Game Statistics
Senior right wing Jack Baker (South Boston) scored his first collegiate goal of the season with 1:32 left on the overtime clock to lift the Terrier hockey team to a 4-3 win over host Yale on Tuesday night (November 13th).
For the Terriers, who entered the game ranked fourth in the nation in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Top-10 poll and number five in the U.S. College Hockey Online ranking, it kept them undefeated in the early goings of the season. They are now 6-0-1 and off to their best start since the 1978-79 season when they opened the season 7-0-0.
Until Baker's goal, it appeared these two teams would play to their third straight overtime tie. On December 6, 1996 and on January 3, 2000, the Terriers and Elis battled to 1-1 scores through 65 minutes of play. But, Baker, who went through the team's first six games without a point, picked the perfect time to score his first goal of the season.
Baker got the puck at the Yale blue line from senior defenseman Pat Aufiero (Winchester). Baker then skated along the left boards and came in alone on Yale goalie Dan Lombard. The low wrist shot beat Lombard, and the Terriers headed home with a win in their third straight overtime game. On November 4th, they battled New Hampshire to a 1-1 overtime tie, while last Friday night (November 9th), they defeated Maine, 3-2, in overtime.
The game at Yale started out as if the Terriers would have little trouble, as B.U. took a 2-0 lead by the 11:27 mark of the first period.
Sophomore Frantisek Skladany scored his fifth goal of the year just 2:06 into the game. The play was started when senior goalie Jason Tapp (Kelowna, BC), making his first start of the season, took the rebound of a shot and got the puck up the left wing boards to sophomore Kenny Magowan (Kelowna, BC). Magowan, along the left wing boards, fed a perfect pass to a streaking Skladany at center ice. He made a move around a Yale defenseman and came in alone on Lombard. Skladany faked left and shot to the upper right hand corner of the net, and the Terriers led 1-0.
Senior co-captain Mike Pandolfo (Burlington) upped the Terriers' lead to 2-0 when he scored an unassisted goal at 11:27. Yale defenseman Jeff Dwyer had actually controlled a shot that bounced into his arms. Pandolfo poked the puck away from Dwyer and slid the puck through Lombard's pads.
"We got up 2-0 too quickly," Terrier head coach Jack Parker said after the game. "At that point, we thought it was going to be easy. We were concentrating on making pretty plays. In general, we were feeling too good about ourselves."
The Elis (1-2-0), who were playing just their third game of the season, battled back and scored three unanswered goals to lead 3-2 at 12:04 of the second period.
Evan Wax scored the first goal at 17:20 of the first period as his persistence paid off. He kept poking at the puck as Tapp made a couple of saves. Eventually, Wax was able to slip the puck past Tapp, and the score remained 2-1 in favor of the Terriers at the first intermission.
Yale scored two unanswered goals in the second period. The first was by Luke Earl, who backhanded the shot from 10 feet to beat Tapp just 2:53 into the second period. The Elis then took the lead, 3-2, at 12:04 when Ryan Trowbridge beat Tapp high to the glove side.
With his team trailing 3-2, sophomore Mark Mullen (Dorchester) took advantage of a Baker rebound to score his third goal of the year on the Terrier power play. Baker came in on the left wing and took a shot that Lombard left on the left doorstep. Mullen put the puck back on net that Lombard could not stop and the score was 3-3 at the intermission.
"We didn't play well in the second period," said the coach. "In fact, they outplayed us. We were too busy trying to make pretty plays, and they outgooded us in that period."
It was a different story in the third period during which the key play was on defense and not offense.
With just 8:11 to play in regulation, the Terriers were skating two-men down for 1:28. Unable to get the puck out of their zone for much of the time, the Terriers had the same three skaters on the ice for the bulk of the time. They were able to string out the Yale attack, and, as a result, the Elis failed to score during that time.
"That was the turning point of the game," said Parker. "Overall, I thought we played very well in the third period and in overtime."
In the overtime period, the Terriers outshot the Elis, 3-0, with the third and final shot being the key one by Baker.
"I am very happy to get out of here with two points," said Parker. "It's good to keep the (winning) streak going. Now it's on to BC (on Saturday night) for the road warriors."
