TMA First Star of the Weekend: Eric Gryba

Without a doubt in my mind or a moment of hesitation, Eric Gryba earns the Two Man Advantage first star of the weekend award.

Gryba showed puck handling skills I had no idea he had, and played another level of tough in the defensive end.  He fired his team up by getting physical with Mack's big men, and he even put one in the net.

In Sunday's game, Gryba stood tall in a shooting lane to block a slapper that rifled off of his left leg.  He was clearly hurt by the shot, but he never went down to the ice, and he finished his shift, even clearing the puck out of the zone.  Gryba went to the locker room to get looked at, and before you could blink he was back on the Terrier bench.  He didn't even come close to missing a shift. 

It almost seemed as if Gryba realized that somebody needed to step up for this team and make sure the season wouldn't end on home ice this weekend.  He took matters into his own hands and played his brand of hockey plus some to lead his team to a hard fought series victory.  

Gryba certainly had already earned the "A" that dons his left chest, but this weekend he reminded us that he truly is one of the most important leaders of this team.

Second Star: Kieran Millan

Kieran showed the form that earned him the rookie of the year honors and praise that he got last season.  It almost seems as if he was saving his lightning fast glove hand and his ridiculous lateral movement for the post-season.  Millan was sprawling from post to post to make saves, and he kept his team in a position to win this series. 

Over the course of the weekend series, Millan surrendered 5 goals on 97 shots, good for a .948 save percentage.  That number doesn't even describe how good Millan was though, as three of the five goals that he gave up were essentially un-savable goals on odd man rush one timers.

Oh and by the way, Sunday night's shutout was Kieran's first of the season.

Take notice, Hockey East.  Kieran Millan is back.  

Third Star:  The BU Penalty Kill Unit

It would be unfair to ignore the contribution of not just one Terrier penalty killer, but the entire unit.

Coming into this weekend, the Warriors were clicking at a 22.9% rate, good for third in the nation.  After the Terriers were through with them, they plummeted all the way to eighth in Division I, dropping a full 1.7% to 21.1% overall.

BU held the Warriors to just 1 for 18 on the power play this weekend with the lone Mack PP Goal coming on Saturday night.  The Terriers also saved the best for last, killing all 7 Mack power plays on Sunday night, and consistently kept Mack from getting into any sort of a rhythm on the man advantage.