The BU Terriers dropped their season opener 5-3 to the Union Dutchmen out in Schenectady, NY last night. Union scored the first goal of the night on a rebound powerplay goal by Ryan Scarfo. after an AJ Greer slashing penalty which the coaching staff probably wasn't a fan of since it was 200 feet away from the BU goal. BU bounced back with goals from senior Matt Lane and freshman Ryan Cloonan(his first collegiate goal) on nice plays by Doyle Somerby throwing the puck on net to set up rebound opportunities. The game was a different story in the second as goalie Sean Maguire was forced to stand on his head at times and made one of the best glove saves I have ever seen. Union would eventually put two more past him, one in the late second and one early in the third. BU would eventually tie the game up on Charlie McAvoy's first collegiate goal as he jumped into the rush to bang home the game tying goal. BU's d-zone coverage would fail to keep Union off the board as senior captain Matt Wilkens scored the game winner off a rebound from Maguire and Union would add an empty netter to end the game with a 5-3 win.
Overall, I thought the team played better than they did against Acadia in the exhibition game and there were plenty of positive to take from the game. Coach Quinn seemed to have a similar attitude and he is much smarter than me so it must be correct. Union had 6 powerplays to BU's 2 which was a huge advantage for the home team who definitely got the benefit of the doubt on a few 50/50 calls. I am not saying the refs cost BU the game but they certainly didn't do them any favors. I thought Charlie McAvoy was way better than he was in the exhibition game even before he scored the game tying goal in the third. There was a sequence on the powerplay where he walked the puck in the from the point past three Union penalty killers and dished a slick pass that just missed being buried by O'Regan and Greenway. Jordan Greenway was also a huge physical presence down low as he basically did what he wanted with the puck. He is going to be a force for the Terriers this year for sure. I still love the third line of Olsson Lane Carpenter as they keep the game simply and generate scoring chances while being physical with the opponent. Coach Quinn will certainly have some tough decisions to be made on defense with it seeming that Brandon Fortunato will return to the blue line this weekend after missing the game Saturday for a violation of team rules. His fill in, Shane Switzer, was very solid in his collegiate debut and certainly did nothing to warrant being pulled from the lineup. Fortunately for Quinn, Friday night is an exhibition game so he can dress 7 D and Saturday he could dress 0 D and still beat Wisconsin since they are garbage.
The Daily Free Press killed it with their hockey preview coverage last week and have some nice articles to take a look at:
1. A look at the three remaining sophomore forwards and how they expect to make a jump this season from last. Typically, freshmen to sophomore year is the biggest jump for players especially true/underage freshmen like Greer and Phelps.
2. A profile of Mike Moran and how he has been around BU hockey his entire life. Really good article with how hard he worked just to get to BU in the first place.
3. A look at what senior goalie Sean Maguire did in his year off last season due to a concussion. It will make you appreciate his performance Saturday even more.
4. A look at new strength coach Sean Shakan and his pedigree. Shakan comes to BU from the Anaheim Ducks after former strength coach Anthony Morando left for a job in the private sector following last season. Shakan seems up to the challenge to continue the very strong program that Morando and Mike Boyle set up at BU to make it the NHL pipeline that is today. This is a big part of what draws recruits to BU. The state of the art facilities ,strength program and playing for a winning program is what draws the best recruits in the country to BU(4 of them will be coming to Agganis this weekend with the U-18 team).
No comments:
Post a Comment