By: Jason Mastrodonato, News Staff
In a conference as competitive as Hockey East, winning a playoff series is a difficult equation to solve.
And so is Jack Parker, the coach for Boston University.
BU is one of the conference’s most successful playoff teams, with a 57-31-1 overall record in the 27 years of postseason history.
The Terriers have a .670 winning percentage in the quarterfinal round. But they’ve needed all three games in the series to move on in four of the past five seasons.
There’s a reason why Hockey East is considered one of the toughest conferences in the nation. Every game is hard-fought, full of emotion, and, Parker said, incredibly difficult to referee.
After each of the three games last weekend, the same theme started to emerge: The team that wanted it more – and got a little bit of luck – seemed to come through on the victorious end each time.
“I think over the years, we played so many close games that came down to the wire and it just kind of seemed like maybe [BU] got the bounce,” said senior forward Steve Silva, who had three goals in the series. “But I think now the last couple of games we’ve gotten the bounces and I think we just had to get over that hump of finally beating them.”
Added Parker, “We got beat by a team that out-competed us this weekend. I thought we got beat by a team that was a little more determined, a little more hungry than we were.”
There’s a reason Parker thought the Huskies appeared to want it more.
It started all the way back in October. Northeastern came out flat in a scrimmage against Acadia University, a Canadian team that “played like it was the last game of the Stanley Cup playoffs,” Cronin said.
Acadia was diving to block shots and skating for every loose puck. Northeastern was playing tentative, trying to avoid injuries in a meaningless game that has haunted Cronin in the past.
But the game sent a message to a group that included 10 freshmen: Winning doesn’t come easy.
The next 11 games helped solidify that message. The Huskies went 1-7-3 to open the season.
They weren’t getting out-matched, by any means, losing by more than two goals just once. They were tied entering the third period in six of those games. They played nationally ranked teams down to the wire consistently, losing to Boston College and Maine in the third period, and earning draws with programs like RPI and New Hampshire.
Perhaps it was a mix of five seniors combined with 10 freshman and nine sophomores that just wasn’t meshing yet.
There were games in which Cronin wouldn’t come out of the locker room for at least 20 minutes, and sounds of discontent and frustration could be heard coming from the locker room.
The team’s senior line of captain Tyler McNeely, Wade MacLeod and Steve Silva brought the squad together. McNeely kept saying the same thing: We’re close; we’re just not getting the bounces. But it’s coming.
“We have a young team and a group that has to learn how to win,” he said back in November. “We’re in every game going into the third period and good teams find a way to win. I don’t think it’s one thing or another, it’s just that we have to hang in there as a team and you go through some adversity, but it’s just about finding a way to win.”
Northeastern went into the holiday break 3-9-4, ending the first half of the season with a strong series split at Merrimack and a heart-breaking 5-4 loss to BU.
But something clicked after that. The Huskies played seven of their next nine games at Matthews Arena and started to gel. It wasn’t just the seniors who were scoring, either. Freshman standout forward Brodie Reid’s talents began to emerge and the rookie blue-liners turned Cronin’s biggest pre-season concern into a team strength.
Sophomore goaltender Chris Rawlings entered the Beanpot third in the nation with a .934 save percentage.
“I just felt good about this group,” Cronin said. “I didn’t really panic when it was ugly earlier in the year. I did in my office. I threw some stuff around and yelled, but I didn’t really do it publicly or to the team. I liked our team early. We just couldn’t win.”
We would lose games 3-2 in overtime and tie games. But they’ve got an energy about them that’s very unique and they have a lot of confidence in what they’re doing. And most importantly, they adapt well.”
When assistant coach Albie O’Connell and Cronin were suspended by the university as officials looked into recruiting violations, Northeastern was coming off a three-game split with top-ranked Boston College and entering what Cronin called the “worst stretch of games in college hockey, period.”
The Huskies had three straight weekend series with teams in the top 15, and assistant coach Sebastien Laplante had to run the entire squad as the lone man on Northeastern’s bench.
