As the final seconds ticked off the clock, ending what would be Mike Ryan’s last chance at a Beanpot, Boston College fans, most of whom stayed, cheered while the Dog House went home unhappy for the 16th straight year.
And in the press conference, glossy eyed and beet faced, Ryan was forced into the reality that it was over and he was finishing his NU career as many of the players have in the past, with no Beanpot title.
“We’re in a situation now that we have to get up for each and every game,” said Ryan. “There aren’t going to be 10,000 fans watching us so we have to get up for this game which I don’t think will be a problem.”
And, according to Ryan, the team didn’t help themselves either.
“The penalties hurt us,” he said. “We were able to kill a few off early but we made some mistakes between myself and Jason [Guerriero]. Like Coach Crowder said, we can’t give up many chances because they will capitalize on them.”
Crowder, who also maintained last Wednesday that Boston College rarely misses on opportunities, acknowledged the Eagles’ solid play Monday night.
“I thought we got beat by a better hockey team tonight,” said Crowder. “They played for 60 minutes and stayed the course.”
The mistake came 7:23 into the second period with the game tied at 1-1. Guerriero left the puck for Ryan behind the net, but Ryan had already skated in front of NU goalie Mike Gilhooly and the puck went right to Ryan Murphy who quickly fed Ty Hennes for the one-timer to make it 2-1.
Gilhooly did make 30 saves in the effort.
“Mike Gilhooly has played well for us the last two games,” Crowder said when asked why he started Gilhooly over sophomore Keni Gibson. “I think a lot of what happened tonight wasn’t Mike’s fault. We kind of left him out to dry a little bit. We made some mistakes and BC capitalized on them.”
Northeastern’s second period woes continued as they allowed three goals on 16 shots, never sustained much offensive push and left Gilhooly alone on three different occasions.
The Huskies took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission when Eric Ortlip got NU going with a power play goal off a rebound of his own shot in front of BC goalie Matti Kaltiainen.
After a brief 1-0 lead that had Husky fans hoping for an upset of huge proportions, BC came roaring back in a big way in the second period, a notoriously criminal period for NU.
“I think we got down on ourselves in the second period,” said Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder.
J.D. Forrest tied the game at one when he skated in uncontested in the NU zone. Tim Judy was picked off by another BC forward allowing Forrest to slip in towards the middle.
“Good things happen when you take it to the net,” said Forrest. “At least, that’s what we tell the forwards.”
After Hennes’ goal gave the Eagles a one goal lead, Tony Voce increased the lead to two goals less than two minutes later when he scored on a one-timer from Ben Eaves.
After going into the third period trailing by two, NU managed to get some pressure on Kaltiainen thanks in large part to a two-man advantage. But the Huskies were unable to score on that nor on a breakaway by Mike Ryan which was subsequently followed by Stephen Gionta’s third goal of the season. Four minutes later, Ryan Shannon made it 5-1 and the Huskies had little to retaliate with.
Jared Mudryk did score late in the third when he skated out in front of a screen and ripped a little wrister to Kaltiainen’s right side.
NU now must face the task of unloading the disappointment of the Beanpot and look forward to a crucial Friday match against Merrimack in Andover.
“We need to look forward now and play hard,” said Ryan. “We have to continue to play hard.”
Husky Notes:
In the Beanpot tounament’s 51 years, there has never been a Harvard/Northeastern final … Until last Monday, Ryan hadn’t scored a point in three games, a streak he deemed as a “slide.” … According to sources, Mike Morris saw a doctor prior to the Beanpot game in an attempt to play … Sixteen years is the longest current drought in the Beanpot … Forrest was injured last season severing five tendons and one nerve in his wrist. BC coach Jerry York said the team was concerned about the injury originally thinking that Forrest’s career might have been over. According to Forrest, the injury hasn’t stopped him from playing at full capacity this season … BU won the early game, 2-1 in a thriller.
