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BC sweeps UMaine out of Beantown

Black Bears muster just one goal in two-game series finish 0-12 on power plays in the two losses

Amy Brooks

Sophomore forward Joey Diamond and the Black Bear offense were ineffective against Boston College, finishing 0-12 in power plays over the weekend.

By Jesse Scardina

Posted on Nov. 22, 2010, at 5:58 p.m.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - In a weekend series between top-10 squads, the defending national champion Boston College got the best of No. 3 University of Maine on both nights, sweeping the Black Bears 4-0 Friday and 4-1 Sunday.

The key difference in each contest were power plays, where the Eagles blanked the Black Bears, killing off all 12 power plays for UMaine this weekend.

The Black Bears fall to 6-3-3 on the season and 4-2-1 in Hockey East play, while the 10th-ranked Eagles improved to 8-4 on the year and 6-3 in HEC play.

The first period Friday night started out slow, with both teams taking turns controlling the other team’s defensive zone.

The first chance for the Black Bears came four minutes into the period, when junior forward Gustav Nyquist found fellow junior forward Spencer Abbott for a clean look on Eagles’ goalie John Muse. Muse was able to deflect the puck clear and keep the game scoreless.

Not even a minute later, sophomore forward Joey Diamond crushed BC center Brian Gibbons, earning him a five-minute major for boarding. The teams played four-on-four for two minutes while defender Patrick Way was in the box with an interference penalty.

During the three-minute man-advantage, freshman goalie Dan Sullivan and the Black Bears collectively blocked every opportunity the Eagles threw toward the net.

The Black Bears earned the best opportunity on the penalty kill, when Nyquist was tied up on a breakaway, and was awarded a penalty shot. Nyquist’s trickery was no problem to Muse, as the BC goalie stopped the shot with his right pad. The stop seemed to be a momentum changer, as the Eagles took control of the game after that point.

“I tried to make a move, make him slide a bit to the right,” Nyquist said. “I stopped and he bit on it and I didn’t really get it up and Muse made a great save. It could have been a whole different game if I would have scored there.”

“It was big,” head coach Tim Whitehead said about the missed penalty shot. “You never know if it’s going to be important, but I think if [Nyquist] scores there it gives us a big lift.”

The scoreless night for Nyquist ends a streak of consecutive games with a point at 11 games, dating back to last season.

Back-to-back penalties by the Black Bears put them in a difficult predicament — down two men to a highly talented team. The Eagles made the most of UMaine’s miscue when forward Paul Carey put the Eagles up front 1-0 off assists by Gibbons and forward Joe Whitney.

Each team had four players spend time in the sin bin during the first period, but the Eagles capitalized on the chances much more than the Black Bears did. On the Black Bears’ final power play of the period, Sullivan attempted to clear the puck out of his zone, but the puck ended up on Gibbons’ stick. Gibbons flicked the puck into the net before Sullivan could get into position, giving the Eagles the 2-0 lead on the short-handed goal.

“I tried to fake [Gibbons], but he read it like a book,” Sullivan said. “There’s not too much distance between the boards and the back of the net. It’s a little different from our rink, that’s something I’ll have to get used to.”

Just 20 seconds into the second period, the Black Bears got an early power play opportunity, but were unable to connect on anything.

Under eight minutes into the second period, the Eagles added another, expanding their lead to 3-0. After a block by a UMaine defender, forward Tommy Atkinson snuck the shot past Sullivan, as the puck crept slowly through his legs and across the red line. Center Patrick Brown and defender Brian Dumoulin assisted on the sophomore’s first collegiate goal.

The Eagles controlled the pace in the second period, but was interrupted by various penalties. After the Eagles killed off the Black Bears’ second power play of the period midway through, BC withstood an onslaught of Black Bear chances during a 5-3 chance with less than five minutes remaining in the period.

Muse continued to demonstrate why he is one of the best goalies in the country, as the Black Bears failed to score through two periods for only the third time this season.

“Johnny Muse played real well, made some big saves,” Whitehead said. “That obviously contributed to our power play doughnut.”

The Black Bears continued to get power play chances, yet Muse and BC foiled every opportunity and cashed in on theirs. Right after a UMaine power play completed, the Eagles scored off of the face off on the opening of their power play. Center Pat Mullane found the net for the fourth Eagle goal of the game, assisted by Dumoulin and fellow defender Philip Samuelsson.

Sullivan was relieved after letting in the fourth goal, and sophomore Shawn Sirman took his place between the pipes.

“Not his best,” Whitehead said of Sullivan’s performance. “He’s been so consistent and so sharp for us. If a goalie makes a mistake, everyone notices. A lot of guys made mistakes tonight.”

The end of the period saw more Black Bear power plays with no goals, as they went 0-7 on the power play, and ended up scoreless for the first time this season, losing to the defending national champions 4-0.

“Special teams cost us tonight,” Whitehead said. “It’s been a strength of ours, but not tonight. We’re 0-7 and they were 2-4.”

Black Bear senior defender Jeff Dimmen left the game with an apparent leg injury. His status for Sunday is questionable. His injury adds to the woes in the UMaine defense, with senior Will O’Neill already sidelined with a lower body injury.

The Eagles scored on two separate power plays, as well as a short-handed goal.

“They’re a good team and we didn’t come ready to play,” senior defender Josh Van Dyk said. “They took it to us and we played soft.”

The second game mirrored much of the first, with very little contribution from the UMaine power play, while the Eagles capitalized on one of their three man advantages.

BC took the lead just two minutes into the game. Atkinson fired a shot just inside the blue line, which Sullivan deflected right to forward Paul Carey, who slid the puck passed Sullivan for his third goal of the season.

The Black Bears followed the Eagles’ goal with one of their own — their first in over four periods. Sophomore defender Mark Nemec grabbed his first goal of the season off an assist from junior defender Ryan Hegarty.

Five minutes later, the Eagles regained the lead, and proceeded to bury the Black Bears’ hopes with a following goal 40 seconds later. Forward Bill Arnold scored the second Eagles’ goal of the game off a pass from forward Steven Whitney.

The latter of the rapid succession of goals was led by Carey and his second goal of the game. After passes from Atkinson and Samuelsson, Carey put the rebound off his own shot past Sullivan.

The Eagles added an empty goal to seal the weekend sweep, handing the Black Bears their first losing streak of the season.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 22nd, 2010, 5:58 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.