Boston University
Providence
Men's Ice Hockey Falls at Providence, 3-1
January 15, 2010 | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 15, 2010
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Boston University men's ice hockey team suffered its first loss of the new year on Friday, as the Terriers fell victim to a three-goal second period by Providence and dropped a 3-1 decision to the Friars at Schneider Arena. BU, which got its lone goal from sophomore Ross Gaudet, now stands at 6-10-3 overall and 4-8-2 in Hockey East play.
Providence, which improves to 8-10-1 with a 3-8-1 conference mark, broke a scoreless tie with a trio of second-period tallies, including two on the power play.
The Terriers got on the board at 7:47 of the third when sophomore Ross Gaudet capped a give-and-go with junior Joe Pereira by scoring his fourth goal of the season. Freshman Wade Megan also assisted on the play.
BU was buzzing around the Providence net for the last several minutes of regulation and had two late power-play chances, but could not get any closer and the Friars picked up the 3-1 win.
Alex Beaudry made 28 saves in goal for Providence while sophomore Kieran Millan made 21 stops in a losing effort for the Terriers.
PC finished the game 2-of-3 on the power play, while BU came up empty on its eight chances with the man advantage. It marked only the second time in the last nine games that the Terriers were unable to record a power-play goal.
The Terriers had back-to-back power-play chances midway through the opening period, but were unable to capitalize and the teams entered the first intermission in a scoreless deadlock.
PC opened the scoring on its first opportunity with the man advantage, however, as a hooking penalty on Chris Connolly just over four minutes into the second period yielded a goal by Friar co-captain Mark Fayne from the left point at the 4:20 mark. Fayne's shot went off a BU defender and in with assists from Daniel New and Kyle MacKinnon.
In what proved to a be a critical close call, BU nearly tied up the contest at the 8:46 mark of the middle stanza on a 3-on-2 rush when junior Nick Bonino had a shot from just outside the crease clang off the right pipe.
Soon after the near equalizer, the Terriers had a one-minute 5-on-3 chance following consecutive PC penalties, but ultimately could not take advantage and remained in a 1-0 deficit.
A BU turnover in its own zone proved costly later in the second, as Greg Collins stole the puck and charged in along the right side before beating Millan with a high wrister to make it a 2-0 lead for the home team at 11:37. It was the first even-strength goal allowed by BU since its Dec. 11 contest against Rensselaer.
The Friars capped their three-goal second with a power-play tally at the 13:01 mark, as New potted his fourth goal of the year on helpers from Fayne and Matt Bergland.
BU will return to action on Saturday (Jan. 16) when it plays host to Merrimack in a 7 p.m. contest. The Terriers will be celebrating the fifth anniversary of the opening of Agganis Arena.
