Senior Series- Sean Maguire

This is post #2 of the annual BSRS Senior Series. You can read Mike Moran's post here.

                                       Photo by Jackie Riccardi - www.bu.edu
                                   - Classic Maguire throwing BC over his shoulder



Sean Maguire was a critical part of BU hockey from the time he arrived on campus. The netminder from Powell River, British Columbia contributed from the get go as he appeared in 62 games over the course of career on Comm Ave. Maguire sat out last season due to a concussion suffered in 2014 but still held atleast a .919 save percentage in each season that he was healthy for the Terriers. Maguire is a fourth round 2012 draft pick for Pittsburgh who will either sign with the organization before 8/15 or become a UFA at that point and be eligible to sign with any organization. He always gave me the feeling that he could stand on his head for BU at any moment to keep them in a game. This happened in the Beanpot this past year. He also was fantastic in the 2013 Hockey East championship vs Lowell in Jack Parker's last game at the garden giving BU every chance to beat Connor Hellybuyck(I don't care enough to look up how to spell his name).
       

Weekend Recap - Blind Squirrels are Still Blind

- Actual footage of Northeastern trying to play hockey this weekend. Wobbly would have been their most effective forward. If you don't get the reference, read our preview from Thursday

The BU Terriers swept the Northeastern Huskies in their home and home series this past weekend. BU did so rolling three lines each night as numerous forwards were benched for a night(4 Friday, 4 Saturday) for a violation of team rules. The players who did play, played well as BU found the scoring touch that they seriously lacked in South Bend last weekend. The Terriers also got solid performances from both Matt O'Connor and Sean Maguire once again as both continue to put up solid numbers and play better than their numbers indicate.

On Friday night, BU celebrated senior night before the game and continued the celebration into the first period as Kevin Duane scored off of Colton Saucerman's leg to give the Terriers a lead that they would never give up. Danny O'Regan would make it 2-0 less than 30 second later. Both goals were shots that NU goalie Clay Witt would want back as both beat him 5-hole and were not difficult saves by any means.  BU would stretch the lead to 3-0 on a Robbie"Carrots" Baillargeon breakaway goal midway through the second. NU would score once to make it a 3-1 game but never got any closer as Ahti Oksanen " finnished" the game with a 200 foot goal on an empty net. BU held on for the 4-1 win and their most convincing win since an October win vs Wisconsin.

Friday night was a big win for the team as they proved to everyone that they could beat a top 10 team with 9 forwards and 5 D(the 6th D TJ Ryan was injured in the game and did not return). It was also a big win in that it was Jack Parker's number retirement night as a ceremony took place during the first intermission(video included after the jump). It was a well done ceremony and Coach Parker certainly deserves it for all he did for BU hockey. He catches so much hate from opposing fans which makes you realize what a good coach he was. Opposing fans don't hate bad coaches. For example, we love Jim Madigan. Coach Parker's #6 is now the second retired number in BU hockey history along with Travis Roy's 24.Congrats to Coach Parker and all of BU hockey.

Weekend Recap

                                                           

Photo Credit to my phone

The BU Terriers were shutout 2-0 on both nights in South Bend this weekend versus Notre Dame. The Terriers were solid(for the most part) defensively both nights(especially Friday) as was the goaltending. Matt O'Connor would most likely want the second goal he gave up back from Friday night but besides that, the work by himself and Sean Maguire once again gave the team a chance to win. BU had quality chances at the beginning of the game Friday as Danny O'Regan missed high on what would be one of BU's best chances of the night within the first 5 minutes of the game. Mike Moran also beat ND goalie Steven Summerhays but the puck was cleared off the goaline by an ND defender before Kevin Duane could knock the trickling puck in. BU only allowed 20 ND shots on net Friday night but only generated 19 of their own with very few quality chances which left them unable to solve Steven Summerhays.

BU allowed limited ND shots on Friday night(19) but were severely outshot(40-22) Saturday forcing Maguire to make many solid saves which he did. ND did not get on the board until early in the third on the powerplay(Jeff Costello) after the refs made a very questionable call on Garrett Noonan after he was crosschecked after the whistle by an ND player. The refs told Coach Quinn that Noonan said something to a ref which I doubt considering he went right over to Notre Dame defenseman/goon Stephen Johns away from the officials. The ensuing man advantage lead to be the difference maker. Notre Dame added an insurance marker late in the third on Ahti Oksanen defensive zone turnover. Overall BU played well defensively both nights besides a few breakdowns but could not generate enough offense to come away with any points on the weekend.

