Three-Goal Outburst Lifts Terriers Past Nebraska-Omaha, 4-1
December 29, 2004 | Men's Ice Hockey
BOSTON, MA-A combination of a three-goal, second-period outburst within a span of 3:09 and a defense that did not give up a single attempted shot in the middle period lifted the Terrier hockey team to a 4-1 win over visiting University of Nebraska-Omaha in front of 2947 fans at Walter Brown Arena on Wednesday night.
The victory was the fourth straight for the nation's 13th-ranked Terriers who are now 11-6-0 overall, while the Mavericks slipped to an 8-8-1 mark.
It was the next-to-last game the Terriers will ever play at Brown Arena with their final game coming on Sunday night when they host the nation's top-ranked University of Minnesota. The following night, on Monday, the Terriers and Gophers will play again in the grand opening of Agganis Arena.
In Wednesday night's game, UNO jumped to a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal by Dan Hacker at 16:56 in the first period.
In the season's first 16 games giving up the game's first goal did not bode well for the Terriers, as they were 2-5-0 when giving up the game's initial goal compared to 8-1-0 when scoring first.
What's more, the Terriers trailed the Mavericks 1-0 after the first period, and this year B.U. was 0-3-0 when behind after the first 20 minutes of action.
However, not this year, nor in anyone's memory, had the Terriers not given up a single attempted shot on goal in a period. But, that's what happened in the second period of Wednesday night's game as UNO did not have a single shot of any kind put on the Terrier goal. The closest they came was late in the period when John Thomas came in from the left wing on Terrier goalie John Curry. But, Terrier defenseman Sean Sullivan came skating back and poke checked the puck away before Thomas could get a shot on goal.
In the meantime, the Terriers staged a three-goal outburst beginning with a power play goal by senior Brian McConnell at 1:23 of the period. Sophomore Kevin Schaeffer and junior David Van der Gulik, who would go on to score two goals for the game, earned the assists.
Freshman Brian Ewing, with an assist to classmate Peter MacArthur, upped the Terriers' lead to 2-0 on his first collegiate goal at 4:18. Then, just 14 seconds later, Van der Gulik scored the first of his two goals to close out the second-period scoring. Junior Brad Zancanaro was credited with the only assist.
The Terriers, who had been 8-0-0 when leading after two periods, took a 3-1 lead into the final period.
After dominating the second-period shot chart, the Terriers settled for a 6-6 tie in shots in the final 20 minutes. The only scoring for either team came at 15:57 when Van der Gulik tallied his second goal of the game with the assists going to junior John Laliberte and senior Bryan Miller.
Curry earned the win for the Terriers, as he had to make just 14 saves, while Chris Holt had 31 saves in the losing effort for the Mavericks.
"In general, with the exception of a few players, I was not pleased with how we played tonight," said Terrier head coach Jack Parker. "I thought that Van der Gulik, MacArthur, Zancanaro, and Miller played well. And, Curry has done all we have asked of him and more. I also thought the Brian Ewing played well for his first game back (He has missed the last 12 games with a shoulder injury).
"In general, I thought we played at three-quarter speed tonight," continued the coach. "I don't think there was much intensity out there by either team. In fact, I don't think it was a good game for either team.
"When you put on the (game) shirt, I expect you to compete harder," concluded the coach.
Reasons for the Terriers' "lack of speed" could be attributed to this being their first game since December 11th when they defeated Rensselaer, 4-1. Two other reasons could be the talk centering on the closing of Brown Arena and the opening of Agganis Arena within days.
"After taking the break for exams, it is hard to get back," said Van der Gulik. "There has been a lot of talk of Minnesota, and these are two huge games for us as far as national ranking is concerned.
"I thought they (UNO) came out hard in the first period," he continued. "But, we played real well in the second period. You have to give the defense a lot of credit. It certainly helps, though, when you know your goalie is playing well, and Curry has been playing very well."
Despite the dominance in the second period, the Terriers led by just a pair of goals entering the final period.
"We expected them to come back in the final period," said Van der Gulik. "So, we knew the next goal would be big."
"I thought that B.U. played well tonight and we didn't," said UNO coach Mike Kemp. "We played hard the first few minutes, but, after that, they negated everything we tried to do. We had chances but our big guys, who we wanted to have the puck, didn't make the plays.
"Then, when they scored those three quick goals in the second period, that really turned the tide," concluded the coach.
