BOSTON – One of these days, the Massachusetts hockey team will win a game at the campus rink of Boston University.
However, since the Terriers are planning to build a new facility to replace Walter Brown Arena within the next few years, a change of scenery might be considered a change for the better.
UMass entered Friday night’s Hockey East contest with the Terriers hoping to snap a 0-for-14 streak at Walter Brown Arena. Instead, the Minutemen encountered a red-hot BU team who scored four unanswered goals in a span of 4:42 to capture a 5-1 victory over the Minutemen.
“I wasn’t too pleased all-around,” UMass hockey coach Don Cahoon said. “We struggle in this building and I struggle in this building. I’m waiting for the day when we have a team that can come in here and skate with them.”
The Terriers [11-12-2, 8-7-2 in Hockey East] dominated the first period and a half of play before the Minutemen finally woke up midway through the second frame.
After BU forward Brian Collins netted the game first goal at 16:07 of the opening stanza, UMass sophomore winger Brad Nizwantowski tallied the equalizer at 15:56 mark of the second period. The Peabody native dug the puck out from behind the Terriers’ cage, then slid a shot between the right leg of BU goalie Sean Fields and the right post to knot the game momentarily.
“I thought that UMass got themselves back in the game emotionally and on the scoreboard in the last eight or nine minutes of the second period,” BU hockey coach Jack Parker said. “We started out real well in the second, but we goofed up and gave up a couple of breakaways [which were stopped by Fields]. It could have been 2-1 or 3-1 them going into the third period.”
Just when it seemed like the Minutemen had some momentum on their side, Martin Miljko and Nizwantowski each took penalties that handed the Terriers a two-man advantage. Of course, BU cashed in on the chance when Carl Corazzini flipped a shot past Markus Helanen with only seven seconds remaining in the second period.
Although still in the game on the scoreboard, the Minutemen fell victim to the Terriers’ renewed sense of urgency in the opening minutes of the third period.
Things started to fall apart early on in the frame when a funny carom resulted in the third BU goal. Freddy Meyer’s shot from the right point bounced off of the back boards and ended up right on the stick of Jack Baker, who banged the puck into an empty cage.
“We got a huge goal in the first minute of the third, and that was the difference in the game,” Parker said. “First we got the five-on-three that we capitalized on, and then the five-on-four that we capitalized on. Those were two big goals obviously.”
The Terriers tacked on two more goals to seal up the win within the next three and a half minutes. Collins’ floater from the left circle eluded Helanen only 27 seconds after Baker’s marker and made it 4-1. John Cronin closed out the four-goal differential with his second goal of the season at 4:35.
“My plan wasn’t to lose 5-1,” Cahoon said. “That whole series at the end of the second period and start of the third was the game. Our problem is that once we’ve fallen behind, we’re not the kind of team that has proved that it can come back from a two or three goal deficit.”
In fact, as Cahoon alluded to, the Minutemen have yet to win a game this year in which they have trailed at the start of the third period [0-14-1].
UMass faced Lowell on Saturday night with the hope of gaining a split out of the weekend pair. To see how they did, check out the related story.