Game Statistics

January 16, 2004

CHESTNUT HILL, MA-What started out so promisingly ended on another down note as the Terrier hockey team dropped a 5-1 decision to host Boston College in the opener of a home-and-home weekend series on Friday night, Jan. 16.

The Terriers, who saw their overall record dip to 6-7-6 and 3-6-2 in Hockey East, took a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period, as "we played the type of game we wanted to," according to head coach Jack Parker.

Then, in the opening minutes of the second period, the Terriers "did not get great goaltending," as they yielded three unanswered goals within a span of 3:08 to the nation's second-ranked Eagles. BC, playing in front of a partisan crowd of 7884, improved its overall record to 15-3-3 and 8-1-2 in Hockey East.

Shortly after the three-goal outburst, Parker replaced starting goalie Sean Fields (Edmonton, ALTA), who stopped all nine BC shots in the first period. However, Fields gave up three goals on three shots in the first 3:44 of the second period. That was enough for Parker, who replaced his senior goalie with sophomore Stephan Siwiec (Calgary, ALTA). Siwiec played the final 35:09 of the game, had 13 saves, and allowed two goals.

This marked the second straight game in which Parker had to sub Fields for Siwiec. In last Friday night's (Jan. 9) game against Northeastern, Fields gave up three goals on four shots in the second period. Parker inserted Siwiec, who played the rest of the game and stopped all 14 shots he faced en route to earning the 4-3 overtime win.

"Our goalie wasn't on top of his game, and theirs was," said Parker. "That was the key."

BC goalie Matti Kaltiainen made 20 saves en route to improving his record to 13-3-3, but none of the saves was bigger than the one he had off sophomore John Laliberte (Sacco, ME) late in the first period. At the time, the game was scoreless but Laliberte had a golden opportunity to put the Terriers ahead when he got the puck just outside the Eagle crease. However, Kaltiainen went down on his knees and put up his glove to make the sparkling save.

"That save changed the complexion of the game," said Parker.

Before the period was over, though, the Terriers managed to get on the scoreboard when senior Kenny Magowan (Kelowna, BC) converted a pass from freshman Kevin Schaeffer (South Huntington, NY) just to the left of Kaltiainen. Junior Ryan Whitney (Scituate, MA) also picked up an assist on the power play goal with just five seconds to play in the first period.

It was only the ninth power play goal allowed this year by the Eagles, who went into the game with the nation's second-ranked penalty-killing unit.

"I was very happy with how we played in that first period," said Parker. "It was not a wide-open game, we had a real good effort, and we played the type of game we wanted to."

"Then, in the second period, we gave up a couple of early goals," the coach continued. "I don't think they exploded for the three goals. I think we exploded in goal."

The Eagles' scoring began just 36 seconds into the period on a goal by Chris Collins. Ned Havern upped it to 2-0 at the 1:27 mark, and that was followed by Stephen Gionta's goal at 3:44. Less than three minutes later, with Siwiec in goal, the Eagles added their fourth goal of the period when Adam Pineault scored the first of his two goals of the evening at 6:05.

"When you fall behind 4-1 or 5-1, it is tough to keep going," said Parker.

Pineault closed out the scoring at 3:08 of the third period.

If there were a bright spot for the Terriers, it would be their penalty killing unit which killed off 9-of-10 chances by the Eagles, including two 5-on-3 opportunities in the third period.

"I liked our penalty killing tonight," said Parker.

On the down side, the Terriers took too many penalties-11 for 22 minutes.

"I am very displeased with the number of dumb penalties we took especially in the third period," said Parker.

The final question the media asked of Parker dealt with the goaltending situation for Saturday night's game against the Eagles at Walter Brown Arena. Will it be Siwiec in net or a return to Fields?

"I will make that decision tomorrow (Saturday)," said the coach.