Men’s Hockey: Three third period goals​ push BU past UNH

By Matt Dresens

BOSTON- A third-period explosion that saw three different Terriers find the back of the net propelled Boston University (7-8-3, 6-5-2 HEA) past the University of New Hampshire (6-8-6, 2-5-3 HEA) in the first game inside Agganis Arena in 2019.

Joel Farabee broke a 2-2 deadlock 4:52 into the final frame. Farabee placed a perfect wrister up over the shoulder of UNH goalie Mike Robinson, off the far post and in. It was Farabee’s second goal in as many games and his 6th of the season.

“I just tried to aim for a little spot in the top right corner there and happen to go post in,” described Farabee.

Farabee didn’t stop there. Later in the third he lead a rush up the far wall. At the dot, he turned to protect the puck and in the same motion hit Bobo Carpenter with a feed into the high slot. From there Carpenter ripped home his 10th goal of the year to put BU up 5-2.

While the goal may have been the icing on the cake, Farabee’s highly productive night left his head coach raving after the game.

“I thought he was unreal,” remarked O’Connell. “He knows how to anticipate and he has really good hockey instincts. He was a major factor. That goal that he scored was big and the play that he made to seal the game to Bobo was pretty high end.”

Back at the beginning, BU jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead on Jack DeBoer’s first collegiate goal. The play was set up by a strong net drive and ensuing centering feed from Ryan Cloonan right onto DeBoer’s tape. It was Cloonan’s second straight game with an assist. This comes after not recording a point all season prior to the Harvard game on Tuesday.

Dante Fabbro doubled the Terrier lead on a power play late in the opening stanza on a wrister from the center point. It was his fourth of the year from Shane Bowers and Farabee.

BU controlled most of the play in the first period, outshooting UNH 12-4. Outside of a Marcus Vela backhand bid off the post, UNH generated very few attempts that challenged BU netminder Jake Oettinger.

For how dominate BU looked in the first, UNH reversed the tide and outshot BU 11-4 and cut the BU lead in half midway through the second. Liam Blackburn scored the first of his two on the power play at 10:08 from the edge of the crease.

Blackburn then tied things at 2-2 on a slam-dunk from the slot that was set up nicely by Angus Crookshank from behind the goal line.

Poor execution on the breakout was a major factor in allowing UNH into the game. Several times in the second, BU had full possession and could not get the puck out of the zone. Outside of the second period, BU was fairly clean on the breakout, but an effective UNH forecheck gave BU fits in the second.

“They forecheck hard,” added O’Connell. “They came with two and at times they would mix it up with one [forcheker]. That confused our D a little bit. We have to be a little better at recognizing and talking with each other on the ice.”

Sandwiched between the Joel Farabee highlights reel, Cam Crotty netted his third goal of the year at 13:21 of the third period. Ty Amonte and Max Willman added helpers on the play.

Jake Oettinger quietly turned aside 25 shots and BU’s defense forced many of those shots to come from the parameter.

“It was a good win,” said O’Connell. “Overall there were some really good stretches and there were some shaky stretches.”

BU is right back at it tomorrow night as they travel to Providence to play the Friers, a team that came into Agganis and blanked BU 5-0 in October.

The Terriers may be getting some help on the back end tomorrow night in the form of Chad Krys. The junior defenseman has been out since the Lowell weekend back in early December with an upper-body injury.

Coach O’Connell was hopeful that Krys would be back tomorrow and said he was “50/50” going into tonight.