and had even more quality chances in OT, which may have been their 5 best minutes of the weekend. People are obviously going to look at the shot total and whine about how BU was outshot but honestly, I bet you anything that they finished the game with more Grade A's than Merrimack despite being outplayed for the first 35 minutes of the game. They had many quality chances, most of which were lead by Matt Grzelcyk who is taking his game to another level which is good news for BU and USA WJC fans.
The one point weekend is certainly not what the team or fans were looking for but if they can find a way to carry their solid play from the OT Saturday night and beat Bentley next Saturday at Agganis, they will finish the first half of the season 8-7-2 and in a decent spot to go make a run in the second half. Junior Cason Hohmann is expected to be back to start the second half of the season which will be a boost to the top 6 forwards.
Also a friendly reminder this is the same team that had gone undefeated in their previous 4 before this weekend. They are now 3-1-2 in their last 6 games. If they finish the semester on a 4-1-2 run with the coaching staff and players talking about how they can improve in the second half, I like where they are headed. Saturday is a huge game for momentum and how the first half will be viewed. You don't often hear that about a game against an Atlantic hockey team but it is true in that case. I would also like to note that Bentley still sucks and play in a shithole of a rink.
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