BU Bested By BC

Is This Rock Bottom?

Can it get any worse for the Terriers?  The ninth place team in Hockey East looked strong for two periods, and like a pee wee team from hell in the third against their hated rival on Saturday night.

After a back and forth first, the Terriers drew first blood with a goal two minutes into the second period from Nick Bonino.  For a glorious 15 minutes or so, it felt as if BU had finally found its stride and righted the ship from its early season struggles.  A couple of scrappy games for ties, then a big win over the Eagles would have gone a very long way toward nudging BU back into national relevance.

But the momentum and the game shifted completely on a right handed wrister from the blue line. 

In fact, that one fateful snap shot could have been the body blow that knocked the Terriers to the mat this season.

Carl Sneep let one fly from dead center of the top of the Terriers' zone, and it continued to sail right over Kieran Millan's left shoulder into the back of the net.  There was traffic in Millan's general area, but he didn't appear to be screened.  Just a long shot that beat last year's world-beater for a monumental goal.

Kieran's focus and poise evaporated, and after a BU goal was disallowed about a minute later, the rest of the goalie's teammates lost their edge as well.  BC came out flying and firing in the third, and after drilling a shot off a post, Millan got beat by a dribbling deflected puck that crawled through the crease and into the cage from Edwin Shea just 38 seconds into the frame.  The Eagles' third goal came from Joe Whitney exactly 5 minutes later.  Whitney gained the zone with the puck, lined up an uncontested slap shot, and ripped it directly on net.  Once again, perhaps Millan was surprised by the long shot, and it flew high over his right shoulder into the net.  BC put the Terriers on ice 7 minutes later with a goal from Brian Gibbons.

The Terriers and Eagles Play Next on January 8 At Fenway Park

This is about as deflating to a team and a fan base as a loss in December can possibly be.  BU has played just 11 of their 27 games in Hockey East, but it certainly feels as if the season is already over.

BU has now seen 8 of the 9 teams in its conference.  They have been defeated at least once by all but one of those teams, undefeated against Vermont thanks to a tie.  They've been better out of Hockey East, posting a 2-1-2 record in those games, but the Terriers have been simply dreadful against the teams that they know best.

This was BU's chance to jump back into the fray and make a statement against one of the most talented teams in the league.  But even when it mattered most, the Terriers could not dig deep enough to make a surge and save face.

There is time for BU to recover for their horrendous start, but at this point the question has to be whether or not BU even has it in them to fight for this.