BU's
latest attempt to clinch sole possession of the Hockey East regular season
crown started terribly and ended with a third-period rally that fell just short
as Northeastern defeated the Terriers, 6-5. The teams conclude the regular
season with a rematch tonight at Matthews Arena that will air on NESN. Puck
drop is at 8 p.m.
The
Huskies bottled up BU with an aggressive forecheck and prolonged puck
possession to take a 3-0 lead scoring all three goals in less than two minutes.
BU quickly responded with two late scores—by sophomore Nick Roberto and senior
assistant captain Evan Rodrigues—to cut the margin to one. However, the
visitors dominated the middle period, too, with three more goals to stretch
their lead to 6-2.
Rodrigues’
second goal in the final minute of the second period triggered the comeback and
Ahti Oksanen’s 20th of the season, a power play goal just 39 seconds
into the third, brought BU’s deficit down to two. With BU dominating play, a
Brien Diffley slap shot sailed past Northeastern’s Clay Witt at 8:41, but was
waived off due to a Terrier in the crease. Rodrigues completed his hat trick
with a power play goal at 14:17 to make the score 6-5; but that was as close as
BU would get, despite two minutes of extra-attacker time.
Junior
goalie Matt O’Connor gave up the first five goals and was pulled in favor of
freshman Connor LaCouvee who yielded the final NU goal.
“That’s about as bad as we’ve played all year," said Coach David Quinn. "We showed some spurts, especially on our power play, but the better team won tonight without question. You can’t go down 3-0 in the fashion that we did. The zone time they had was just unacceptable"We're gonna find out a lot about ourselves tomorrow night."
Junior
Danny O’Regan assisted on three goals, while freshman Jack Eichel and junior
captain Matt Grzelcyk each had two helpers.
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Daily Free Press recap, Senior Night bright spot
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USCHO recap
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SB Nation recap
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Boston Herald recap
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Prior to the game, a statue of former BU head coach Jack Parker, who led the
Terriers for 40 seasons, was dedicated at a private ceremony attended by donors and members of Coach Parker's family.
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SB Nation report
Looking
ahead
2015
recruit Charlie McAvoy scored and added an assist for the NTDP U18s who defeated
Green Bay, 5-2.
For the right-shot defenseman from Long Beach, it was his seventh goal of the
season and 26th
point.
2015
recruit Maxim Letunov had an assist and a shootout goal for Youngstown in its 3-2
win against Fargo. With 51 points, he’s tied for third in USHL scoring with
fellow 2015 recruit Robert Carpenter, who scored his 26th goal of the season for
Sioux City in its 4-3 overtime
loss to Tri-City.
Women’s
Team
Led
by junior Kayla Tutino’s Hockey East tournament record four-goal performance, the #7
Terriers produced a dominating effort in their first post-season game,
routing Vermont, 8-1. Captain
Marie-Philip Poulin also set a tournament record with four assists. BU can
close out the quarterfinal series today in game 2, which begins at 3 p.m. at
Walter Brown Arena.
BU
jumped out to a 5-0 first-period lead on three Tutino goals and a pair from
freshman Rebecca Leslie. After Vermont got on the board in the second period,
Tutino’s fourth and a goal by Rebecca Russo extended the lead to 7-1 after two.
Dakota Woodworth closed out the scoring late in the third period. Victoria Hanson stopped 22 Catamount shots to
earn the win.
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Post-game interview with Tutino