BOX SCORE
LOWELL, Mass. ??? The Boston University men???s ice hockey team fell to UMass Lowell, 7-4, in a Hockey East match-up at Tsongas Arena on Oct. 28. Mark Pandolfo netted his first career hat trick to lead the River Hawks to their first Hockey East victory and first win in four games. BU dropped to 1-2-0 on the season with a 1-1-0 league mark, while UML improved to 2-4-0 overall and 1-3-0 in Hockey East.
Tied at 1-1 after the first period, the River Hawks scored five consecutive goals to go up 6-1 before the Terriers staged a comeback to make it 6-4. UML sealed the win with a seventh goal in the empty net with a second remaining in the game. It was the first time since 1996 that the River Hawks were able to get seven goals against the Terriers, while BU had seven goals against UML last year in a 7-2 victory at Tsongas.
???One team came to play hard, and one team did not,??? said BU Head Coach Jack Parker. ???In general, it was a lousy effort by the BU hockey team, coupled with a real good rebound effort by Lowell ??? what a difference a couple of weeks make.???
The River Hawks were able to get on the board first by converting on a two-man advantage midway through the opening period. Just 13 seconds after the second Terrier was sent to the box, Elias Godoy got the puck to Cleve Kinley, who passed in front of the net to Andrew Martin. The co-captain put it top-shelf at 10:28 for the first goal scored against BU on the power play this season.
Sophomore Brian McGuirk (Danvers, Mass.) scored the equalizer just over a minute later during a 4-on-4 situation. Sophomore Kevin Kielt (Brick, N.J.) sent a pass to classmate Peter MacArthur (Clifton Park, N.Y.), who took a nasty slap shot that hit the cross bar and bounced back out to McGuirk. For the first time in his BU career, McGuirk scored high glove-side at 11:54.
The middle frame saw the River Hawks gain revenge for the Terriers??? three second-period goals for a 3-1 win on Oct. 15, as UML netted a trio of goals in a 9:22 span. The go-ahead River Hawk goal came at 2:22, again on the power play, when Pandolfo beat a pair of Terriers up the right side and put a wrister behind BU goalie John Curry (Shorewood, Minn.) for the 2-1 lead.
The River Hawks added two more goals around the halfway point, first at 10:27 when Bobby Robins sent a backhander across the net to Jason Tejchma, who beat Curry with a wrist shot high on his stick side. Just 1:17 later, Kelly Sullivan???s shot from the point deflected off Matt Walsh and made its way through the five-hole for the 4-1 River Hawk lead. Walsh, a senior at UML, is the son of former Terrier captain Ed Walsh.
After Walsh???s goal, which was the first of his career, Stephan Siwiec (Calgary, Alta.) took over in net for Curry and made three saves throughout the remainder of the period.
UML wasted no time in the final period, putting up another pair of goals before two minutes had been played. With the man advantage, Robins skated the puck up the ice into the BU zone before being leveled by Terrier defender Sean Sullivan (Braintree, Mass.). Although Robins lost the puck, it was picked up by Pandolfo and backhanded into the net for his second power-play goal of the evening at 1:03. Godoy followed it up with a tip-in off a Danny O???Brien shot from the right boards for the 6-1 River Hawk lead at 1:50.
The Terriers bounded back with three goals in less than 10 minutes to cut the UML lead to two. Sullivan registered his first of the season when his shot went over the head of UML goalie Peter Vetri on the power play at 2:29. Brandon Yip (Maple Ridge, B.C.) gave the Terriers a fighting chance at 11:23 when he battled past a UML defender and managed to get the puck through a number of players in front of the net and past Vetri, who had 32 saves on the night.
Senior John Laliberte (Saco, Maine) added one for the Scarlet and White at 12:17 when he caught a Kenny Roche (South Boston, Mass.) rebound again on the power play and tipped it in from the post for the 6-4 score. Despite out shooting the River Hawks 12-6 in the last period, the Terriers could not make the full comeback.
Pandolfo completed his hat trick with an empty-netter with a second remaining in the game.
BU was 2-for-9 on the power play and UML was 2-for-5.
The Terriers return to action at Agganis Arena tomorrow night (Oct. 29) in an exhibition game versus the U.S. National Under-18 Team at 7:00 p.m.
To purchase tickets for Terrier home games, or for more information, click here or visit the Ticket Office at 925 Commonwealth Avenue, Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., or call 617-353-GOBU (4628).