BSRS Weekly Awards 2/18

Greg Jennings Award- given to the Terrier who best exemplifies the qualities of Greg Jennings through doin' shit and putting the team on his back. (YOU CAN'T STOP HIM).



Winner- Collier/Moran/Duane line- Friday's night contest(a 4-3 loss @ UNH) was dominated on the scoresheet by the first line of Rodrigues-Baillargeon-O'Regan as they combined for 7 points in a game where the Terriers deserved a better fate than they got. The third line went unmentioned for the most part as the top 6 played so well but they had a very underrated effort Friday night creating a few chances for themselves while keeping the game simple. They were then easily the best line in yesterday's 3-1 loss while also scoring the only goal for the Terriers. Sean Maguire was also in the conversation for the great game he had in Monday's contest.

Joe Pereira Trophy- Given to the Terrier who, through grit, hard work, and determination helps the team to victory on and off the scoresheet. Just like Joey did. (Interview can be read here)

Winner- Brendan Collier- Collier continues to perform better and better for the Terriers as his freshman year progresses and has continued to be rewarded with more ice time as a result. He is a grinder who keeps the game simple and has been part of the most consistent line of late. They will need to continue to perform at a consistent level as the Terriers head out west this weekend for two tough games at Notre Dame.

BSRS Weekly Awards 1/21

Greg Jennings Award- given to the Terrier who best exemplifies the qualities of Greg Jennings through doin' shit and putting the team on his back. (YOU CAN'T STOP HIM).



Winner- Sean Maguire,G- The sophomore goalie played like the goalie who backstopped BU on a run to the Hockey East Tournament Final last year. Maguire seems to be over the back problems that plagued his first half as he was amazing both night this weekend. He gave up 5 to BC on Friday but anyone who was at that game, knows BC could have scored more than that. Maguire robbed Benedict Bill Arnold twice in the second period. Mags backed it up with another great game against Lowell Saturday night. While he did not face as many quality chances, the quantity was still there as he was forced to make 40+  saves. If Maguire keeps playing this well, BU is going to have a chance to win every game they play for the rest of the year.

Joe Pereira Trophy- Given to the Terrier who, through grit, hard work, and determination helps the team to victory on and off the scoresheet. Just like Joey did. (Interview can be read here)

Winner- Garrett Noonan,D- Noonan easily lead the Terriers in ice time this weekend as he was taking every other shift with only 5 healthy dmen available each night(4 after Oksanen went down on Saturday night). He has been an absolute workhorse for this team when they have needed him most. As the injuries continue to pile up, Noonan has picked up his own play along with his minutes. There is no chance he was under 30 minutes of ice time either night. Despite the recent struggles, he continues to battle every shift out there and he is a great example for the rest of the team to follow. 

BS(R)S Weekly Awards 10/29

Here is this week's edition of our weekly awards. If you think of another award we could give out each week, leave a comment or shoot us an email at baystateroadsports@gmail.com

The Greg Jennings Award-given to the Terrier who best exemplifies the qualities of Greg Jennings through doin' shit and putting the team on his back. (YOU CAN'T STOP HIM)




Winner: Matt O'Connor/Sean Maguire, G- This was an easy one this week as both goalies put the team on their back during their starts in Michigan and gave them a chance to win. They carry fantastic save percentages of .936 and .941. The Terriers have not allowed more than 3 goals in a game yet this season and these two are the biggest reason why.


The Joe Pereira Trophy- -given to the Terrier who through grit, hard work and determination helps the team to victory both on and off the scoresheet.  Just like Joey did it. (BSRS interview with Joe Pereira here)

Weekend Recap- Terriers sweep opening weekend

                                         -It is funny because UMass sucks


The Terriers started the Quinn era the ideal way this weekend, earning victories over UMass and Holy Cross at Agganis Arena. Friday night, the Terriers got out to a 3-0 lead during a 7 minute span in the second period thanks to goals from Garrett Noonan, Tommy Kelley(his first collegiate goal) , and Evan Rodrigues. The Terriers were badly outshot in the game and Coach Quinn was clearly not thrilled(presser below) with the team's play overall. He certainly seemed relived to get the victory. The older guys carried the team with the freshman chipping in such as Kelley's powerplay goal which was a great shot from the slot. Captain Garrett Noonan had gotten the scoring started on a nice pass from sophomore blue liner Ahti Oksanen(+3, 4 assists on the weekend). Noonan beat UMass goalie Steve Mastarlez high blocker which is where all three goals beat him on Friday night. Kelley's powerplay goal gave BU a two goal cushion that they would not give up. Evan Rodrigues added the third goal in a seven minute span with a sweet toe drag and top shelf snipe which reminded everyone how dangerous of a scorer he can be for this team. The third period was mostly uneventful as Maguire made save after save(39 in all). Maguire certainly made it easy on his freshmen defensemen(Somerby and MacAfee) on Friday night.




