The Terrier hockey team exploded for five goals, three of which came within a span of 1:57 of the third period en route to a 5-1 win over Niagara in front of 2156 fans at Walter Brown Arena on Sunday night (January 21st).

It marked a complete reversal of the Terriers' performance on Friday night (January 19th) when they lost to UMass/Lowell, 4-1.

"I am in a better frame of mind tonight than I was on Friday," Terrier head coach Jack Parker said after Sunday night's game. "I told the team on Friday night that I didn't want to see them until 5:30 tonight (Sunday). We didn't practice yesterday (Saturday), we didn't have our game-day skate, and we didn't have our pre-game meal today. "I wanted them to get mentally ready for tonight," said the coach.

From the beginning of the game, it was obvious the move paid off.

Just 4:23 into the game, sophomore Brian Collins, who was voted the game's first star, opened the scoring when his shot beat Niagara goalie Rob Bonk. It appeared the freshman Frantisek Skladany might have redirected the shot past Bonk, but the TV replay did confirm that Collins had his seventh goal of the season. The assists went to sophomore defensemen John Cronin and Freddy Meyer.

Skladany left little doubt of the goal scorer at 10:54 of the first period when his shot beat Bonk to the right side of the net. Collins, who set up the play when he cleared the puck out of the B.U. zone and got it up to freshman Mark Mullen. Mullen's nifty pass left Skladany alone in front.

What was really impressive in the first period, though, was the Terrier defense which held the Purple Eagles to just one shot. It was the lowest shot total by an opponent since November 26, 1999 when Denver had just one shot.

Neither team scored in the second period. Once again, though, the Terrier defense stymied the Niagara attack that mustered only four shots.

Then, came the third-period explosion.

It began just 20 seconds into the period when senior Carl Corazzini, who had gone five games without a goal, upped the Terriers' lead to 3-0. It was his team-leading 11th goal of the season and 57th of his career.

"That was a big goal for us," Parker said of Corazzini's tally in which he used his speed up the right wing. He then deked a Niagara defenseman and finished off his effort by faking out goalie Bonk.

Junior Jack Baker rebounded his own shot for a power play goal at 1:47 as the Terriers led 4-0. Freshman Kenny Magowan closed out the barrage at 2:17 as B.U. took an insurmountable lead.

Niagara finally got on the scoreboard with a shorthanded goal by Bernie Sigrist at 14:19 of the third period.

Freshman Sean Fields began the game in net for B.U. and earned the win. He played 53:22, had 12 saves, and did not allow a goal. Sophomore Andy Warren played the final 6:38 and stopped 4-of-5 Niagara shots.

"I thought we got a lot of nice play from our freshmen," said Parker. "I thought Skladany and Mullen played very well and Mike Bussoli had an excellent game on defense.

"It was also nice for Andy Warren to see some action at home," the coach concluded.