Photo by: Rich Gagnon
A Belfast Thanksgiving: Improving Terriers Look to Feast on Opponents This Weekend
November 21, 2018 | Men's Ice Hockey
By Scott Weighart, GoTerriers.com Staff Writer
BOSTON – Unfortunately, the Boston University Terriers started out the 2018-19 season by going oh-for-October.
But if the first month resulted in several tricks and no treats for BU, the team has enjoyed a reversal of fortune in November. The Terriers started the month 3-0-1 before losing 3-1 to Maine on Saturday night. And that loss was more a case of a couple of lapses and running into a very hot goaltender in Jeremy Swayman, as BU outshot Maine by a margin of 41-25.
"You sometimes have to tip your cap to the goalie," first-year BU coach Albie O'Connell said. "He played well, and he did a really good job of not giving us a lot of rebounds… There's stuff to build off of, and any time you put up 40+ shots, it's a positive. But at the same time, if we played the right way, we might've had 50 shots. So it's about getting a little more consistent."
This theme was echoed by various Terriers after Saturday night's game. "I think we're starting to play a little more consistently," junior defenseman Chad Krys said. "We still have a ways to go in continuing to come together the way we want to, but it's slowly coming together game by game. We have a lot of young guys and a new head coach, so we're figuring things out, but it's coming."
"I think we're starting to figure out what our game is and playing a full 60 minutes," said graduate student Max Willman, a newcomer to the team after several seasons playing for Brown. "I think we got away from it a little tonight, but the last few games we've been trending in the right direction, trying to use our speed more, keeping it simple."
"Simplicity," agreed senior co-captain Bobo Carpenter. "That definitely goes unnoticed during games, but it goes a long way. We preach those little chip plays off the boards: It's nothing pretty, but when those happen, chances come. It's not exciting for the fans, but it's what gets the goals and what you need every night."
The Terriers turnaround may have started when the team dug itself a hole in the Nov. 1 game against No. 13 Northeastern. BU was coming off losses of 4-0 and 5-0 to Merrimack and Providence, respectively, so O'Connell decided to sit goaltender Jake Oettinger in favor of redshirt junior Max Prawdzik. That move didn't exactly work out as planned, as the Huskies scored on two of their first four shots.
But maybe BU had simply had enough at that point. In a topsy-turvy game, they rallied for a 5-5 tie before following that up with a 4-1 win against the Huskies, setting the tone for a strong month.
"You get down 2-0, and no one's happy," Krys said. "Every game we've been down this year, we've battled back, which is really nice to see. You've got to get a little ticked off and make things more simple, be easier on yourself. If you're worried about losing, you're probably going to lose."
Now that the team has established more of a winning mindset, they have their first opportunity to bring home some hardware this season. The team left on Sunday for Belfast, where they will make their first appearance in the Friendship Four tournament over Thanksgiving weekend. They will play a Hockey East game against UConn on Friday, followed by a matchup against an ECAC foe in either Union or Yale on Saturday.
The Terriers surely will be pumping Willman for information about this tournament, as the forward played for Brown over in Belfast in 2015, picking up an assist in each game. "It's a good trip, a fun trip. I went my sophomore year. It's a lot of fun. You get to see some pretty cool things, and it's a good week to bond with the guys, being over there and spending Thanksgiving with the guys. But we're over there for two wins at the end of the day."
Willman came away impressed with the atmosphere and the crowd. "They're pretty on top of it. The rink we play at, they have a professional team over there right in Belfast. So they have the gist of it—a good crowd, energetic. It's a fun place to play. One of the nights there was a lot of kids at the game. Earlier in the week—and I think we're doing it this trip as well—we'd go visit one of the elementary schools and kind of just talk with the kids and hang out for the day, and they end up coming one of the nights. They're loud and having a good time, so it's a good atmosphere."
While the tournament is certainly a novel experience for the rest of the Terriers and an intriguing cultural opportunity for all, no one is overlooking what the games represent in terms of keeping the recent momentum going.
"It'll be a big step for our team if we can step up and win two high-intensity games overseas," Krys said. "It will give us a boost of confidence."
"I have been to Ireland before," said Carpenter, who leads BU with six goals this season. "My girlfriend was studying abroad, and I came back with her after a week. It's a beautiful place, and it's not every day you get to Ireland and hang out with your teammates. It's a family trip, and we're going to make the most of it, but we do have our end goal of winning the tournament at the end. It's going to be fun, seeing everything and learning about the culture, but at the end of the day we're on a business trip for hockey."
For coach Albie O'Connell, the game will mean a return to familiar territory. The BU coach played in the UK professionally for a couple of years, leading the Basingstoke Bisons with 34 goals and 40 assists for 74 points in just 36 games back in 2000-01. "It'll be neat," O'Connell said. "I've been over there before. I've been to Belfast; I've been to Dublin. I loved it. People are really friendly. Belfast is a neat city. It should be a good experience for our players."
Like his players, though, O'Connell is focused on results this weekend. Just as his coaching predecessors, O'Connell realizes that if the team focuses on the process, they'll be rewarded more often than not in the outcome.
"I think it's important for us to continue to play well," O'Connell said. "If we play well and worry about the process, hopefully the results are there. This will be a good fun week, but by Thursday we'll have to just focus on just playing a hockey game. It's a good test early in a tournament situation, especially with what comes down the road with the Beanpot and potential playoffs."
