BOX SCORE
BOSTON ??? The No. 19 Boston University men???s ice hockey team???s 300th Hockey East victory came by way of a 4-2 uprooting of previously unbeaten No. 6 Vermont on Friday at Agganis Arena. Sophomore Peter MacArthur (Clifton Park, N.Y.) scored two goals for the second time this season to lift the Terriers to a 2-2-0 overall record, with a 2-1-0 Hockey East mark. The Catamounts, who came to Boston with a perfect 7-0-0 record, are now 7-1-0 on the season and 1-1-0 in their new league.
A four-goal first period saw BU jump ahead early with a two-goal lead, before a pair of late tallies by the Catamounts knotted the score at 2-2. The Terriers put home two more lamp lighters in the middle stanza and held tight to the lead for the remainder of the game for their first win in three outings.
???[Vermont???s] a very fast skating team and I thought we did a great job keeping up with them,??? said BU Head Coach Jack Parker, who is the first coach to reach 300 wins in the league. ???We had a lot better D-zone coverage and speed to the puck than we???ve had in the last couple games.???
???It was huge,??? replied MacArthur when asked how big of a test the game was for the team. ???To beat the No. 6 team in the country and get a second win in the league was important. Now we just have to do it again on Sunday at Maine.???
Junior Eric Thomassian (Rye, N.Y.), who has recently been more privy to ice time than ever before and earned the third star of the game for his efforts, planted a high one from the doorstep at 5:35 of the opening period off a Jason Lawrence (Saugus, Mass.) pass. It was the first goal of the season for Thomassian and the third career assist for his new rookie linemate.
MacArthur wasted no time in expanding the lead with his first goal of the evening on the power play at 7:09. Circling the puck through the points, Dan Spang (Winchester, Mass.) sent a pass to Kevin Schaeffer (South Huntington, N.Y.), who faked a shot, but instead gave MacArthur the opportunity to send a rocket from the right faceoff circle to leave UVM???s Joe Fallon a bit surprised.
???Schaeff gave me a one-timer and I let one go,??? said MacArthur. ???I don???t even think Fallon saw it coming.???
Battling back from the two-goal deficit, the Catamounts put a quick two up before the period was out, first when Slavomir Tomko sent a long pass up the ice to Brady Leisenring. The reigning Hockey East Player of the Month got a one-on-one opportunity with Terrier goaltender John Curry (Shorewood, Minn.) and just managed to slip it through the five-hole as Curry was going down for the save.
The Catamounts capitalized on the man advantage at 19:50 for the equalizer when Leisenring???s pass from the right boards hit Jaime Sifers at the left point. Sifers put a hard shot on Curry, which was tipped in by Ryan Gunderson from the right post.
MacArthur top shelved his second goal just over a minute into period two from inside the blue line after Bryan Ewing (Plymouth, Mass.) stick handled around a UVM player, then dropped the puck back to MacArthur for the eventual game-winner at 1:01.
Freshman Brandon Yip (Maple Ridge, B.C.) added insurance with his third goal of the season in the waning minutes of the second period when senior captain Brad Zancanaro (Trenton, Mich.) passed the puck along the left boards to John Laliberte (Saco, Maine), who skated behind the Catamount net and connected with Yip in the right faceoff circle. Yip one-timed it for the 4-2 lead at 18:51.
Curry made the difference in the third period, as he showed off the stellar goaltending skills he so often displayed last season to make 10 stops, including a couple in the final seconds of the game while UVM was on the power play.
???[Curry] won it for us, just like he did a lot of times last season,??? commented MacArthur. ???It just makes everyone that much more loose in front of him.???
Curry had 19 saves in the game, compared to Fallon???s 14. Both teams were 1-for-5 on the power play.
BU hits the road for another Hockey East match-up with Maine on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
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