Unlike Friday when power plays sent pucks flying into the
nets, Saturday’s BU-BC rematch at Agganis Arena was a classic goaltending duel,
resulting in a 1-1 overtime tie. A crowd of 6,032 saw the Terriers take a lead
midway through the second period and hold it until the Eagles finally ended
senior Sean Maguire’s shutout attempt with 2:05 left in regulation.
There was no shortage of scoring opportunities as the
teams combined for 24 shots in the first period, when both teams had 5-on-3
opportunities, and then 28 in the second with Maguire and BC’s Thatcher Demko both
making highlight-reel saves.
BU broke through when freshman Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson’s
rush from his own end was denied at the goalmouth by Demko, but a clearing pass
was intercepted at the point by senior assistant captain Danny O’Regan. His
slap shot was deflected past Demko by senior captain Matt Grzelcyk.
“I saw JFK going in on the breakaway there, just kind of followed the play in case there’s a bounce,” Grzelcyk said. “Puck made its way up the wall, and Danny made a heads-up play to throw it to the net, just tried to get a stick on it. A little bit of puck luck there.”
Shots were harder to come by in the third period—five for
BU and eight for BC. With about three
minutes remaining, Maguire robbed BC’s Adam Gilmour with a lunging save; but 49
seconds later, the Eagles’ Ryan Fitzgerald was set up in the circle to Maguire’s
left and his turnaround wrist shot found its way into the goal high on the stick side.
A late stuff-in attempt by JFK, set up by sophomore
Brandon Fortunato, was turned aside by Demko and neither team could find the
back of the net during the five-minute overtime..
Maguire, who made a season-high 38 saves to earn
first-star honors, stymied the Eagles on a number of two-on-one-breaks and
bailed out his teammates following a turnover behind the goal.
Coach David Quinn, who was much happier with his team’s
performance than he was on Friday, especially his goalie’s stellar effort:
“He played great last night, too. He’s been getting better and better. The great thing over the weekend is we got elite goaltending, and that certainly bodes well going forward.“It’s disappointing the way both games ended. We were two and a half minutes away from at least getting a point, and tonight we’re two and a half minutes away from getting a win, so disappointing from that regard, but it’s January 15th, and you don’t want to be playing your best hockey now.”
►After playing his entire freshman season and his first 19 games this season without taking a single penalty, Fortunato found himself in the penalty box in each of the weekend games.
● Daily Free Press recap and Maguire feature
● Boston Hockey Blog Pluses & Minuses
● USCHO recap
● College Hockey News recap
Looking ahead
2016 recruit Johnny McDermott scored a goal and an assist in a 5-3
loss to Salisbury and scored a goal in a 4-0 win over
Pomfret. The left-shot forward, who had also notched the overtime game-winner
in a 5-4 victory against Trinity-Pawling, has six goals and 12 assists in 10
games, playing on the #3-ranked Marlets’ top line.
2017 recruit Logan Cockerill scored the U17s only goal in
a loss to Bloomington.
● USA Hockey recap
2019 recruit Joel Farabee scored a goal and an assist in
Select Academy’s 6-1 win
over the P.A.L. Junior Islanders in a USPHL 16U game. The forward from Cicero,
NY has 22 points in 12 league games with points in each of the last ten
games.
Another 2018 recruit, sophomore Jack DeBoer, scored a goal
in Salisbury’s 4-1 win against Deerfield.
Looking back
Former Terrier MVP Alex Chiasson scored his third goal of
the season in Ottawa’s 5-3 win over the Kings.
● NHL.com recap
and box score
Adam
Clendening is heading back to the West Coast after being traded
to Anaheim by Pittsburgh. The former BU blueliner had been acquired by the
Penguins from Vancouver last summer.
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