By: Jared Shafran, News Staff
After splitting final Hockey East regular season series with Boston University, the men’s hockey team will head back down Commonwealth Avenue to Agganis Arena tonight to start a best-of-three playoff series against the Terriers.
This BU team ended the Huskies’ season a year ago, sweeping NU on the final weekend and denying them a spot in the Hockey East playoffs.
But after going 2-2-2 over the last three weekends against the top three teams in Hockey East – Boston College, New Hampshire and BU – the Huskies finished in sixth place and qualified for the postseason.
“They’re a physical team, and I think we’re a physical team,” assistant coach Sebastien Laplante said. “I think it’s going to be a really fantastic series and our fans are going to be pretty happy to watch these games.”
As if the possibility of these teams playing five consecutive games against each other wasn’t enough of a story line, tonight’s game will also mark the return of Huskies head coach Greg Cronin, who had been serving a suspension for the previous six games.
Last weekend’s series between the two intra-city rivals was hard fought and both games were decided by just one goal. Friday night, the Terriers came into Matthews Arena and came out on top with a 3-2 victory while the Huskies bounced back on the road the next night, winning 4-3.
The Terriers got the first goal of the game late in the first period when Corey Trivino beat NU sophomore goalie Chris Rawlings with less than four minutes to play in the frame. But the Huskies answered just 1:38 into the second period when freshman forward Cody Ferriero scored his second goal in as many games to tie the score at 1-1.
BU took the 2-1 lead 12:58 into the third period on a power play goal by forward Max Nicastro but the Huskies answered back just over two minutes later with a shorthanded goal from senior forward Steve Silva. It was Silva’s senior linemate Wade MacLeod who set him up for the tally, which was a great deflection past BU goaltender Kieran Milan and into the upper right-hand corner of the net.
But the Terriers had the final word when they got a shorthanded goal of their own from Sahir Gill with 3:15 remaining to finish off the 3-2 victory.
Milan was a big factor for BU, making 39 saves in the win.
The following night, the 4-3 Husky win was their second ever victory inside Agganis Arena and first since February of 2005.
The Huskies secured the sixth seed in the playoffs, and called on freshman goalie Clay Witt to make his third start of the season.
Despite the change in backstop for NU, the Terriers took the early lead for the second straight night on a power play goal by Nicastro.
The Huskies tied it up later in the first when senior forward Randy Guzior, playing in his final regular season game, got his first goal of the season on a deflection right in front of Milan’s crease at 15:44 of the period.
“He’s struggled to get into the lineup and we felt strongly that he deserved a chance to play,” Laplante said. “He’s playing inspired hockey, he’s playing with a lot of enthusiasm.”
But BU answered back less than two minutes later when Chris Connolly scored the second Terriers power play goal of the night to make it 2-1.
The second period looked as if it would be a scoreless one until sophomore defenseman Drew Daniels took things into his own hands, making a great toe-drag move around a defender before wristing the puck past Milan to tie the game.
The Daniels goal changed the momentum for the Huskies and once again had them tied with the Terriers going into the third period.
“It looked like a turnover and I just came in and gave a fake, pulled a little toe-drag, put it on net, and it just happened to go in,” Daniels said.
NU got goals from two more seniors in Silva and defenseman Mike Hewkin, also scoring his first of the year, and were able to hold off a late-game surge from BU to win 4-3 and grab two points to close the regular season.
Witt made 41 saves, getting his second win of the season.
“He was terrific,” Laplante said. “I think the first couple shots him a little nervous at first but he’s a guy that we have a lot of confidence in. We have nothing but 100 percent confidence that the kid can win some hockey games.”
The series was a physical one, and the two teams racked up a total of 127 penalty minutes, including three game misconduct penalties. In the last seven games between the Huskies and Terriers, all have been within a goal of each other.
It would be safe to expect the same type of close, physical games from these two teams this weekend as they will battle for a chance to play in the semifinals at the TD Garden next weekend.
All three games of the series will take place at Agganis Arena on BU’s starting with tonight’s game, when the puck drops at 7 p.m. The second game of the series will be Friday night and if necessary, the rubber match will be Sunday at 7 p.m.
“It’s a great feeling,” Daniels said after the win. “We missed it by a point last year and BU actually ended our season so it’s unbelievable to get a shot at them and playoff hockey’s a lot of fun.”
