Terriers Come From Behind To Defeat UMass-Lowell, 3-2
November 21, 2002 | Men's Ice Hockey
| Game Statistics | Season Statistics |
Junior goalie Sean Fields turned aside 36-of-38 UMass-Lowell shots, and the offense scored three times within a span of just over five minutes as the Terriers skated to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over UMass/Lowell in front of 2252 fans at B.U.'s Walter Brown Arena on Thursday night (November 21st).
The victory ended a two-game losing streak by the nation's 10th-ranked Terriers who are now 6-3-2 overall and 4-3-0 in Hockey East action. In the meantime, the River Hawks remained winless in the league as they are now 0-7, while they are 4-8-0 overall.
For more than 54 minutes of action, UMass-Lowell had dominated play, but the River Hawks led by just a 1-0 margin.
The River Hawks' Ed McGrane, who beat Fields on a power play shot from just inside the right point at 18:32 of the second period, scored the lone goal.
The River Hawks, who outshot the Terriers, 12-6, in the first period, and 15-4 in the second period could have had a few more goals had it not been for the play of Fields, who stopped all 12 UMass-Lowell shots in the first period and 14-of-15 in the second period.
With the clock winding down in the final period, it appeared the River Hawks might pull off their first shutout of B.U. in the 63-game rivalry that dates back to the 1983-84 season.
But, with 5:53 showing on the clock, Terrier senior John Sabo scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season when he carried the puck behind the UMass-Lowell goal and fired the puck along the goal line. It beat River Hawks' goalie Chris Davidson (14 saves) off the right skate.
Justin Maiser set up the play on the right wing boards when he got the puck to Sabo a split second before being checked hard. Sabo then took the loose puck and skated behind the UMass-Lowell net to score what head coach Jack Parker called "an unbelievable play the way he was able to chase down the puck and come behind the net. It was a great individual effort."
Just 38 seconds later, at 5:15, Terrier senior Freddy Meyer, skating from right to left along the UMass-Lowell blue line, fired the puck to the left of Davidson that found the left corner of the goal, and B.U. led 2-1. Brian Collins earned the assist, as he won the faceoff just to left of Davidson and got the puck out to Meyer who was at the right point.
The River Hawks tied the game, 2-2, with 2:13 to play in regulation when Mark Concannon stole the puck deep inside the Terrier end and beat Fields to the stick side.
It appeared the game would go into overtime when junior Kenny Magowan deflected a shot by teammate Bryan Miller past Davidson for the game-winner.
It was Magowan's first goal of the season, and it was doubly special as his mother, Sylvia, and brother Graham were in town from Kelowna, BC to see him play. It was also rewarding from Megowan as he has been in and out of the lineup during the first 11 games of the season.
"It's finally nice to contribute to the team," he said after the game. "At the beginning of the season, I didn't play the way I wanted to or the way Coach (Parker) wanted me to play. I needed to play with more intensity. I didn't want to give the Coach a reason not to play me."
As the winning play developed, Magowan saw linemate Frantisek Skladany take the puck off the left wing boards and skate from left to right with the puck.
"He held the puck forever," Magowan said of the play. "In that way, he was able to spread the defense. He then got the puck out to Bryan who shot the puck, and I was just lucky to get my stick on it.
"This was a huge win for us," Magowan continued. "It shows the kind of team we are when we can be outshot the way we were (38-17) and come back and win. We were always upbeat. We just knew we had to keep our feet moving and get more shots. Finally, in the third period we did, and once we got that first goal from Sabo, we gained a lot of confidence."
"I liked that we got the win, and I like the fact we gave up just two goals," said Parker. "We didn't play our best tonight, and we were sluggish and were frustrated. But, we kept competing and came away with the win.
"Two things I was impressed with tonight," continued Parker. "The first was the play of Sean Fields. He kept us in there. In fact, the score could have been 7-0 or 7-1 at the end of two periods.
"I was also impressed with their forecheck," Parker said of UMass-Lowell's play. "One of the reasons we didn't get too many shots off was that we spent two much time in our zone. We couldn't get the puck out and we got frustrated because we had such a hard time getting the puck out of our zone.
"But, I told our guys to keep competing," said Parker. "UMass/Lowell competed hard from the opening faceoff, and we competed hard for the last period," concluded Parker.
"We just haven't had much puck luck this season," said UMass-Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald. "Tonight, we didn't play our best game, but we came close. Fields was outstanding, and he didn't give us much to shoot at. I know that B.U. didn't put forth its best effort tonight, but that's a sign of a good team when you don't play your best but still can make your own breaks."
It was a disappointing end for River Hawks' Ed McGrane, who had staked his team to the 1-0 lead with his 11th goal of the season.
"This was a heartbreaker," said McGrane. "Tonight, Fields played great for them. He saw the puck well. This league has a lot of great goalies, and he is one of them."
