Monday, March 5, 2012
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Hartford defense stifles Partin, holds America East Player of the Year to six in second half Partin: From page 8
win over the third-seeded Terriers, Partin bit his lips multiple times. His face was deadpan and his eyes surveyed the surroundings around him. Two minutes later, he was asked to reflect on his career at BU, one that came to a stunning end on the heels of his 17-point performance on 5-of-17 shooting against the Hawks. Partin immediately lowered his head. Jones gave Partin two pats on the right shoulder, as his leading scorer needed a couple seconds to gather his thoughts. A few tears streamed down Partin’s face, replacing the usual stoic expression that had defined him in postgame pressers since he transferred to BU from La Salle University two years ago. He finally found the right words. “It was a good two years here,” Partin said. “Couldn’t have asked for anything more, you know?” Jones then stepped in to offer his thoughts
on the contributions of the senior class, which included captains Matt Griffin and Patrick Hazel, center Jeff Pelage, forward Chris Kurz and Partin. “The senior class, in particular, was tremendous the whole year,” Jones said. “It’s one of the toughest pills to swallow when you have a group of guys that accomplished what this group has accomplished and did the things that this group did . . .. Obviously, they had a great run last year. “We had great success in our league this year. Just lost a tough one tonight, but it doesn’t really define who they are as athletes or individuals.” Hartford coach John Gallagher lauded the efforts of BU’s seniors. “I want to first congratulate the Boston University seniors,” Gallagher said. “Darryl Partin, Matt Griffin, Jeff Pelage. Those three gentlemen, in my mind, represented what is great about this league . . .. I’m proud of those three guys.”
On Friday night, Partin was awarded with the America East Player of the Year award, marking the second year in a row that a Terrier had been given the accolade. In the early going of Saturday’s matchup, Partin demonstrated why he was deserving of the conference’s highest honor. Coupled with sophomore guard D.J. Irving’s 11 first-half points, Partin tallied 11 points of his own to lead the offensive charge, as the dynamic duo accounted for all but five of BU’s 27 points at intermission. The second half was a different story, though. Partin only went 2-of-7 from the field in the final 20 minutes. He had trouble finding his shot and was immediately double-teamed whenever he touched the ball inside or outside the 3-point arc. It was all part of the game plan to neutralize Partin, Gallagher said, referencing Partin’s 0-of-6 showing from downtown as a sign of success for his squad.
“Just make him make tough two’s,” Gallagher said of the scouting report on Partin. “Don’t let him make a three If he makes a three, it’s gotta be off balance and he’s gotta be going to his left. You have to make him put it on the floor. If he goes by you, we’ll live with it, and that’s what we talked about.” BU nursing a 43-38 edge, Partin missed two technical free throws at the 13:43 mark after Hartford forward Nate Simka committed a clear-path foul against him. He also had the ball stripped from him by guard Andres Torres with nine seconds left in the contest and the Terriers down, 51-49. Torres knocked down both freebies to secure the victory, and in the process, put a sudden end to Partin’s BU basketball career. At 11 p.m., Partin rose out of his seat and walked off the podium, leaving the room just as slowly as he had entered it just six minutes prior. “Everything’s gotta come to an end, you know?” Partin said. “It’s over now.”
Wakefield scores game-winner in Terriers look to improve for tournament double overtime, tabbed MVP M. Hockey: From page 8
W. hockey: From page 8
however, did not give Lacasse the opportunity, as Wakefield put five shots on goal in the third period, the last of which squeaked by to tie the game. Sophomore forward Marie-Philip Poulin sent the puck toward sophomore defenseman Kaleigh Fratkin, who fed the puck back to Poulin. Poulin then took a shot that Wakefield redirected into the back of the net with 7.3 seconds left in the third period. The Terriers gathered their momentum from the final few seconds of the third period and brought it into the first overtime, as BU continued to onslaught Lacasse with shots. BU put up 15 shots in the first 20-minute overtime, while the Friars had nine. After heading to the locker room for the fourth time in the game, the Terriers came out on the ice with as much energy as they had shown throughout the rest of the contest. Early in the second overtime, the Friars rang a shot off the cross bar, but seconds later, Wakefield and Poulin connected again to give BU the win. The puck bounced off of Poulin’s stick toward Wakefield, who was situated about five feet from the goal. Wakefield scooped up the puck from two Providence defenders and turned around, slipping it past Lacasse for the game-winner. “Sometimes the hockey gods have a way of having pucks barely tipped, just
barely blocked, just barely bounced in a little funny, just off a chest or a back or a stick and leaving you little bit empty,” Durocher said. “We were that close to having that terribly empty feeling of not only not getting the tangible result in the championship, but we’d probably be packing our bags away right now.” Wakefield, who scored both of BU’s goals in the game, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. She also scored a hat trick in the quarterfinals and had a point in the semifinal game against Boston College on Saturday. “It’s pretty well documented in the record books,” Durocher said of Wakefield. “She gives our team a presence that not everybody has.” With the win, BU moves on to the NCAA Regional game next weekend. The Terriers, who are tabbed as the sixth seed, will take on third seed Cornell University on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Ithaca, N.Y. BU struggled against Cornell in November when the Big Red took a pair of games from the Terriers, outscoring them 10-2 in the two games. “They’re a team we’ve already seen play that’s very talented – somebody who’s already beaten us twice this year,” Durocher said. “So we’re going to have to go up there and play one of those grade ‘A’ games, be very focused offensively, be sharp with our opportunities offensively and again, maybe get a little bit of luck.”
