Hockey Team Travels to Merrimack to Begin Weekend Series
November 5, 1999 | Men's Ice Hockey
The Terrier hockey team travels to Merrimack tonight (November 5th for the first game of a home-and-home series against the Warriors.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY @ MERRIMACK COLLEGE November 5, 1999 7:00 p.m. Volpe Complex
DAVIES NAMED CURRY HEAD HOCKEY COACH: Terrier assistant coach/video coordinator Rob Davies today was named head hockey coach at Curry College. Davies, a 1982 graduate of B.U. where he was a member of two Beanpot championship teams, had been in his second year on Coach Parker's staff. After graduating from B.U., Davies played in the Detroit Red Wings organization from 1982-86 as a member of the Kalamazoo Wings. His career was cut short by an unfortunate eye injury. However, he remained in the Kalamazoo area. He still returns there during the summer to conduct a summer hockey game.
SIXTH OF SEVEN ON THE ROAD: Tonight marks the sixth road game of the season for the Terriers, who have played just once at home. Thus far, they have traveled to Anchorage, Alaska; Albany, New York; and Burlington, VermontDuring the month of October, the Terriers played 5-of-6 games on the road, while this month, they will 3-of-8 on the road.
DiPIETRO NAMED HOCKEY EAST ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Freshman goalie Rick DiPietro (Winthrop, Mass.) is this week's Hockey East Rookie of the Week. DiPietro was honored for his 25-save performance in last Saturday night's 3-2 win over ProvidenceThrough games of last weekend, DiPietro was tied for fourth in the league in goals against average both in all games (2.67) and in league games only (2.00)It appears this is going to be a season in which youth is the key word for goaltending in Hockey East. In addition to DiPietro, the league's other top goalies include freshmen Tim Kelleher of BC and Mike Gilhooly of Northeastern, sophomores Matt Yeats and Mike Morrison from Maine, and Terrier sophomore Jason Tapp (Kelowna, BC).
DiPIETRO TO START IN NET TONIGHT: Head coach Jack Parker is deviating somewhat from his alternating-goalie lineup tonight as DiPietro gets the nod. Through the season's first seven games, Parker had started Tapp the first night and DiPietro the second night. It began with the Tapp starting the season opener against Air Force and then DiPietro playing against Alaska-Anchorage. Tapp then started vs. RPI followed by DiPietro vs. Niagara. Tapp played the Vermont game two weeks ago, while DiPietro played last Saturday night's game against Providence. Keeping that format going, Tapp would have started tonight followed by DiPietro tomorrow night. As of earlier today, no decision had been made as to who will start tomorrow night's home game against Merrimack.
SHEEN OUT; VUORI BACK ON DEFENSE: Junior defenseman Colin Sheen (Hopkinton, NH) will not dress either for tonight or tomorrow night's games, as he is sidelined by the flu. His place on defense will be taken by senior Juha Vuori (Ulvila, Finland). A forward through his hockey-playing career, Vuori was moved to defense last season where he played 29-of-35 games. In those 29 games, he had 3-1316. Overall, last season, he had 4-1418 to bring his career totals to 14-2135. This season, he sat out the team's first four games. He saw his first action at Vermont and had an assist while playing left wing on the fourth line. He played the same position against Providence last weekend, but did not figure in any of the scoring. Tonight, he finds himself back on defense, teamed with Keith Emery (Belmont, Mass.)
QUEBEC BACK IN THE LINEUP: With Vuori moving back to the blue line, senior Greg Quebec (Acton, Mass.) returns to the lineup. Quebec was the team's fourth line left wing through the first four games, but did not dress against Vermont or Providence. He scored his goal in the season opener against Air Force.
OTHER LINEUP CHANGES: Coach Parker has made a couple of other lineup changes since last Saturday night. Sophomore Dan Cavanaugh (Springfield, Mass.) and freshman Brian Collins (Shrewsbury, Mass.) have switched placesCavanaugh will now be the second-line center, while Collins will center the third line. Junior Nick Gillis (Winthrop, Mass.) and freshman Ryan Priem (Minnetonka, MN) are doing the same at right wingGillis is moving up to the third line, while Priem is playing the fourth line.
