The BU Terriers came out of the gates flying for the first and second periods but got nothing to show for it(in a 3-2 loss) and Merrimack quickly took control of both periods to gain a 3-0 lead at Lawler Arena. The Terriers came out in the third with a similar energy and got two goals in the first eight minutes to make it a game once again at 3-2. Freshman Charlie Coyle tallied the first goal while senior captain Joe Pereira knocked home his tenth of the year for the second. The team had chances after that to tie up the game but could never grab the equalizer. They never even got the chance to pull Millan as Dave Warsofsky was called for an questionable tripping call with 2:45 left where the Merrimack player seemed to take a bit of a dive. After the penalty was killed, BU couldn't gain control of the puck to mount any attack.
The game's physical nature, which was lacking without the presence of Merrihack goon Kyle Bigos, escalated quickly when freshman Terrier defenseman Adam Clendening hit Merrimack forward Joe"Dirty" Cucci into the boards where he crippled to the ice. He laid motionless for over a minute before standing up and magically skating off under his own power. I had a bit of a debate with Merrimack blogger Mike McMahon as he called the hit dirty. I was at the game with Quack the elder, GW, and felizmiguel. We all agreed that the hit was not dirty and it was boarding at worse. The refs assessed Clendening a 5 minute major and game misconduct which was irrelevant besides keeping him out of the lines for handshakes.
The aftermath got ugly as well. Merrihack leader Ryan Flanigan exchanged words with Terrier junior Dave Warsofsky in a colorful conversation for the whole rink to hear. Garrett Noonan also had an exchange as the buzzer sounded. This game hurts the Terriers chances for home ice in HE. They remain in a third place tie with Maine but the Black Bears now hold a game in hand.
This leads into the preview for this weekend as the Terriers face #3 BC Friday night at Agganis Arena and #7 UNH Saturday up in Durham. This is a big weekend for the Terriers as I feel they need two points this weekend and next weekend to stay in the hunt for the NCAA tournament and home ice in the HE tournament.
Those pretty boys from down in Newton will give us quite the test as we learned all too well from that weekend that I choose not to remember in December. Hopefully the team is ready to go on NESN in front of a soldout home crowd. There really are no reasons to not come out with energy and passion. Kieran Millan has been spectacular the last four games so expect another solid effort from him and hopefully the defense can clean up some mistakes to give the team a chance to win a huge game. This young team needs it not only for the standings but for confidence moving forward in conference play and the Beanpot next month. Here we go BU!
Look for BSRS on TV. We are going to make some great signs to get on NESN.
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