Once again the young UMass team gave up an early lead in last night’s game against #10 Boston University but once again they didn’t give up, clawed their way back into the game late, and came away with a tie and a valuable point from Agganis Arena.
Unfortunately I did not make it to Comm Ave as I was in Amherst for Homecoming and the debacle that was the UMass football game. Therefore I can’t offer any first hand observations, though I was able to listen to the game during my drive home (there’s an app for that!). UMass media was also lacking out in Boston with guys like Matt Vautour taking in the misery at McGuirk. However by all accounts freshman Jeff Teglia, in his first collegiate start, made the difference in the game. Darren Rowe continues to play well, netting his second goal of the season. And Marc Concannon, who doesn’t score often but when he does he tends to make them count, scored what ended up being the tying goal with less than 10 minutes left in the third.
Guys like Conor Sheary and Mike Pereira sounded like they had another strong game. While Brian Keane’s name appeared to be called a lot as he was active throughout the game. Special teams were good and bad. After struggling last week on the penalty kill in Minnesota UMass was perfect at killing all four of BU’s power play chances. Unfortunately on the flip side UMass was 0 for 5 on their extra man chances, registering just one shot in total on the power play.
Certainly the power play stat shows there’s still some work to be done during practice this week. However getting a tie (and a valuable point) on the road against the #10 team in the country with a freshman goaltender in net is exactly the type of game this team needs to build off of. It just may be what these freshman need to give them confidence in what they’re doing. However, it won’t get easy from here. BU is probably thinking back to lost chances this morning and they won’t have to wait long to get another shot at the Minutemen. These two teams will meet in Friday’s home opener at the Mullins in a game that will be televised on NESN. Should be a good one.
Fear The Triangle Player of the Game – Jeff Teglia
This was an easy choice. After giving up two goals in the first 11 minutes of the game Teglia didn’t give up anymore. By all accounts he got better as the game went on, which is what you want to see from a young goaltender who is still learning with every period he’s between the pipes. If Teglia can play like this regularly it will give Toot the luxury of not feeling like he has to rush Dainton back from injury. If there’s one thing Teglia can improve upon it sounds like it’s to not wander too far from the crease.
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Here’s the recap from UMassathletics.
They’ve also posted the UMass Hockey Preview Show that aired on CBS3 yesterday.
The Boston Hockey Blog has extensive coverage of last night’s game.
The USCHO recap says that the tie left the Pereira family “ecstatic”.
Elsewhere in Hockey East this weekend Maine travelled to East Lansing where they tied and lost to Michigan State. Boston College had an extremely impressive sweeping beating DU in Denver by the combined score of 9-2. Lowell travelled to Western New York and picked up a couple ties against Atlantic Hockey’s Niagara and RIT. Providence had a weekend they’d like to forget getting swept in Duluth by the combined score of 12 to 4. UNH and Northeastern both picked up ties while Merrimack spanked UConn 7-1 while opening the newly renovated Lawler Arena. You can see some pictures of the renovations here.
Fear The Triangle - UMass Hockey Blog 
Ben (Flag Guy)
/ October 17, 2010Being at the game last night, I have a few comments. Passing was horrendous. There were way too many passes that were to UMass players skates or to a BU stick.
As the numbers point out, the power plays need work. It felt like BU was getting more shots off on our power play than we were and dominated the puck possession for some of the power plays.
Teglia was out of net too often for comfort, making some downright scary plays at the puck, a few of which almost backfiring horribly. Most of his trouble came from UMass not being able to control the puck. For the first two periods, it seemed as though anytime UMass crossed the blue line the would get a shot or a pass and then BU would just take it back. Hardly any offensive dominance.
Going into the third period as a fan there was tough, but coming away from it with a tie felt like a win. The disappointment on the BU fan’s faces was clear. BU thought they should have won that game (I thought they had the game in the bag too). I was glad to leave there with a point.
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jjmc85
/ October 17, 2010I’ve always thought Dainton leaves the crease way too much. If people are complaining about Teglia, I might have heart failure watching him.
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anonoymous
/ October 17, 2010He left the crease alot, but he made some great plays doing it. He will give some a heart attack, but I love the confidence he has doing it.
I think the more these kids play together, the better their passing will be. They are such a quick team.
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jjmc85
/ October 18, 2010By the way, the pictures of the Merrimack Renovation make it look like a real D1 Rink. Good for them!
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Mike
/ October 18, 2010Yeah, this was certainly a nice effort. It looked the game was going to get out of hand early, especially after the second BU goal where Teglia was screened by his own stationary defensemen. But after that, Teglia settled down nicely. I think the most obvious comparable for his style of play is Timmy Thomas. The way he rotates through the crease and frequently flops around like a fish making saves. It’s not the cleanest style, but it works…most of the time.
I was more surprised how sloppy BU was with the puck, especially in its own end. UMass definitely took advantage by frequently forcing turnovers in the offensive zone. So that certainly helped UMass gain possessive and was far from offensive dominance.
Again, the biggest concerns to date are the power play and defensive positioning/defensemen actually moving their feet; both of which are god-awful in my opinion.
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Hatsoff
/ October 18, 2010And then our guys flew across the ice gaining space the whole way. Really liked the speed, made BU look slow.
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anonoymous
/ October 18, 2010It did improve over the course of the game though, the first period that let guys just camp out in front of the net.
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Hatsoff
/ October 18, 2010BU Moves up 2 places in the USCHO poll to #8 with a tie against winless and unranked (unmentioned) UMass
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rocks22
/ October 18, 2010Thanks for all the first hand observations, folks. I appreciate them since I wasn’t able to see the game myself.
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Adam
/ October 19, 2010This resiliency is pretty awesome, though as we saw with the Bruins at certain points of the last two seasons, you can’t get through a whole season like that. I don’t know whats going on mentally with this team, but they have got to stop getting into holes. I will actually have a heart attack at 20 if this happens all year.
Really pumped to see how this team which seems to react well to emotional up swings will respond to the huge crowd on friday. I can not wait! Hopefully they will provide a better experience than a 7-1 loss for a packed house.
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