Jack Parker on BU-Maine

Some Notes From Tuesday's Conference Call


Jack Parker talked about BU's last series and its next opponent in this week's conference call.  You can listen to the entire audio here.  Once again, the quality of the audio is a bit crappy, but it's there.

Parker was asked what his team's state of mind is heading into Friday night.

“If I knew that, we wouldn’t be having the problems we’ve had this year. We certainly have played much, much better in the second half. We’ve had a pretty good run, but had some real setbacks, however, at the end of the second half. We made a mess out of a game up in Vermont and certainly made a mess out a game against Merrimack... It looked like we were disinterested those two games. We had a lot of those in the first semester and we’ve only had only a couple of those in the second semester, so I’m pretty confident that Dr. Jekyll will show up, but who knows?

We know we can’t afford a Mr. Hyde. If we have a no-show type of game, our season is over. I know we have enough competitors and leadership to make sure that we are focused and ready instead of wondering 'I wonder how this game is going to go tonight?'"

So Parker sounds confident, but not exactly thrilled are where his team is at going into the semis.  You can't exactly blame the guy for not brimming over with confidence, based on the fact that his team completely laid an egg in the middle game of the first round.  It's the time of year when the seniors (Gryba, Z Cohen, Popko) and the captains (Bonino, Shatty, Gryba) need to man up and remind this team that they can't afford another bad effort.

Parker also talked about facing off with a tough offense.

“I expect a hard-fought, well-executed game from Maine. They can skate, they’ve got one of the best first lines in college hockey (and) they have the best power play in college hockey."

Beyond their offense, Parker touched on Maine's lack of a starting goalie.

"Certainly [Scott] Darling is having a great season, but I remember [Dave] Wilson played once against us and he was great (34 saves in 2-2 tie at Maine, 2/14/09). I’m not surprised that he stepped up and became the man for them in a crucial series because some guys are just waiting for their chance. Just because he’s the back-up goalie doesn’t mean he’s not a good goalie. He’s the back-up goaltender to a terrific goaltender. If Kieran Millan went down and we had to put [Grant] Rollheiser in, I think we’d be very confident that Rollheiser would be able to get the job done for us, and I think the same holds true for Wilson.

I don’t think that our team will think that this will be an easier game because Darling’s not there. They present a lot of problems... and not having their No. 1 goaltender will not be a factor.”

It would be difficult to poo-poo the efforts of Wilson after his solid work last weekend in the win over Lowell.   But this goes back to Parker's first points about his team's mindset.  All year long the Terriers have gotten cocky with just the smallest degree of success.  They come out and play like they think they're better than their opponents.

The Terriers better be ready to play on Friday, because Maine is no second class team.  Between their explosive offense and a solid blue-line corps, this is not a team to look past.