To The Wire

Pathetic Effort Pushes Quarters to Three

The officials looked like they were on BU's payroll at Agganis Arena on Saturday night, but even 11 power plays weren't enough for the Terriers to ice Merrimack and advance to T.D. Garden.  BU fell 3-2 to Merrimack in overtime when Joe Cucci beat Kieran Millan on an odd man rush for the win.

Check out the highlights of this atrocious game, and read up on the stats in the box score.

The lone bright spot for the Terriers was the netminder.  Millan played an absolutely excellent game, perhaps his best effort of the entire season, and it appears that the defending Rookie of the Year has saved his best for the second season.  His glove has returned, and he is smothering everything that comes into his crease.  If not for his spectacular focus and poise on countless Merrimack breakaways, BU could have easily been blown out instead of losing in overtime.

Merrimack scored twice on two on one odd man rush one-timer goals, each of which was perfectly executed.  Mack also broke it's considerable power play drought with a second period score from Brandon Brodhag on the man advantage.

The power play may have only put one on the board, but for the second night in a row it looked like every bit of the third ranked power play in the nation that it is.  Their passing was crisp and effective, and their anticipation was far better than BU's.  Mark Dennehy's odd-ball strategy also began to pay off big time, as the hanging forward in the neutral zone for Mack earned the team breakaway after breakaway, making BU look like the much slower team.

Kevin Shattenkirk played one of his worst games of his career, and Colby Cohen joined him in the category of under-performing defensemen.  Shatty showed his frustration late in the game when he headbutted the boards repeatedly after returning to the bench on the tail end of another failed power play shift.

He had better be careful not to concuss himself, as the Terriers are already one blue-liner short of a full deck.  Max Nicastro sustained a horrific injury in the second period when his wrist was sliced open by an opponent's sakte.  Max remained down on the ice, blood pumping from a severed artery until the training staff could rush to his aid and apply pressure to the wound.  Nicastro skated off the ice on his own power, but the injury required 26 stitches, and he has been ruled out of tonight's game.

Luckily, Nicastro is alright, but his presence will be missed when BU looks to win the tie-breaker tonight.