Photo by: Rich Gagnon
Oettinger Continues to Prove Net Worth in Beanpot Loss
February 13, 2017 | Men's Ice Hockey
By Scott Weighart, Special to GoTerriers.com
BOSTON – One week after a sterling first period led to a stirring win over archrival Boston College in the Beanpot semifinals, not much went right in tonight's Beanpot Championship against Harvard, which won the tournament for the first time since 1993. Crimson senior Phil Zielonka was the only player on either team who was alive when Harvard last hoisted the trophy, and he was just 11 days old.
With the exception of a couple of goals by freshman sensation Clayton Keller, the only real bright spot for the Terriers was the play of freshman goaltender Jake Oettinger. "At the end of the day, this is a game of want, and boy, did they want it more than we did," BU head coach David Quinn said in the post-game press conference. "They outskated us, they outhit us, they outcompeted us, they outshot us. The only thing they didn't do was out-goaltend us. That was about the only thing that they didn't have the edge on tonight."
Seven days after not allowing a single shot against Boston College in the first 17+ minutes en route to a 12-2 shot advantage in last week's first period, the Terriers were outshot by a whopping 18-2 advantage in the first 20 minutes tonight. Improbably, though, BU only trailed 1-0 at that point and even fought back to a 2-1 lead on the shoulders of the youngest player on the ice.
In the end, though, penalties, defensive turnovers, and a few bad bounces meant that Oettinger's impressive effort went for naught. Well, Oettinger was given the Eberly Trophy for posting the best save percentage in the tournament, but suffice to say that Oettinger would have been far happier to get the win and let somebody else enjoy the individual honors.
"The only trophy I wanted to win was the Beanpot," Oettinger said. "It was a lot of fun but not the ending we came here for, so it's definitely humbling for myself and I think the whole team. You're not going to show up to a rink and win a championship. You have to stick to your system and stick to what makes you successful, and we didn't do that tonight."
As usual, Oettinger was unfazed by the onslaught of Harvard shots in the first period. "That's my job—to step up when I need to—and I thought I did that. That's literally my job. I did a good job in the first period, and the penalties we took were the reason why they got that many shots."
While Oettinger gave up five goals, he made 40 saves. Two of the goals came on 5-on-3 power plays for the Crimson when they just keep storming the net until they put it in. One puck seemed to be kicked in when Oettinger just about had it covered, but for some reason was cleared after a brief review. There was a nice redirect, a rebound where Oettinger had little chance because a teammate pushed a Harvard player into him, and one goal that came directly off of an unforced turnover by a Terrier defenseman.
Naturally no goalie wants to give up goals, but were they any that Oettinger would have wanted back tonight?
"No," he said, simply.
"He's been phenomenal for us all year," said BU captain Doyle Somerby while walking out to the team bus. "He's been so calm and confident in net. Sometimes we might leave him out to dry because we have so much confidence in him, and he's definitely stood tall in every opportunity that we've put him in this season. It's been good to see a freshman with that type of confidence."
Although Somerby's Beanpot days are over, he believes Oettinger will win more than one before his Terrier days are over. "A key to a good team is a good goalie. Jake's phenomenal, and he's only a freshman, which I think a lot of people don't realize when they look at him. He'll have a couple."
Oettinger will have to wait until next February for another opportunity to win a Beanpot, but the more immediate goal is to get back to the TD Garden far sooner than that for the Hockey East Championship. "It's a cool arena, a cool venue," Oettinger said. "We had great support from our fans. Us and them aren't happy with the result, and the next time we're in this building we've got to change the ending."
Oettinger may well prove to be the means to that ending.
BOSTON – One week after a sterling first period led to a stirring win over archrival Boston College in the Beanpot semifinals, not much went right in tonight's Beanpot Championship against Harvard, which won the tournament for the first time since 1993. Crimson senior Phil Zielonka was the only player on either team who was alive when Harvard last hoisted the trophy, and he was just 11 days old.
With the exception of a couple of goals by freshman sensation Clayton Keller, the only real bright spot for the Terriers was the play of freshman goaltender Jake Oettinger. "At the end of the day, this is a game of want, and boy, did they want it more than we did," BU head coach David Quinn said in the post-game press conference. "They outskated us, they outhit us, they outcompeted us, they outshot us. The only thing they didn't do was out-goaltend us. That was about the only thing that they didn't have the edge on tonight."
Seven days after not allowing a single shot against Boston College in the first 17+ minutes en route to a 12-2 shot advantage in last week's first period, the Terriers were outshot by a whopping 18-2 advantage in the first 20 minutes tonight. Improbably, though, BU only trailed 1-0 at that point and even fought back to a 2-1 lead on the shoulders of the youngest player on the ice.
In the end, though, penalties, defensive turnovers, and a few bad bounces meant that Oettinger's impressive effort went for naught. Well, Oettinger was given the Eberly Trophy for posting the best save percentage in the tournament, but suffice to say that Oettinger would have been far happier to get the win and let somebody else enjoy the individual honors.
"The only trophy I wanted to win was the Beanpot," Oettinger said. "It was a lot of fun but not the ending we came here for, so it's definitely humbling for myself and I think the whole team. You're not going to show up to a rink and win a championship. You have to stick to your system and stick to what makes you successful, and we didn't do that tonight."
As usual, Oettinger was unfazed by the onslaught of Harvard shots in the first period. "That's my job—to step up when I need to—and I thought I did that. That's literally my job. I did a good job in the first period, and the penalties we took were the reason why they got that many shots."
While Oettinger gave up five goals, he made 40 saves. Two of the goals came on 5-on-3 power plays for the Crimson when they just keep storming the net until they put it in. One puck seemed to be kicked in when Oettinger just about had it covered, but for some reason was cleared after a brief review. There was a nice redirect, a rebound where Oettinger had little chance because a teammate pushed a Harvard player into him, and one goal that came directly off of an unforced turnover by a Terrier defenseman.
Naturally no goalie wants to give up goals, but were they any that Oettinger would have wanted back tonight?
"No," he said, simply.
"He's been phenomenal for us all year," said BU captain Doyle Somerby while walking out to the team bus. "He's been so calm and confident in net. Sometimes we might leave him out to dry because we have so much confidence in him, and he's definitely stood tall in every opportunity that we've put him in this season. It's been good to see a freshman with that type of confidence."
Although Somerby's Beanpot days are over, he believes Oettinger will win more than one before his Terrier days are over. "A key to a good team is a good goalie. Jake's phenomenal, and he's only a freshman, which I think a lot of people don't realize when they look at him. He'll have a couple."
Oettinger will have to wait until next February for another opportunity to win a Beanpot, but the more immediate goal is to get back to the TD Garden far sooner than that for the Hockey East Championship. "It's a cool arena, a cool venue," Oettinger said. "We had great support from our fans. Us and them aren't happy with the result, and the next time we're in this building we've got to change the ending."
Oettinger may well prove to be the means to that ending.
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