Saturday night saw changes to the lineup as Coach Quinn wanted to see all of his guys in real game action. Defenseman TJ Ryan came in for fellow freshman Doyle Somerby who was a late scratch after being real good Friday night against UMass. It appears to be a lower body injury for Somerby and hopefully he will be ready to go for this weekend against two ranked teams. Ryan was joined by forwards Mike Moran and Keith Duane in their first action of the season and both looked quite good for the Terriers. Duane had his first collegiate point with a second period assist on Nick Roberto's first collegiate goal for the Terriers in the second period. It will be huge if Roberto and Kelley can regularly contribute scoring from the third line for the Terriers.

The Terriers first goal of the night was on a great stretch pass from Noonan to sophomore Danny O'Regan who got in and made Holy Cross goalie Matt Ginn look silly as he crossed him up and easily scored. Cason Hohmann added the third goal on the powerplay which was good to see that those top 6 forwards are ready to contribute in a big way. Sam Kurker struggled Friday night but I thought he was much better Saturday night. He was at the top of the crease multiple times working hard and drew a penalty with his strong play. While he didn't register a point, he certainly improved from Friday to Saturday night. Matt Lane also played better Saturday night with an assist on Hohman's goal along with being one of your best if not the best penalty killing forward you have. Matt O'Connor was very good in net as well making 21 saves on 23 shots. It is great to see both goalie start their season strong as they will each have a stiff test in RPI and Wisconsin this weekend.




3 stars of the weekend
1. Garrett Noonan 1-2-3 , +2 - Noonan was the force defensively and offensively that this team needed
2. Ahti Oksanen 0-4-4, +3- Ahti was passing the puck well and has improved in his own zone as well which could make him one of the best two way dmen in the league by the year's end.
3. OC/Maguire- The goalies were all you could have asked for in the opening weekend for a young team. They are a comfort to have back there for sure.

Weekend Recap- BU sweeps, exposes Merrimack

                                               -actual flyer on cars outside of Agganis

The Boston University Terriers swept the Merrimack College Warriors this weekend to end their season and advance to the Hockey East Semifinals next weekend at the TD Garden. The Terriers beat the Warriors by scores of 3-0 and 5-3 and swept all 5 games from the Warriors this season. The Terriers excelled at exposing Merrimack weaknesses defensively to get goals when they needed to. Theye also shut them down throughout the season defensively. Merrimack is a team that will outwork you to score goals and has given teams like BC and UNH fits this year. In order to beat them, you need to work equally as hard/if not harder which is no easy task. These games were the last two home games of coach Jack Parker's career as he announced his retirement this past week.  The Terrier sweep was their first in the Hockey East QF's since the 2005-2006 season against UMass. The Terriers do advance through to the Garden for the 11th time in 12 seasons. The Terriers also hit the 20 win plateau for the second consecutive season and give themselves a chance to make the NCAA tournament by winning one or two games next weekend.


Friday night's win was a result of solid defense and opportunistic offense. After a scoreless first, BU got goals from leading scorers Wade Megan and Matt Nieto. Nieto's line of himself, Danny O'Regan and Evan Rodrigues continues to roll and produce points. The Terriers added a third goal on the powerplay from senior grinder Ryan Santana who battled hard in front of the net for the loose puck.  Freshman tendy Sean Maguire had a great night for the Terriers pitching his 4th shutout of the season along with a gem of a press conference which you can see below. It was just the effort the Terriers needed to bring to a playoff game as they didn't score a ton of goals but did enough and played great defense in front of Maguire to pick up the victory.

BU pounds Merrimack

The BU Terriers got back on track Friday night against the Merrimack Warriors with a 4-1 victory.  The Terriers were coming off one of their worst games of the year after blowing a 3 goal lead to Harvard on Wednesday night. The team seemed to learn from it though and got back on track defensively against Merrimack to pick up two more points in the league. The scoring was started by captain Wade Megan who snuck a deflected wrister top shelf on Merrimack goalie Rasmus Tirronen (I believe that is Finnish for " Not as good as Oksanen"). The goal came short handed and was a great individual effort by the captain in the first. BU could not score for the rest of the period as both Matt Nieto and Ahti Oksanen hit the right post with separate shots and Danny O'Regan just missed an open net off a great slap pass from Alexx Privitera.

