Men’s Hockey: BU Bounces Back, Beats Bentley 3-0
By: Jake Reiser
Last weekend was a rough one for Terrier hockey, with a third period comeback win and hard fought loss to the University of Michigan Wolverines. Coach David Quinn went so far to say that the team took a step back from the progress they’ve made over the last three weekends.
Luckily for Quinn and the team, BU had a chance in a short week to find their identity, as the offense clicked into gear and the Terriers came away with a 3-0 victory over the Bentley Falcons.
BU got the scoring started early, as Danny O’Regan took a long lob pass from linemate Ahti Oksanen, skated in alone and lifted a backhander over Bentley goalie Gabe Antoni to put the Terriers up 1-0. The offensive zone time for the Terriers was astounding in the first period, leading in shots by margin of 15-3.
The production from Boston University didn’t let up in the second either and they got key chances to put themselves on the board.
Bentley took three penalties in the second period; Max French went off for hooking, Alexey Solovyev skated to the box for cross checking, and Michael Reardon sat for two minutes for hooking.
On that last hooking call, the Terriers took advantage. Freshman Jordan Greenway, standing at 6-foot-5, screened Antoni, letting defenseman Doyle Somerby send a wrist-shot from the point to give BU a 2-0 lead. The goal was Doyle Somerby’s third goal of the season, his second in three games after tallying the game winner on Friday against Michigan.
“I’m pretty surprised that I walked that puck in from across the net,” Somerby said. “But it’s kind of a testament to how we’re playing as a team. You don’t score a lot from the point without the net-front presence that we’ve having.”
Early in the third period, freshman producer Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson took a backhand drop from the senior O’Regan and fired a snap shot high over the glove of Antoni to increase the Terrier lead to 3-0.
The Terrier penalty kill came up big in the third period, as Brandon Hickey went to the box for slashing, Jordan Greenway joining him for a hooking minor 23 seconds later. The Scarlet and White killed off the subsequent 5-on-3, O’Regan and Somerby making big blocks in front of BU’s starting senior goalie Sean Maguire, stifling Bentley’s 25.7% power play.
“Huge kill, 5-on-3, I thought they did a great job,” Coach Quinn said.
Sean Maguire made all 15 saves in the shutout victory, his first shutout since he had back-to-back ones on March 9th and 15th, 2013 vs Northeastern and Merrimack, respectively.
“That’s not an easy game to play,” said Quinn. “He looked good. A few times he was tested, he made an unbelievable save using the stick, reaching back.
“A really good win for us. After a quick turnaround and losing a game in the fashion we did on Saturday, to bounce back and play with a lot more energy, I think with a lot more passion and pace, really proud of our guys.
The team next skates for Red Hot Hockey vs. the Cornell Big Red on Saturday at 8 p.m. in Madison Square Garden. The game can be watched on ESPN3.