DOG BITES: Sophomore defenseman Pat Aufiero (Winchester, Mass.) has 1-23 in his last two games. In last Saturday's game against Providence, he scored his first collegiate game-winning goalDan Cavanaugh comes into tonight's game tied with senior left wing Chris Heron (Mississauga, ONT) and senior right wing Tommi Degerman (Helsinki, Finland) for the team lead in points with 6. Cavanaugh has 2-46, while Heron and Degerman have 1-56 each. As a freshman last year, Cavanaugh didn't score his sixth point until his 11th game. As an added note, two of Cavanaugh's assists have come on game-winning goalsJunior center Carl Corazzini (Framingham, Mass.), who was second on the team in goals last year with 15, scored his first goal of the season in last Saturday night's win over Providence. A right wing during his first two collegiate seasons, he has been the team's first-line center through the first six games of this seasonBrian Collins has points in 4-of-6 games this year. In addition, he leads the team in goals with 4Freshman defenseman John Cronin (Duxbury, Mass.) also has points in 4-of-6 games this season. He is the top-scoring defenseman, while he is second on the team in goals with 3Tommi Degerman has points in 4-of-6 games as he comes into tonight's game with 1-56. He didn't notch his sixth point last year until his ninth gameNick Gillis has points in 4-of-6 gamesChris Heron has points in 4-of-6 games.
HOMECOMING FOR GERAGOSIAN: Tonight's game marks a homecoming of sorts for Terrier volunteer assistant coach Mike Geragosian. Now in his first year with the Terriers, Geragosian was an assistant at Merrimack from 1994 through last season. A former All-New England goalie at Lowell Tech/UMass/Lowell and a member of the school's athletic Hall of Fame, Geragosian has been working with the Terrier goalies this season.
SERIES HISTORY VS. MERRIMACK: In a series that dates back to the 1964-65 season, the Terriers have a commanding 46-8-1 lead in the seriesHowever, Merrimack has a winning record over the Terriers in their last six meetings. Dating back to the middle of the 1997-98 season, the Warriors are 3-2-1 against the TerriersLast year, the teams were 1-1-1. The two teams skated to a 5-5 overtime tie at Brown Arena on January 8th. The next night, at Volpe, Merrimack defeated the Terriers, 4-2. The Terriers won the final meeting of the season in a 6-3 victory at Brown Arena on February 5th.
TEAM BY CLASS: The Terriers' 24-player roster includes Seniors (5): Forwards (4): Tommi Degerman, Bobby Hanson, Chris Heron, Greg Quebec Defense (1): Juha Vuori Juniors (5): Forwards (3): Carl Corazzini, Nick Gillis, Scott Perry Defense (2): Keith Emery, Colin Sheen Sophomores (7): Forwards (4): Jack Baker, Dan Cavanaugh, Mike DiMella, Mike Pandolfo Defense (2): Pat Aufiero, Chris Dyment Goalie (1): Jason Tapp Freshmen (7): Forwards (3): Brian Collins, Ryan Priem, John Sabo Defense (2): Mike Bussoli, John Cronin Goalie (2): Ricky DiPietro, Andy Warren
TEAM LEADERS: Senior left wing Tommi Degerman is the team captain, while senior center Chris Heron and junior right wing Carl Corazzini are the assistant captains. Corazzini is the first underclassman to serve in one of the captain's roles since Jack O'Callahan was a co-captain of the Terriers' 1977-78 national championship team. The following year, in 1978-79, he was the team's sole captain.
POWER PLAY OF EARLY CONCERN: Just six games into the season, the Terriers have had problems on the power play. They come into tonight's game converting on just 4-of-37 chances for a 10.8 percent efficiency. They opened the season 2-for-6 vs. Air Force and then were 1-for-6 vs. Alaska-Anchorage. However, they were 0-for-6 each vs. Rensselaer and. Niagara. Against Vermont, they were 1-for-6, and then last week vs. Providence, they were 0-for-8Special teams was also a problem last year, as the Terriers converted on just 32-of-221 chances for 14.5 percent. By comparison, their opponents were 56-of-220 for 25.5 percentOn a positive note thus far this year, the Terriers have killed off 28-of-35 chances by their opponents (80 percent).
FRESHMEN MAKING MARK ON OFFENSE: Four of the five freshmen skaters have scored at least one goal this year. The leaders are Brian Collins, who has a team-leading 4 goals; and John Cronin, who is second on the team with 3. Right wing John Sabo (Harding Township, NJ) and defenseman Mike Bussoli (Calgary, ALTA) have one each. The only freshman without a goal is wing Ryan Priem (Minnetonka, MN), who has played in just 2-of-6 games. As a group, the freshmen have accounted for 9 of the team's 22 goals or 41 percent of the offense.
