Weekend in Review: Heartbreak City

Apologies on how late this recap is - it's just been a crazy weekend here for BSRS. QQ and FM (and myself, really) are deep in mourning over the Pats loss, HTS is frantically searching google maps for the nearest bridge to jump off of following the Rags 0-2 start, and Mr. Worldwide is busy deluding himself that the Islanders have a chance to go over .500 this year.

Anyways, I'm sure by now that you've all either seen or heard about BU's pair of one goal losses over the weekend.  The Huskies of Northeastern took down the Terriers 6-5 on Friday in a wild contest, and the Lowell Riverhawks thwarted BU's comeback attempts to prevail 4-3 on Saturday.



Friday: Northeastern 6, BU 5

Friday night saw BU's douchiest most hated son - Vinny Saponari - return to campus as Northeastern took on BU at Agganis.  Northeastern started the scoring off with a fluky goal from Robbie Vrolyk only two minutes into the game.  Vrolyk fired a shot tipped off of Maguire's glove into the air, over his back and into the net.  BU would proceed tie the game and then take the lead two minutes later on back to back power play goals.  The first was scored by Matt Nieto on a tic-tac-toe play, where Rodrigues took the puck off of the halfboards, found O'Regan down at the goal line, and O'Regan sauced a pass right onto Nieto's tape where it then was banged into a basically wide open net.  The second goal, coming only 27 seconds later, was scored by Garrett Noonan on a blast from the point.  Set up by Gill and Hohmann, Noonan's shot found its way through traffic in front and into the right side of the net.

The rest of the first period and the entirety of the second period, however, would belong to the Huskies.    Adam Reid banged home a rebound goal to tie the game at 17:26 of the first, and Kevin Roy would make it 3-2 Huskies after he picked up a BU turnover and beat Maguire with a backhand shot at 18:07. Northeastern dominated almost the whole second period, scoring a 5 on 3 goal at 8:03 and adding and even strength goal from Ferreiro at 16:21 to make it 5-2.

BU came out with a renewed focus in the third, scoring 3 goals in a matter of 7 minutes.  The first two were potted by Evan Rodrigues - the first, a snipe off of a feed from Danny O'Regan, and the second, a greasy poke-in goal following a shot by Noonan.  The tying goal from Danny O'Regan came on the power play, as three Terriers whacked away at a rebound in front of Rawlings.

Much of the rest of the third period was relatively even, with both teams failing to turn chances into goals.  Northeastern got the game winning goal at 17:57 from Saponari, who barreled into the slot and slid the puck between Maguire's pads.  In typical Vinny fashion, he proceeded to taunt the crowd with Hulk Hogan's "Can You Hear Me Now" gesture (demonstrated here by the equally classy Scott Hartnell of the Flyers) all the way back to the bench.



Although the Terriers battled back in the third period on Friday night, their sloppy play in the first two periods proved too much to overcome.  Turnovers in the defensive and neutral zones resulted in a multitude of chances for the Huskies, and ultimately their furious third period rally was not enough.

Saturday: Lowell 4, BU 3

Saturday night saw the Terriers take on the Riverhawks of UMass Lowell at Agganis Arena in the first of three meetings between the two teams.  BU got off to a good start against Lowell as freshman Matt Lane banged in a rebound goal 5:11 into the first.  Lowell would knot the game at 1 at 14:37 of the first on a goal from Pendenza.

The only scoring in the second period was a Ruhwedel goal at 11:53 to make it 2-1 Lowell.  BU had a number of near misses in the period, with multiple players clanging iron after beating Lowell tendy Doug Carr.

Lowell scored two more goals early in the third period to make it 4-1. The first came at 1:40, as Derek Arnold beat O'Connor on an unassisted chance.  The second came a few minutes later at 5:23 as Adam Chapie scored shorthanded following a BU turnover in their own zone.  BU mounted a furious third period rally for the second straight night, and brought the game to 4-3 by the 10:52 mark.  Rodrigues buried his third goal of the weekend on a snipe from the top of the left circle to make it 4-2, and Wade Megan whacked in a backhand off of a beautiful feed from Hohmann to make it 4-3.  That's as close as the Terriers would get, however, as three straight BU penalties kept them off the scoreboard.  The most damaging of the penalties was Garrett Noonan's spearing penalty at 14:13, resulting in a five minute major and a ten minute disqualification (making Noonan ineligible for BU's game against PC this coming weekend).

Player of the Weekend: Evan Rodrigues - 2gp, 3g, 2a

BU now sits at 12-9-0 (9-6-0 in HE) and is tied with Providence for third in Hockey East.  BU will be back in action this Friday and Saturday when they take on PC in a home and home series.