on Friday night. Northeastern was first on the board 6:15 into the game when center Braden Pimm tipped in a long shot from defenseman Anthony Bitetto into the top-right corner of the net. It was Pimm’s 10th goal of the season, and it gave the Huskies momentum after not recording a shot in the first five minutes of the game. BU would answer, though, when junior defenseman Sean Escobedo fired home a pass from senior captain Chris Connolly in the slot. It was Escobedo’s third goal of the season, all three of which have come in the past four games. Connolly found the score sheet once again 35 seconds into the second period when he took a nifty feed from sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening and redirected it past goaltender Clay Witt for his 11th goal of the season. Less than two minutes later though, Northeastern forward Alex Tuckerman took the puck off the faceoff and snapped a point-blank opportunity past Rollheiser to tie the game at two. Rollheiser made his seventh appearance of the season in the game ahead of usual starter senior Kieran Millan. “I thought we left [Rollheiser] out to dry. Rollie made some huge saves for us,” Connolly said. “Their team had some shots right in the slot and he was making some huge saves.” Northeastern took the lead less than two minutes later on a long, soft shot from defenseman Drew Ellement that bounced past Rollheiser into the back of the net. Tuckerman and senior Steve Quailer recorded the assists on the goal, as Quailer recorded his second assist on his Senior Night.
Soon after the Northeastern goal, Connolly helped the Terriers tie it up again by feeding sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan in the slot for Noonan’s 14th goal of the season. Noonan’s goal was the Terriers’ only powerplay goal in the game. Junior Garret Vermeersch gave the Huskies the lead going into the locker room. With less than two minutes remaining in the second frame, he sniped a power-play goal off the post from the slot. The Huskies’ lead didn’t last long, however, as Noonan shot home his second goal of the night off Connolly’s third assist. Noonan’s tying goal lasted all the way into overtime, as neither team could put the puck in the back of the net despite several power-play chances apiece. Connolly finished the night with a goal and three assists in the game, which raises his point total to 35 points on the season – his highest season point total in his college career. “[Connolly] has been a terrific captain and a terrific player for us and more importantly a terrific guy,” Parker said. “He leads by example as far as how hard he plays and how hard he works off the ice and the kids really respect him.” With 2:25 remaining in overtime, Saponari netted a rebound that gave Northeastern a win to end its season. With the regular season concluded and the postseason upon them, the Terriers will be looking to rebound next weekend in the Hockey East quarterfinals. “Playoffs are coming around the block,” Connolly said. “[Saturday] was like shinny and kind of loose out there. That’s not what next weekend or March or hopefully the beginning on April is going to be like. We have got to address that.”
Connolly: Physical mistakes caused by mental errors, team unprepared in game Focus: From page 8
cus and thorough effort from the entire BU team. It began in practice during the week and culminated in the overtime loss Saturday night. “There were many opportunities where we looked brain dead,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “There were many opportunities where we didn’t look aware of what we should be doing.” Clendening’s play was not the only moment BU visibly proved its lack of focus and thorough play. The Terriers had an opportunity to win the game at the very end of the third period, as two poorly timed Northeastern penalties gave BU a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:11 with under two minutes remaining in the contest. The Terriers were on the power play all the way through the first 16 seconds of overtime. But BU never capitalized on the extended man-advantage, and instead allowed Northeastern the inevitable momentum in overtime that an important penalty kill typically generates. “I thought we had chances to win the game, and we had the 5-on-3 and we didn’t
get that done,” Parker said. “We had more than enough chances to control the course of this game, but we let them back in the game too many times.” BU lost an inordinate amount of puck battles along the boards all night long. The Terriers struggled to enter into the attacking zone cleanly, and consistently let Northeastern right back into the game any time BU took a lead. This was especially true in the second period, when BU scored twice but allowed three Northeastern goals to finish the period facing a 4-3 deficit. BU put 15 shots on net in the period, but allowed 17 shots by Northeastern. The lack of effort from BU was even more obvious from the blocked shots total. In the second period, Northeastern blocked eight shots. BU blocked two. “We didn’t have enough guys [blocking shots] tonight,” said senior captain Chris Connolly. “Playoffs are coming around the block and . . . [come playoff games] none of that hockey is going to be like that.” BU, which clinched a home-ice seed in the Hockey East playoffs last weekend, entered this weekend controlling its
own destiny as far as finishing at least in the top-two of Hockey East. If the Terriers could have taken three of four points from ninth-place Northeastern, BU was assured of finishing no lower than second in the league seedings, ensuring a Hockey East quarterfinals matchup against one of the two lowest seeds. But BU could not put together the 60-minute effort necessary on either night in order to assure itself of that spot, and because of a University of MassachusettsLowell victory on Saturday night, BU fell to the third seed in the Hockey East tournament. Now, the Terriers will host the six-seeded University of New Hampshire in the quarterfinals next weekend. BU also needed a win to help it remain high in the PairWise Rankings, which determines the seeding for the NCAA tournament. By virtue of the loss, it fell from fourth place in the PairWise, which could have resulted in BU being a one-seed in the tournament, to sixth place. BU’s loss Saturday night came in front of many team members’ families as well as one of the largest away venue showings by
BU students in recent history. The group of BU students filled four full sections of Matthews Arena and was loud all game, which, according Connolly, made the loss sting a bit more. “It means a lot to the players and it’s absolutely tougher to lose in front of them,” Connolly said of the amount of BU supporters at the game. “They come back to see a good hockey game and I don’t think we played very well to be honest.” Although BU’s lack of effort over the weekend came back to bite the team in terms of its different rankings for the Hockey East and NCAA postseason, Connolly said the mistakes made this weekend are all something the team can remedy in time for the playoffs. “There were physical mistakes because of mental errors, because guys weren’t mentally prepared to play,” Connolly said. “It’s nothing that’s not correctable – it’s actually very easily correctable if we are doing the right things and we are focused and ready to play. I think it starts with a thorough week of practice [this coming week].”