The Terriers continued to push in the second and got a goal off a Sahir Gill redirect from another great pass from Privitera. Tirronen never had a chance on the play and BU continued to push from there as Cason Hohmann added another off a great saucer pass from Wade Megan. Hohmann would finish the game a nation's best +20 for the year. Matt Nieto picked up his 5th goal of the year in the third and has now scored in two straight which isn't good for the rest of the league because he can put up a lot of points fast if he gets hot. Merrimack goon Kyle Bigos scored later in the third to ruin Sean Maguire's shutout bid. He would then promptly break the HE all-time record for penalty minutes after he got beat up by Sam Kurker in a scrum. Kurker dominated him and it was awesome. It seemed like Maguire felt he was interfered with on the Bigos goal but I couldn't see the play that well considering I had one of the worst seats in the arena. It was an overall thorough effort and big win for the Terriers' confidence going forward. Maguire has now won 5 starts in a row and seems to be the hotter goaltender. It will be interesting to see how Coach Parker handles the rotation this coming weekend as BU has two home games with Northeastern and Lowell coming to Agganis.

BSRS 3 Stars of the Game

1. Wade Megan (1-1-2, +2)
2. Sean Maguire (1GA, 37 saves)
3. Cason Hohmann( 1-1-2, +2)

First Half Review- Defensmen and Goalies

Dmen

1. Matt Grzelcyk(2-10-12,15 GP)- The freshman Bruins draft pick has exceeded expectations as he performed extremely well in his first semester of college hockey action. He has settled into a defensive pairing with classmate Ahti Oksanen and they both are seeing plenty of ice time. Both of his goals this year came against BC, which makes it even better. Grzelcyk will miss the Terriers' next game on 12/29 at Denver due to being away at the WJC with team USA. He will be missed for sure but if he helps beat those fraudulent Canadians, it will be worth it.

2. Garrett Noonan(3-7-10, 15 GP)- The freshly appointed assistant captain has had a solid first half for the Terriers even if his goal total is not quite as high as last year. Noonan finished last year with a 16-11-27 line in 38 games. He isn't quite on pace to reach that goal total again but his assists have gone up which is a positive sign. Teams have actually somewhat covered him on the backdoor powerplay this year which was the source of a majority of his goals last season. He has been nothing short of solid defensively He will need to have a solid second half for this team as he is a crucial defenseman and sees large amounts of ice time. He is on a similar pace for penalty minutes from last year. This would be nice to cut down on but penalties happen when you play with as much passion and emotion as he does.

Saturday recap: BU pummels Saint Lawrence

The Boston University Terriers improved to 7-4-0 on the season after dropping the 6-4-2 St. Lawrence Saints 4-0 on Saturday night at Agganis Arena. The Terriers got a goal from each of their four lines and dominated the game from the opening face off. St Lawrence seemed tired throughout the game, which may have been because they played(and beat) Northeastern Friday night at Matthew Arena.BU out shot SLU 47-21 which tells the story of the game. The Terriers had many more quality chances and this game could have been 7 or 8-0 fairly easily. Freshman Sean Maguire earned the win and the shutout in his first career home start. He was perfect in goal and left very little to chance as his defense played very well around him. The win improves the Terriers out of conference schedule this year to 2-1-0 and was a must win when it comes time for the NCAA tournament selection in March.

The Terriers dominated the first period but only had one goal in the period as SLU goalie,Matt Weninger, made 16 of the 17 shots thrown at him. Wade Megan had the BU goal as he took a pass from freshman dman Ahti Oksanen and sniped a twisted wristah under the crossbar into the back bar in the net which was ruled a goal after a quick review by the referee. BU continued to dominate play throughout the second period but continued to get stuffed at the goal by Weninger. The Terriers finally put one home when Sahir Gill split the SLU defense and fed Sam Kurker for his first career collegiate goal as he slammed one five hole on Weninger. That was a huge goal and clinched the game. The Terriers added two more in the third to make it 4-0. Ben Rosen had the third goal minutes after SLU Sean McGovern took a cheap shot at his head away from the play. The fact that it wasn't a five minute major is a travesty but Bendetto was the ref so the missed call comes as a shock to no one.  Matt Nieto added the fourth goal with 39 seconds left which sealed the game and the Cane's Challenge(free chicken for everyone!). BU also shutdown the top two scorers in the nation in Kyle Flannagan and Greg Carey. This was the most complete effort from the team this season and is great to see leading into next weekend's home and home with BC.

