Hockey Team Wins Two Key Battles To Notch Victory
October 22, 2000 | Men's Ice Hockey
The Terrier hockey team won the battles of the special teams and of the goaltenders on Oct. 21 and the result was the team's first win of the season in a 3-1 victory over the University of Vermont.
Playing in front of a Walter Brown Arena partisan crowd of 3653, the Terriers evened their early season record to 1-1-0, while Vermont is winless in two outings this year.
Two of B.U.'s three goals came on the power play as the team converted on 2-of-5 chances compared to a 1-for-7 effort in their 5-4 loss to RPI in the season opener. On the other side of the special team's play, the Terriers killed off 4-of-5 chances by the Catamounts.
In the battle of the goaltenders, junior Jason Tapp (Kelowna, BC) turned aside 28-of-29 shots by Vermont en route to evening his season record to 1-1-0.
In the meantime, Vermont goalie Tim Peters had 26 saves in the losing effort.
"We got great goaltending from Tapper," said B.U. head coach Jack Parker. "He played a real solid game. He played tonight the way he did the second half of last season."
A backup to Michel Larocque two years ago and to Rick DiPietro last season, Tapp returned this year as the heir apparent to the starting goalie job.
In his first outing against RPI, he had 27 saves in the 5-4 loss.
It was a different story against Vermont.
"The guys played great in front of me tonight," Tapp said after the game. "They were there for me tonight.
"Last week, I was thinking too much," he went on. "Tonight, I wanted to make sure that I came out and made the big save.
"Last week was an off game for all of us," Tapp continued. "This week was more of our type of game."
"We made some strides tonight," said Parker. "We still have a long way to go, though."
The Terriers scored the only goals they would need in the first period as they jumped to a 2-0 lead on power play goals by juniors Mike Pandolfo (Burlington) and Jack Baker (South Boston).
Pandolfo opened the scoring when he knocked in a shot that originated from the right point by sophomore defenseman Mike Bussoli (Calgary, ALTA). It was Pandolfo's second goal of the season and it came at 14:56.
Baker came back at 17:55 when he redirected a shot in front by sophomore Brian Collins (Shrewsbury). Junior Dan Cavanaugh (Springfield) also earned an assist.
Both teams exchanged goals in the second period.
First, Vermont's J.F. Gamelin scored on the power play at 8:40 to cut the Terriers' lead to 2-1.
Terrier senior Nick Gills (Winthrop) got that score back on the game's only even strength goal at 17:24. Freshman Gregg Johnson (Windsor, CT) and Collins both earned assists.
Neither team scored in the third period, as the Terriers won the battles and the war en route to their first win of the season.
