Men's Ice Hockey Drops 4-2 Decision to UMass
November 13, 2005 | Men's Ice Hockey
AMHERST, Mass. ??? The University of Massachusetts ended its six-game losing streak and picked up its first league victory with a 4-2 win over the No. 14 Boston University men???s ice hockey team. With the loss, the Terriers dropped to 3-4-0 on the season, with a 3-3-0 Hockey East mark, while UMass improved to 2-7-0 overall and 1-5-0 in the league.
With BU down 2-0 after the first, the teams traded goals in the middle period for the 3-1 UMass lead. The Terriers then tried to stage a comeback in the final 20 minutes and were able to cut the Minutemen lead to a goal, but could not get the equalizer despite 16 shots targeted at UMass rookie goalie Jon Quick. The Minutemen scored on the empty net in the final seconds for their first win since Oct. 15.
???For starters, it was a real good performance by UMass Amherst and it was a real good performance by (BU goalie) John Curry,??? said BU Head Coach Jack Parker. ???And then the rest of the players that were out there on my club gave us absolutely nothing. Maybe a couple of guys played pretty hard but in general as a team there was no sense of urgency, there was no effort.
"I think this team is easily satisfied,??? he added. ???There???s no question in my mind that the major problem here is that most of my guys want it to be easy. [They think] we???ve arrived, we???re okay now, but it isn???t easy in this league for anybody anytime.???
A lackadaisical early first-period effort by the Terriers saw no BU shots on target for the opening seven minutes, while the Minutemen had already mustered up nine shots for junior John Curry (Shorewood, Minn.) and were ahead by a power-play goal. Chris Capraro put UMass on the board at 5:32 when he took a diving shot from the right post. It was the fourth power-play goal given up by the Terriers in two games.
Given their first man advantage after UMass??? Cory Quirk was called for tripping at 11:41, the Terriers fell victim to their opponent???s special teams once again when Stephen Warner grabbed the puck from BU junior Kevin Schaeffer (South Huntington, N.Y.) at the Minutemen blue line and made a quick rush for the Terrier zone. Warner used a deke to beat Curry high glove side at 13:25 for the two-goal UMass lead.
BU got back in the game in the second frame when senior Dan Spang (Winchester, Mass.) took a shot from the point that Kenny Roche (South Boston, Mass.) pushed to the stick of sophomore Brian McGuirk (Danvers, Mass.). McGuirk put it in from the right post at 11:51 for the Terriers??? first power-play goal in three games.
The Minutemen got back up by two off a hard-angled backhander from Scott Crowder that managed to find its way through traffic and bounce in off the crossbar at 15:37.
Senior John Laliberte (Saco, Maine) scored for the Terriers in the third period, with another power-play goal at 8:49 from junior Sean Sullivan (Braintree, Mass.) and senior co-captain Brad Zancanaro (Trenton, Mich.).
The Minutemen sealed the win with an empty-netter by Werner at 19:31 just after a fight in front of the UMass goal put a player from each team in the box for hitting after the whistle, and sent BU???s Jason Lawrence (Saugus, Mass.) and UMass??? P.J. Fenton back to the locker room with two-minute minors, plus five-minute majors and game misconducts.
The teams each had 41 shots on goal. BU was 2-for-6 on the power play, while UMass was 1-for-5.
The Terriers travel to Providence next Friday (Nov. 18) for a league game 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).
