Men’s Hockey: Terriers Win Battles, Sweep Minutemen In HEA First Round

By: Jake Reiser

Over the course of the weekend, the No. 9 Boston University Terrier swept the University of Amherst Minutemen from the first round of the Hockey East Playoffs. After a tough weekend in South Bend, Ind. against Notre Dame, the Terriers needed a confidence boost in the opening series of the playoffs. Despite two losses, the Minutemen played the Providence College Friars well at home last Friday, and hoped some confidence would lead to a win.

UMass played hard on Friday night, taking the game to overtime, but in the end, BU would win the game, 2-1. The Minutemen would break out first 8:07 into the first period. On an odd man rush, Shane Walsh faked a shot and sent a pass to captain Steven Iacobellis. The junior stepped out in front of BU starter Sean Maguire, held the puck until Maguire was down and potted it to give UMass the opening goal.

3:52 into the second period, Bobo Carpenter would find the back of the net. On an attacking zone rush, Matt Lane shot the puck on Minutemen starter Nic Renyard, grabbed his rebound behind the goal line and centered it to Carpenter, backhanding one blocker-side to even the score for the Terriers.

Boston University’s power play couldn’t convert on two opportunities in the second period, while the penalty kill stood tall on its own two chances. The power play unit would again not be able to score on a William Lagesson penalty 6:55 into the third, and with 40 saves by Renyard, 22 by Maguire in total, the game would make its way to a full overtime. The PK did its job once again on a Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson hook, and on a Brandon Fortunato shot, Carpenter hammered home the rebound to give the Terriers a 2-1 victory in Game 1.

While there was a lack of goal scoring in Game 1, Saturday night’s bout saw a plethora of entries on the scoring sheet, and the Terriers ended on top, 5-4. 5:40 into the game, Forsbacka-Karlsson batted a puck out of the air past Renyard’s glove side to give BU a 1-0 lead. Less than three minutes later, Dennis Kravchenko banked a puck off Maguire, tying the game through the first intermission.

On the power play, Danny O’Regan flung a puck from the left circle through Renyard to put the Terriers right back on top. The goal serves as his 150th career point as a Terrier. Walsh evened the score once again by sneaking a puck through Maguire’s glove side, but captain Matt Grzelyck would take advantage of a Bobo Carpenter screen to send one past Renyard, to re-take the lead. The penalty kill couldn’t fend off a Minutemen power play late in the second, as at 17:50, Austin Plevy pushed past Doyle Somerby and flung a pass to Kurt Keats, who snapped one past Maguire. Just 55 seconds later however,Danny O’Regan responded with a goal on a feed from Jordan Greenway, establishing a Boston University advantage through two.

Once again, the Minutemen were there to strike in the third period when Callum Fryer sent a puck on net and Plevy chipped in on a rebound. For the game-winning goal, Forsbacka-Karlsson tallied a shot through traffic, beating Renyard glove-side. That goal sealed a BU victory.

In their next series, the No. Boston University Terriers will travel to the Tsongas Center to take on the No. 11 University of Massachusetts Lowell Minutemen on Friday, March 11th. In their regular season series back on Feb. 12-13, Jordan Greenway gave the Terriers a 2-1 OT victory at Agganis Arena on that Friday, while BU took a step back with a 6-3 loss at the Tsongas Center that Saturday.