79th YEAR OF COMPETITION: This is the 79th year of intercollegiate play for the Terrier hockey team. Including this year's 3-3-0 start, the Terriers have compiled a record of 1147-655-82 for a .631 winning percentage.
DECADE OF THE TERRIERS: Since the 1989-90 season, B.U. teams have amassed an impressive 270-106-27 mark for a .703 winning percentage. They have played in the NCAA Tournament in nine of the 10 years and advanced to the Finals in seven of those years. They won the Division 1 championship game in 1995, while they played in the title game in 1991, 1994, and 1997. Below is how the Terriers have done during the decade.
Year Record .Pct NCAA Tournament 1989-90 25-17-2 .591 Lost to Colgate in semis, 3-2 1990-91 28-11-2 .707 Lost to No. Mich in title game, 8-7 (3 OTs) 1991-92 22-9-4 .686 Lost to Mich St. in Regional, 4-2 1992-93 29-9-2 .750 Lost to Lake State in semis, 6-1 1993-94 34-7-0 .829 Lost to Lake State in title games, 9-1 1994-95 31-6-3 .813 Won NCAA title vs. Maine, 6-2 1995-96 30-7-3 .788 Lost to Michigan in semis, 4-0 1996-97 26-9-6 .707 Lost to North Dakota in title game, 6-4 1997-98 28-8-2 .763 Lost to UNH in East Region, 4-3 (OT) 1998-99 14-20-3 .418 Did not qualify 1999-2000 3-3-0 .500
SIX FOR 600 FOR PARKER: Now in his 27th season, the veteran Terrier coach comes into tonight's game needing just six wins to become the fourth college hockey coach in history to reach the 600-win total. Ranked fourth all-time in total wins among all college hockey coaches, Parker's record to date is 594-288-51 for a .659 winning percentage. Below are the top four coaches in terms of wins. Mason and Peters are still coaching, while Ceglarski has retired.
Coach School Years Wins Ron Mason Lake State, Bowling Green, Mich. State 66-SA 843 Bob Peters North Dakota Bemidji State 64-SA 730 Len Ceglarski Clarkson, Boston College 58-92 674 Jack Parker Boston University 73-SA 593
MOST WINS AT SAME DIVISION 1 PROGRAM: While Parker ranks fourth in total wins, he is first in Division 1 in victories at the same institution. Mason has 554 victories at Michigan State. Peters has 688 victories at Bemidji. However, they have been Division 2 prior to this season. This is their first year with a full Division 1 schedule, and they are 2-2 entering this weekend's series against Niagara. Bemidji is one of the seven teams in the newly-formed College Hockey America (CHA) league. The other members are Wayne State of Detroit, Niagara, Air Force, Army, Findlay of Ohio, and Alabama-Hunstville.
PARKER VS. MERRIMACK/HOCKEY EAST: The Terrier coach has an all-time record of 39-6-2 (.851 winning percentage) against Merrimack, while his overall record against Hockey East teams is 321-146-35 (.674 winning percentage). The record includes last Saturday night's 3-2 win over Providence.
TERRIERS PICKED TO FINISH FIFTH IN HOCKEY EAST POLL: In the pre-season poll of the nine Hockey East head coaches, the Terriers were picked to finish fifth this year with 46 points. That is where the team finished in last year's final standings. This year's pre-season favorite to win the regular-season title is Boston College. The Eagles, who have not finished first in the final standings since the 1990-91 season, are the overwhelming choice this year. BC, which finished third in last year's final standings but went on to win the post-season tournament, received eight-of-nine first-place votes and 79 points in this year's balloting. The University of New Hampshire, which won the regular-season title last year and advanced to the NCAA title game where it lost to Maine in overtime, finished second in this year's balloting with 68 points. Defending NCAA champion Maine was the only other team with a first-place vote. The Black Bears were picked just behind New Hampshire with 67 points. Providence, which finished fourth last year, is the coaches' pick again to finish fourth this year with 53 points. Then come the Terriers followed, in order, by Northeastern, 36 points; UMass/Amherst and UMass/Lowell, tied for seventh with 20 points; and Merrimack, 16 points.
DAYS OF THE WEEK: Below is how the Terriers have fared on the different days
of the week this year.
Friday: 0-1-0
Saturday: 2-2-0
Sunday: 1-0-0
RECORD BY MONTH: Below is how the Terriers have fared each month this year.
October 3-3-0
November 0-0-0
December 0-0-0
January 0-0-0
February 0-0-0
March 0-0-0
April 0-0-0 