Nothing beats a two-day tournament for the possibility of immediate gratification. The Terriers will have to forego an American Thanksgiving this season, but a Friendship Four title would allow them to come home feeling completely sated.
BOSTON – Unfortunately, the Boston University Terriers started out the 2018-19 season by going oh-for-October.
But if the first month resulted in several tricks and no treats for BU, the team has enjoyed a reversal of fortune in November. The Terriers started the month 3-0-1 before losing 3-1 to Maine on Saturday night. And that loss was more a case of a couple of lapses and running into a very hot goaltender in Jeremy Swayman, as BU outshot Maine by a margin of 41-25.
"You sometimes have to tip your cap to the goalie," first-year BU coach Albie O'Connell said. "He played well, and he did a really good job of not giving us a lot of rebounds… There's stuff to build off of, and any time you put up 40+ shots, it's a positive. But at the same time, if we played the right way, we might've had 50 shots. So it's about getting a little more consistent."
This theme was echoed by various Terriers after Saturday night's game. "I think we're starting to play a little more consistently," junior defenseman Chad Krys said. "We still have a ways to go in continuing to come together the way we want to, but it's slowly coming together game by game. We have a lot of young guys and a new head coach, so we're figuring things out, but it's coming."
"I think we're starting to figure out what our game is and playing a full 60 minutes," said graduate student Max Willman, a newcomer to the team after several seasons playing for Brown. "I think we got away from it a little tonight, but the last few games we've been trending in the right direction, trying to use our speed more, keeping it simple."
"Simplicity," agreed senior co-captain Bobo Carpenter. "That definitely goes unnoticed during games, but it goes a long way. We preach those little chip plays off the boards: It's nothing pretty, but when those happen, chances come. It's not exciting for the fans, but it's what gets the goals and what you need every night."
The Terriers turnaround may have started when the team dug itself a hole in the Nov. 1 game against No. 13 Northeastern. BU was coming off losses of 4-0 and 5-0 to Merrimack and Providence, respectively, so O'Connell decided to sit goaltender Jake Oettinger in favor of redshirt junior Max Prawdzik. That move didn't exactly work out as planned, as the Huskies scored on two of their first four shots.
But maybe BU had simply had enough at that point. In a topsy-turvy game, they rallied for a 5-5 tie before following that up with a 4-1 win against the Huskies, setting the tone for a strong month.
"You get down 2-0, and no one's happy," Krys said. "Every game we've been down this year, we've battled back, which is really nice to see. You've got to get a little ticked off and make things more simple, be easier on yourself. If you're worried about losing, you're probably going to lose."
Now that the team has established more of a winning mindset, they have their first opportunity to bring home some hardware this season. The team left on Sunday for Belfast, where they will make their first appearance in the Friendship Four tournament over Thanksgiving weekend. They will play a Hockey East game against UConn on Friday, followed by a matchup against an ECAC foe in either Union or Yale on Saturday.
The Terriers surely will be pumping Willman for information about this tournament, as the forward played for Brown over in Belfast in 2015, picking up an assist in each game. "It's a good trip, a fun trip. I went my sophomore year. It's a lot of fun. You get to see some pretty cool things, and it's a good week to bond with the guys, being over there and spending Thanksgiving with the guys. But we're over there for two wins at the end of the day."
Willman came away impressed with the atmosphere and the crowd. "They're pretty on top of it. The rink we play at, they have a professional team over there right in Belfast. So they have the gist of it—a good crowd, energetic. It's a fun place to play. One of the nights there was a lot of kids at the game. Earlier in the week—and I think we're doing it this trip as well—we'd go visit one of the elementary schools and kind of just talk with the kids and hang out for the day, and they end up coming one of the nights. They're loud and having a good time, so it's a good atmosphere."
While the tournament is certainly a novel experience for the rest of the Terriers and an intriguing cultural opportunity for all, no one is overlooking what the games represent in terms of keeping the recent momentum going.
"It'll be a big step for our team if we can step up and win two high-intensity games overseas," Krys said. "It will give us a boost of confidence."
"I have been to Ireland before," said Carpenter, who leads BU with six goals this season. "My girlfriend was studying abroad, and I came back with her after a week. It's a beautiful place, and it's not every day you get to Ireland and hang out with your teammates. It's a family trip, and we're going to make the most of it, but we do have our end goal of winning the tournament at the end. It's going to be fun, seeing everything and learning about the culture, but at the end of the day we're on a business trip for hockey."
For coach Albie O'Connell, the game will mean a return to familiar territory. The BU coach played in the UK professionally for a couple of years, leading the Basingstoke Bisons with 34 goals and 40 assists for 74 points in just 36 games back in 2000-01. "It'll be neat," O'Connell said. "I've been over there before. I've been to Belfast; I've been to Dublin. I loved it. People are really friendly. Belfast is a neat city. It should be a good experience for our players."
Like his players, though, O'Connell is focused on results this weekend. Just as his coaching predecessors, O'Connell realizes that if the team focuses on the process, they'll be rewarded more often than not in the outcome.
"I think it's important for us to continue to play well," O'Connell said. "If we play well and worry about the process, hopefully the results are there. This will be a good fun week, but by Thursday we'll have to just focus on just playing a hockey game. It's a good test early in a tournament situation, especially with what comes down the road with the Beanpot and potential playoffs."
Nothing beats a two-day tournament for the possibility of immediate gratification. The Terriers will have to forego an American Thanksgiving this season, but a Friendship Four title would allow them to come home feeling completely sated.
Players Mentioned
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