Terriers Win Ice Breaker Tournament; Redlihs Named MVP
October 11, 2002 | Men's Ice Hockey
| Game Statistics | Season Statistics |
Five different players scored goals and freshman defenseman Jekabs Redlihs (Riga, Latvia) helped lead a defense that stymied the RPI attack all night as the Terrier hockey team rolled to a 5-1 win over the Engineers on Saturday night in the title game of the Ice Breaker Tournament that was hosted by the University of Wisconsin.
Redlihs, who had a goal in the Terriers' 4-4 tie against Northern Michigan on Friday night and added a pair of assists in Saturday night's impressive victory, was named the tournament's MVP. He was joined on the All-Tournament team by sophomore center Brian McConnell (Norfolk), who was the Terriers' top goal scorer in the tournament with two along with an assist, and junior goalie Sean Fields (Edmonton, ALTA). In the tie over Northern Michigan, he had 21 saves, while he added just 14 saves in the win over RPI.
For those who like numbers and their historical significance, then consider this. The victory was the Terriers' 1200th against collegiate teams in the storied history of B.U. hockey.
"Thank you Harry and Jack," Terrier head coach Jack Parker said in the post-game press conference after being apprised of the milestone win.
Parker was referring to former Terrier head coaches Harry Cleverly, who had 211 wins from 1945-62, and Jack Kelley, who accounted for 206 of the wins from 1962-72.
"Thank you, Jack," Terrier fans would respond to Parker, who notched his 656th career win in the RPI victory. Thus, the veteran mentor has accounted for over 54 percent of the program's total victories dating back to the 1917-18 season. With his win total, Parker, who is already the active winningest college hockey coach, moved into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time win list. Former Michigan State coach Ron Mason, who amassed an almost insurmountable total of 924 wins from 1966-2002, currently holds the top spot. The second all-time winningest coach is former Bemidji State coach Ron Peters, who had 744 victories from 1964-2001. Former Clarkson and Boston College coach Len Ceglarski is in third place with 674 wins from 1958-92.
Parker couldn't have cared less about talking personal accomplishments or milestones in the aftermath of the RPI victory. Instead, he wanted to talk about how impressed he was with his team's performance against the Engineers.
"We looked very quick tonight," said the coach. "We looked like we had a game under our belts. I thought we played very well, and we were quick especially in our zone. We got the puck out very well which is one reason why they didn't have many shots."
The Engineers finished with just 15 shots on net. They had only 3 in the first, 5 in the second, and 7 in the third. By comparison, the Terriers had 41 shots on goal-15 in the first, 12 in the second, and 14 in the third.
"We spent a lot of time in their zone," said the coach. "This is a big improvement over how we played last year.
"I was very surprised at how poised Danny Spang (Winchester) and Jekabs played tonight," the coach said of his two freshmen defensemen. "The fact that Jekabs was voted the tournament's MVP is quite a feather in his cap.
"I also thought that McConnell had a great tournament," concluded the coach. "Plus, I liked the way the Klema line played."
The line featured sophomores David Klema (Roseau, MN) at center and Justin Maiser (Edina, MN) at left wing, and freshman John Laliberte (Saco, ME) at right wing.
In Saturday night's game, the Terriers jumped to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period. Senior Mike Bussoli (Calgary, ALTA) got things going at the 9:30 mark when his shot from the left point beat RPI goalie Nathan Marsters. Sophomore Brian Miller (Wayne, NJ) and junior Mark Mullen (Dorchester) picked up the assists.
Klema scored what proved to be the game-winning goal at 12:54 when his wrist shot from the right faceoff circle beat Marsters to the short side. McConnell and senior John Sabo (Harding Township, NJ) picked up the assists.
Maiser set up the Terriers' third goal at 14:58 when he circled around the RPI goal and slipped the puck out to McConnell who one-timed it from just outside the crease for the goal. Redlihs also earned the assist on the Terriers' final goal of the period.
RPI finally got on the scoreboard just 38 seconds into the second period when Danny Eberly beat Fields on the Engineer power play. It cut B.U.'s lead to 3-1, and, of note, it was the fourth goal scored against the Terriers during the tournament and all four came on the power play.
Junior Frantisek Skladany (Martin, Slovakia) got the goal back at 3:22 of the second period when his wrist shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle handcuffed Marsters. Redlihs and senior John Cronin (Duxbury) earned the assists.
Maiser closed out the Terrier scoring with a power play goal at 10:52 of the third period. Klema and Laliberte were credited with the assists.
The Terriers, who entered the weekend ranked fifth in the nation in both the USA Today and U.S. College Hockey Online poll, are off until next Friday night when they open the home portion of their schedule against the University of Vermont. Game time is a 7:00 p.m.
