Men’s Hockey: Terriers Continue to Show Resiliency

By: Marisa Ingemi

The Terriers of Boston University have faced several tests this season, and the toughest may have been trying to rebound from a tie at Northeastern the next night.

After head coach David Quinn was frustrated with his team’s Friday night effort, the Terriers bounced back on Saturday evening with a 3-0 victory over the Huskies. Not only was the win BU’s third shutout at home in three games on the Agganis ice, but it was a much improved effort with just one penalty in the final 40 minutes.

“Three points on the weekend in our league, that’s a great accomplishment,” Quinn said. “We overcame a lot of adversity in the first period. The continuing theme for us has been penalties all year long; we take four in the first period and overcome it and settle it down, then not take another one until the end of the game was certainly a positive note. If we’re going to have any chance, we’ve got to stay out of the box.”

The lack of penalties came after Quinn benched sophomore forward Jordan Greenway for the entirety of the opening frame the night following his ten minute misconduct for a goal celebration. Quinn had expressed his disdain for the team’s immaturity, and he got the response he needed from the young club.

“I’ve been addressing penalties since September 29th,” Quinn said. “Addressing it doesn’t do any good. There’s a lot going on in college hockey with the penalties and the new standard.”

Once again it was the electricity of the freshman forwards creating offense for the Terriers as Patrick Harper found the back of the net twice for the first time since the opening game of the season, and Kieffer Bellows also got on the board. However, this time Quinn was much happier with the team’s overall effort, on the puck and away from it.

“It’s always nice to have guys get on the scoreboard, and they’re talented players,” Quinn said. “Goals scorers want to score and guys who are expected to produce offense want to produce offense. It’s good to see those guys on the board.”

The coach hasn’t been happy with the team’s “puck watching,” a habit he hopes fades as the team grows.

“I thought we were a little bit better in the areas we had to be for structure,” Quinn said. “The big problem with hockey at any level is puck watching, you want to do something and get drawn to the puck.

“We have to get a little bit more patient defensively.”

Quinn mentioned the team played a more mature game on the second game of the back to back, and that was the difference in topping the defending conference champions. Every concern the Terriers have been faced with this season has brought a response that should encourage the team as they continue to address early season adversity that should make them stronger come post season.

BU faces a tough test next week in Michigan, but that’s nothing new for this young Terriers squad; each week seems to have brought new challenges for a team that is still improving on the ice and with its maturity, and after responding well to its weekend sweep in Denver, and now rebounding from the Northeastern tie, its just another test the Terriers will look to pass.

“The players are adapting,” Quinn said. “We seem to be adapting a lot slower than other people. The referees are adapting too, and I think they’re starting to eye in on what the penalties are and you’re seeing the games being called with a little more reason. But five penalties is too many, you want to stay under four. We weren’t able to do it but the last 40 minutes but we did really good staying out of the box.”