Nationally Ranked Terriers Upset By River Hawks, 3-1
November 21, 2003 | Men's Ice Hockey
BOSTON, MA--The UMass/Lowell hockey team scored a pair of unanswered goals in the second period and goalie Chris Davidson turned aside 28-of-29 Boston University shots as the River Hawks upset 10th-ranked Boston University, 3-1, in Hockey East action at B.U. on Friday night.
The win improved UMass/Lowell's overall record to 5-4-2, while the River Hawks are 3-3-0 in the league. In the meantime, the Terriers slipped to 3-3-2 overall and 2-3-1 in Hockey East play.
B.U. opened the scoring at 9:30 of the first period on a power play goal by David Van der Gulik. The play was started when Bryan Miller fed the puck over to Ryan Whitney. Whitney's shot went off the boards behind Davidson and came out in front to Van der Gulik, who stuck the puck into an empty net.
However, the River Hawks countered on a goal by Matt Collar at 13:46. Niklas Storm, who got the puck down along the right boards from Ben Walter, centered the puck over to Collar. His shot beat Terrier goalie Sean Fields (23 saves) to tie the game at 1-1.
The second period belonged to the River Hawks, who outshot the Terriers, 12-4, and outscored them, 2-0.
Kim Brandvold scored at 5:36 to give UML a lead for good, as he collected a pad save by Fields and fired the puck past the Terrier goalie. Danny O'Brien started the play when he recovered a loose puck in the Terrier zone and came skating down the right wing boards. His slap shot went off Fields' right pad and came out to a waiting Brandvold.
Mark Pandolfo, whose cousins Jay and Mike starred for the Terrier teams during the Nineties, added an insurance goal for the River Hawks on the power play at the 11:00 minute mark. He collected a loose puck along the boards to the right of Fields. Pandolfo then skated along the goal line and slipped the puck past Fields to close out the scoring for the game.
The Terriers, who had outshot the River Hawks, 12-6, in the first period came back to dominate the third period, outshooting UML, 13-8, but could not get the puck past Davidson.
"I thought we played well in the first period and hard in the third period," said Terrier head coach Jack Parker. "But, we were pathetic in the second period. I was very disappointed with how we played in that period. In fact, it might have been our worst period of the year.
"We just stood around and watched in the second period," Parker continued. "After the first period, when we played well, we wanted it to be easy in the second period. We thought they would just lie down and die for us.
"We did respond in the third period and played hard," said Parker. "But, they did a great job in their zone, and we just couldn't get the puck past the goalie."
"There is no question our goalie was the deciding factor," UMass/Lowell head coach Blaise MacDonald. "Hey, we spend thousands of dollars of equipment on the kid. He is supposed to stop the puck. He played well tonight, but we expect that of him."
"This is certainly the best night I have had this year," said Davidson, who compared the game to his 36-save effort in the 4-1 win over Colorado College on October 12, 2002. That was also the last time the River Hawks had defeated a nationally ranked team. They had played 18 ranked teams since then and were 0-18 until they ended the streak against the Terriers on Friday night. "The team played great in front of me especially late in the third period when it seemed like it was a 5-on-3 situation. I got a little tired but I stayed calm, and the guys maintained their composure."
"When you come into a place like this (Walter Brown Arena) with the great tradition of this program, it is easy to play inspired," said MacDonald.
