Men’s Hockey: Terriers Fall Short of Michigan, Lose 4-2

By: Jake Reiser

After a Friday night game in which the Terriers clawed back to win, Boston University looked to take some momentum from that game and turn it into a weekend sweep. Unfortunately for the Terriers, the University of Michigan Wolverines came out and played harder than they did last night, forcing the Terriers to swallow a tough 4-2 loss.

The Wolverines came out gunning early, and on an AJ Greer interference penalty, Tyler Motte tipped home a puck past Connor LaCouvee off a one-timer from Michael Downing in the middle of the blue line.

Looking for a chance to get even, down shorthanded again, Danny O’Regan found himself in alone on Michigan starting goaltender senior Steve Racine, and tried to shoot it against the grain. Racine stuck his right pad put and barely made the save.

That save would become one of the turning points early in the game, as less than five minutes later, Tony Calderone spun a no-look backhand pass to a wide open Brendan Warren, who sped in alone and backhanded one through LaCouvee for a 2-0 Wolverines lead.

Michigan didn’t stop there, as on another power play, a too many men call, Downing ripped a shot into LaCouvee’s pads, who couldn’t cover, and Alex Kile chipped a backhand shot over his head for a 3-0 advantage.

“When you’re that lethargic and not energetic to play Michigan in your home building for two straight games, as a coach, you gotta look yourself in the mirror,” Coach Quinn said.

“We can’t afford to play a 20 minute game in this league, especially against a good team like Michigan” Matt Lane said.

Matt Lane got the Terriers on the board with two and a half minutes to go in the second period, as Ahti Oksanen flew a cross-ice, zone-to-zone pass to Lane, who flew past third line defenseman Cutler Martin and pushed a puck on his forehand through the five-hole of Steve Racine.

Last night down by two goals, BU put the pressure on in the third period. Tonight, the Terriers couldn’t get the effort they were looking for. While discipline became much tighter, BU didn’t create many offensive zone chances, and at 16:32, Max Shuart drove in on a 2-on-1 with Kyle Connor, pushing the puck through LaCouvee’s five-hole, effectively ending the game.

Late in the third, Matt Grzelyck went awkwardly into the boards after attemting to hit Dexter Dancs, and came up limping. As of post time, the team is “hopeful “that he will play in the Terriers next game, and that the injury was not to his ACL or his surgically repaired knee.

Ahti Oksanen wristed home a puck with 4.6 seconds left in the game, but it was a clear case of too little, too late from the Terriers.

“That was disappointing, because I feel over the last three weekends, we’ve done a great job at getting better, and we obviously took a step back this weekend” Quinn said.

The Terriers have a little time to put this loss behind them, as on Tuesday, the Benley University Falcons come into Agganis Arena for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop.