Hockey Edges Providence, 3-2, in Hockey East Opener
October 31, 1999 | Men's Ice Hockey
BOSTON - (Oct. 30) The treats came a night before Halloween for the Terrier hockey team as it pulled a trick or two on Hockey East rival Providence College on Saturday night in a 3-2 win at Brown Arena.
The victory ended a three-game losing streak for the Terriers who are now 3-3-0 overall. More importantly, though, it opened the Hockey East season on a successful note for B.U.
Freshman goalie Rick DiPietro earned the game's first star honor as he turned aside 25-of-27 Friar shots in his Brown Arena debut.
DiPietro made a great difference for them tonight, said Providence head coach Paul Pooley. He handled the puck very well and was able to get it out of their zone. As a result, we couldn't forecheck them very effectively.
Rick made great decisions out there, Terrier head coach Jack Parker said of DiPietro. He showed that he could really execute. I was very happy with his poise and overall performance.
Actually, I thought all the freshmen played very well for their first game at Brown Arena, continued Parker. (John) Sabo (Harding Township, NJ) is going to be a real crowd pleaser, and (John) Cronin (Duxbury, Mass.) is as good a freshman defenseman as we have had here in a long time.
I thought the other freshmen also played well(Mike) Bussoli (Calgary, ALTA), (Brian) Collins (Shrewsbury, Mass.), and (Ryan) Priem (Minnetonka, Minn.), continued Parker.
But, the real story tonight were how the (Carl) Corazzinis (Framingham, Mass.), (Tommi) Degermans (Helsinki, FIN), and (Chris) Herons (Mississauga, ONT) played. They did a great job killing penalties.
In all, the Friars converted on just 1-of-10 power play chances. This is a far cry from a year ago when Providence converted on 15-of-36 power play chances en route to winning five-of-six games against the Terriers.
I guess tonight was a pay back for what we did to them on our power play last year, said Pooley. They did a good job on our power play tonight. They had guys step it up.
B.U. jumped to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period on goals by Cronin and Corazzini.
Over the years, B.U. has been a first period club against us, said Pooley. When they get the lead they are tough to beat.
The Friars came back to score the game's only goal in the second period, as B.U. clung to a one-goal lead entering the final period.
Sophomore defenseman Pat Aufiero (Winchester, Mass.), who had an assist on Corazzini's first-period goal and was voted the game's second star, scored what proved to be the game-winner at 10:16 of the third period.
The Friars closed out the scoring with just nine seconds to play when they converted on their only power-play goal of the game. Actually, they were skating six-on-four, as they had pulled their goaltender to get the extra man on the ice.
Prior to the game, the Terriers raised two banners. The first represented the Beanpot the team won last February. It was their record fifth straight Beanpot title, their eighth of this decade and their 23rd overall in the 47-year history of the tournament.
The second banner was to retire Travis Roy's number 24. This was the first time the Terriers have ever retired a hockey number, and it was appropriate it would be Travis' number. He has epitomized all the qualities of perseverance, determination, and true grit that we look for in a Boston University hockey player.
Our players know Travis, and they were very happy to see him have his number retired, said Parker. It was also nice to see the crowd get into it.
Scoring Summary
Providence (2-3-0; 0-1-) 0 1 1 -- 2
Boston University (3-3-0; 1-0-0) 2 0 1 -- 3
First Period: B.U.Cronin (Collins, Heron), 3:07;
BU Corazzini (Aufiero), 10:57
Second Period: PCFarrell (Rask, Omicioli), shg, 2:20
Third Period: B.U.Aufiero (Cavanaugh, Gillis), 10:16;
PCSheppard (Pisani, Fregoe), 19:51
Power Play: B.U., 0-for-7; PC, 1-for-10
Penalties: B.U., 15-for-30; PC, 13-for-26
Saves; DiPietro (B.U.), 8-6-11---25; Ballard (PC), 7-11-624
Shots; B.U., 9-11-727; PC, 8-7-1227