Weekend Preview- Way too many cats

The BU Terriers mens hockey team takes on two northern, state-school, conference opponets this weekend. They first travel up to Burlington, Vermont for a game Friday night with the 1-3-2 Catamounts. The conclude the weekend back at Agganis Arena hosting the #5 ranked 6-1-1 UNH Wildcats. These are two big conference games for the Terriers as they need atleast 3,if not all 4 points to remain in the top tier of Hockey East.

First, BU travels to Burlington, Vermont for an away game at a tough place to play in the Gutterson Fieldhouse. BU won both games up there last year with the second being a late comeback and OT win. Last year's Vermont squad was one of the worst in Hockey East history and only recorded 7 points(3-23-1) in conference on the year. This year's squad seems to be improved despite some early departures such as Sebastian Stalberg. They have already grabbed 4 points and are over half way to last year's total only 6 games into the 27 game conference schedule.  Their lone win this year came at home versus PC two weekends ago and they have scraped together ties at Merrimack and at Lowell. Their leading scorer is senior forward Chris McCarthy who has 4 points in 6 games but they have an even scoring attack as 13 players have recorded a point for them thus far including former BU recruit Robert Polsello who has put up a stunning 0-1-1 line in 6 games thus far. UVM seems to have solved  their goalie issues from last season in freshman tendy Brody Hoffman. He has posted a solid statline (.918 save %, 2.44GAA). All he needs now is to get some more wins. Offense has been the struggle for UVM as they have scored more than 2 goals once all season and average 1.7 goals/game. It would make sense for BU coach, Jack Parker, to give freshman goalie Sean Maguire a good chance for his first win as a Terrier with fellow freshman Matt O'Connor most likely getting the start on Sunday against UNH.  This game is a must win for the Terriers and cannot be overlooked before Sunday's matchup with UNH

North Dakota Recap- To hell and back

I made my first ever trip to Grand Forks, North Dakota this weekend and it looks exactly how you would expect it to. Something like the picture above. The rink itself was huge and really nice. Every North Dakota fan will ask you if you like the rink because they know that it is awesome. The atmosphere was crazy as 12k packed in Saturday night to see the BU 4-2 win while slightly less(due to the opening of hunting season..not a lie) packed in Friday to watch the North Dakota 4-2 win.  First, I'm going to cover some comments on the experience watching a game in the Ralph and then get to the actual games.

The Ralph is quite large, nice and sells beer. All of these things are necessities for North Dakota. If you saw the view of the bar between periods, you would understand what I mean. There is a HIGH demand for beer. The crowd was a sellout Saturday night and it was loud during introductions and when North Dakota scored. Besides, the goals and intros, the arena itself was awfully quiet both nights besides when music was piped in or Alexx Privitera was touching the puck and therefore booed. This goes back to an incident Friday night where it is reported that he had an altercation with fans while in the penalty box. I didn't see anything myself but I'm sure the fan deserved whatever happened because UND fans suck. They did not start any chant on their own. Music had to be piped in or BU fans were loud enough to rile up the fans to start a "Let's go Sioux" chant. This is not to say they don't care about the game because they do and let me know on many occasions what a crazy liberal I am because I am from Boston. They are just too stupid to start any different chants or use their brains at all. Their goal song is pretty cool/funny as these small firecrackers/bombs go off over the goal they just scored on.  Overall, enjoyed my time there and for all the idiotic students, there were just as many welcoming fans who seemed glad to have us there. Now to the hockey.

Terriers Freshmen Preview Part 3

This is the third part of the freshman preview I have been working the past couple of weeks. Today I will preview the two incoming goalies and a Finnish defensemen. Since my last preview, the school has finally officially released the 9 man incoming class officially with quotes from Coach Parker on each player. You can find the link to that here. I will try not to repeat anything from there besides the quotes from Coach Parker.

7. Sean Maguire, G- Powell River, B.C. (Powell River Kings(BCHL) 17-12-1, 2.33 GAA, .913 s %) 6-2, 202lbs, left shot

- Maguire is one of two incoming goalies this year and would be my pick of the two as more likely to become the primary starter in the second half of the year. We are still very far away from there but the 4th round pick in this year's draft is a good one, according to reports throughout North America. I would expect Maguire to end up with about 20-25 starts this year and be able to post respectable stats somewhere around 2.7 GAA. His success will depend highly on the defensive effort in front of him as former Terrier Kieran Millan posted a 1.94 GAA his freshman year on his way to a 29-2-3 record but every single dman who played in front of him regularly is atleast in the AHL right now.

Coach Parker on  Maguire "Maguire's a big guy who fills a lot of the net and he's got a lot of talent. He had a real good junior career in Canada. We've known him for a couple of years and really like him. We knew we were coming to this point where we were losing two senior goalies and we were very fortunate to get him."