“That’s a heck of a challenge for a guy,” Cronin said of Laplante, who led the Huskies to a 2-2-2 record during the six-game stretch. “I was watching the Steelers’ Rod Woodson talking about the locker room in Pittsburgh and he said, ‘You know you’ve got a team when you don’t need the coach to give you direction.’ I think that’s kind of the mentality these guys have taken on.”
The Huskies entered the postseason as the six-seed this year, but as Parker can attest, no team wants to be playing Northeastern right now.
“That’s why they made the playoffs and that’s why they’re going to the Garden right now, because they competed in all those tough games,” Parker said after his team was eliminated to match the earliest ending to a BU season in 22 years. “They’ve been one of the hottest teams – I think the better team moved on.”
Insights on the outcome of the Garden Party
After missing the Hockey East tournament last season, the men’s hockey team is storming the post-season scene and is barreling full steam into the semi-finals against No. 1 Boston College Friday.
Yes, they lost to the Eagles in the Beanpot. Yes, they lost to BC early in the season. But since the devastating loss at the Garden, the Huskies haven’t lost to their cross-town rivals.
Many may see the Valentine’s Day loss as a heartbreak, but I see it more as a wake-up. Since then, the Huskies have gone 4-3-2 and are now playing for a chance to get back to their first Hockey East Final since 1988.
NU lost to UMass Lowell 3-2 in overtime in the 2009 semi-finals – all the reason head coach Greg Cronin is confident in his team going into the big game.
“Everyone in the tournament wants to get to the Garden, that’s the holy grail of it all,” Cronin said. “They’ve been trained well over the years – they know what they have to do. There’s been a certain efficiency about them in practice that’s fun to coach with.”
Storming the ice at the Garden looking to avenge the Beanpot loss isn’t enough. Here’s three key points critical to a win for the Huskies:
1. The Sin Bin: The Huskies need to stay out of the penalty box. NU is third in the nation with 18.7 penalty minutes per game. Cronin’s crew needs to play hard, not stupid. In the two losses and tie to the Eagles, the Huskies spent 73 minutes in the box. In the win, the Huskies were in the box for just 10. Need I say more?
2. Game changers: Steve Silva is the heart of the Huskies’ offense right now. Silva is tied for the league lead in postseason points after racking up three goals and three assists in the BU series. Brodie Reid leads all Hockey East freshman with 28 points. Reid had a stellar series against BU as well, tallying two goals and three assists.
3. Goaltending: It’s time for Chris Rawlings to shine. The goaltender, at one point, boasted a 9.34 save percentage, just one-hundreth of a point behind BC goalie John Muse. Rawling’s save percentage is now .925 – .8 behind Muse, who leads the league. This is Rawlings’ biggest game to date, and it’s hard to lose when you don’t give up any goals.
Time to clip the Eagles’ wings.
-Anthony Gulizia, News Staff
There are many reasons for this Beanpot final rematch to play out just the way the game did last month the first time around. Despite Northeastern winning 2-1 the next weekend, that loss was just a blip on the radar for a BC team that has their eyes set on a second consecutive national championship come April.
This team hasn’t changed much from the one that brought the title home last spring. They have more experience in big games than anyone else. Whether its been the Beanpot, Hockey East, or NCAA, this Eagles team has won it all. Instead of shying away from the big game, they know how to get up for it.
BC has the top offense in Hockey East. Led by a Hobey Baker candidate in Cam Atkinson, they score 3.86 goals per game. John Muse is having a career year as a senior with a meager 2.03 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. The defense moves the puck well, makes the right decisions when in their own zone, and lead the conference in team defense, only allowing 2.19 goals per game. On special teams, the Eagles are at the top of the conference in both power play (23.1%) and penalty kill (87.9%).
Give Northeastern credit because they didn’t back down the first time around, frustrating the Eagles and making them work to earn every inch of space on the ice. But this Boston College team is no joke, and they are going to be nearly impossible to beat a second time.
-Jared Shafran, News Staff
