Terriers begin the pursuit of what would be their eighth Hockey East championship tonight, hosting New Hampshire in the best-of-three quarterfinal round. Game time is 7 p.m. at Agganis Arena. BU swept all three regular season games against the Wildcats, but those games took place early in the season when UNH was struggling and when BU’s roster was considerably deeper.In addition to the departures of three veteran players from its roster, BU will be without Yasin Cissé (shoulder injury) tonight and possibly tomorrow, prompting Coach Jack Parker to bring back the theme of another season when the squad size was less than ideal. In 1996-97, injuries forced BU to occassionally dress fewer than 20. “A few good men” as Bernie Corbett put it back then, won the Hockey East title and overcame Denver and top-ranked Michigan in the NCAAs to reach the national championship game, before losing to North Dakota.
Speaking of this year’s Terriers, Parker told The Daily Free Press, “There is not much left, but it’s a few good men. And this is certainly a ‘few good men attitude’ right here. I like that attitude. A lot of people might have written us off. A lot of people might have thought we didn’t have enough. But they didn’t measure the heart of [senior forward] Chris Connolly (photo) or the heart of [senior forward Alex] Chiasson or the heart of Kieran Millan. We’ve got enough to beat anybody as long as we are playing well.”
Speaking about the Terrier captain during the Hockey East coaches' teleconference earlier this week, Parker pointed out: "If you wanted to have a prototypical college hockey player – a student-athlete, a good guy, a good teammate, a good leader, a good producer of winning plays in pressure situations – Chris Connolly would be a pretty good poster boy.”
This series marks only the second time in the 27-year history of Hockey East that the Terriers and Wildcats have met in the quarterfinals. First time was 1986 when BU swept the Cats en route to its first Hockey East tournament championship.
BU Lineup
Nieto-Connolly-Chiasson
Courtnall-Hohmann-Rodrigues
Gaudet-Santana-Gilroy
Escobedo-Clendening
Noonan-MacGregor
Privitera-Ruikka
Millan
● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Game Tracker
● Listen to WWZN radio Webcast
● Watch HockeyEastTV Webcast (pay-per-view)
● HockeyEastOnline live scoreboard
● Daily Free Press preview
● Boston Hockey Blog live in-game blog
● College Hockey News’ Tale of the Tape--top scorers and goalie stats
● USCHO Hockey East playoff preview
● Concord Monitor preview
Episode 19 of Inside BU Hockey features Corbett’s interviews with Parker and Millan, along with former All-American defenseman Freddy Meyer in the the “old dogs” segment.
Looking ahead
The United States of Hockey asked an NHL scout to evaluate some of the U.S. draft-eligible players, including 2012 recruit Matt Grzelcyk:
He’s 5-9 and a lot of guys are going to be turned off by him, but he reads the play well, he anticipates, he jumps routes. He’s one of those kids that in a couple years, if somebody doesn’t draft him, they’ll be going after him as a free agent. He thinks the game at such a high level. You’ve got to take that into account.
Looking back
Brandon Yip scored his second goal since being acquired by Nashville in the Predators’ 4-2 win against Colorado.
Dan Spang assisted on two goals, including the overtime game-winner in Texas’ 5-4 win against Grand Rapids in AHL action.
Joe Pereira’s first-period goal put South Carolina on the board first in its 4-2 win against Trenton.
Women’s Team
Terriers are in Ithaca preparing for tomorrow afternoon’s NCAA quarterfinal matchup with Cornell, the team BU defeated in the semifinals last year.
● USCHO preview, playoff picks
● Cornell Sun preview
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