March 3, 2011
Listen | Watch | Live Stats | Game Notes
BOSTON - Entering the final weekend of the regular season on a nine-game unbeaten streak in Hockey East play, the No. 13 Boston University men's ice hockey team (17-9-8, 14-5-6 HEA) visits Northeastern (11-13-8, 9-9-7 HEA) on Friday (March 4) at 7 p.m.
The Terriers topped the Huskies, 5-4, on Dec. 8 at Agganis Arena in the teams' only other meeting this season.
The crosstown rivals will close out the regular season on Saturday (March 5) at Agganis Arena.
AIMING FOR HOME ICE
• Boston University can finish anywhere between second and fifth in the Hockey East standings and needs just one point to secure home ice for the league quarterfinals.
• The Terriers have earned home ice all six years since Agganis Arena opened in January of 2005.
TERRIER TIDBITS
• BU is 7-0-2 in its last nine Hockey East contests.
• The win at Providence on Feb. 19 was the 850th of head coach Jack Parker's career and the 1,400th in program history.
• BU has not given up a first-period goal in its past five contests.
• The Terriers are 4-0-1 in their last five road games.
• In the Terriers' last 13 games, nine have been decided by a single goal and two others were ties.
• BU's last four losses have all been by just one goal.
SERIES HISTORY
• This will be the 208th meeting between the Terriers and Huskies since they first took to the ice together during the 1930-31 season. The only team BU has played more games against is Boston College (254).
• BU holds a 148-51-8 (.734) advantage in the series and is 14-2-4 (.800) in the last 20 meetings and 9-1-2 (.833) in last 12.
• The Terriers are 73-28-4 (.714) in their 105 meetings at Matthews Arena against the Huskies, including a 32-15-4 mark since the Terriers moved to Walter Brown Arena prior to the 1972-73 season.
• The two teams have played 22 overtime games in the all-time series, and BU holds a 10-4-8 edge. The Terriers have recorded 12 of the 15 shutouts in the 207-game history.
SEASON REVIEW • BU was the lone unbeaten team left in the country before falling at New Hampshire on Nov. 19.
• The Terriers went undefeated in their first 10 games (6-0-4) for their best start in 33 seasons, as the 1977-78 national title team won its first 21 games.
• BU reached the six-win mark on Oct. 30, 10 weeks earlier than it did last season (Jan. 8).
• The Terriers held the top spot in both national polls on Nov. 8.
• After earning six wins in October, the Terriers are just 11-9-7 since, having earned just one victory in both November and December.
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
• Northeastern has secured the No. 6 seed for the Hockey East playoffs.
• The Huskies are coming off a 6-3 home loss to New Hampshire on Feb. 26 after earning a 2-2 road draw the previous night.
• When BU and NU met in December, the Huskies' offense ranked 56th in the country. Since that game, NU has averaged 3.29 goals per contest and now ranks 34th for the year at 2.72.
• Senior Wade MacLeod has established himself as one of Hockey East's top scorers and leads the Huskies in points (37), goals (18), assists (19), power-play goals (9) and game-winning goals (3).
• Fellow senior Tyler McNeely has added 29 points (12g, 17a) and reached the 100-point mark for his career with an assist on Saturday.
• Freshman Brodie Reid is tied for the scoring lead among conference rookies with 23 points (8g, 15a) and senior Steve Silva has contributed 22 points (6g, 16a).
• Sophomore Chris Rawlings has started all but two games in goal this season and boasts a 2.50 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage.
BACK IN DECEMBER
• Charlie Coyle and Alex Chiasson each had a goal and two assists to lead Boston University to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over Northeastern on Dec. 8 at Agganis Arena.
• Chiasson provided the late heroics on a power-play tally with 3:27 left in regulation.
• Northeastern recorded 14 of the game's first 15 shots and jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but the Terriers drew even by the end of the opening period and then added two more markers early in the second to take a 4-2 advantage.
• The Huskies cut the deficit to one just before the second intermission before recording a power-play equalizer at 4:03 of the third.
• Matt Nieto scored a goal for the third straight game while Corey Trivino and Ryan Santana also found the back of the net for the Terriers. Santana's tally was the first of his collegiate career. David Warsofsky collected a pair of assists.
• Northeastern kept Kieran Millan busy throughout the night in the Terrier goal, but the junior turned aside 37 shots to pick up his 50th career victory at BU. The Huskies held a convincing 41-20 advantage in shots in the contest.
CURRENT TERRIERS VS. THE HUSKIES
• Sophomore Alex Chaisson has had more success against Northeastern than any other team, tallying seven points (3g, 4a) in five contests.
• Juniors David Warsofsky (2g, 4a) and Chris Connolly (1g, 4a) have each played eight games versus the Huskies and tallied six and five points, respectively.
• Junior Kieran Millan is 6-1-2 with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage in nine starts against Northeastern.
TERRIERS TAKE THREE POINTS FROM UVM
• Boston University took three out of four points last weekend in a home series against Vermont to finish the year 2-0-1 against the Catamounts.
• Despite holding a 3-0 third-period lead, the Terriers skated to a 3-3 draw with the Catamounts on Friday before posting a 3-1 victory on Saturday.
• On Friday, Sahir Gill paced the Terriers with a goal and an assist, while Adam Clendening and Ben Rosen each found the back of the net.
• BU took a 3-0 lead with a goal in each regulation frame, but the Catamounts recorded three markers in a 6:52 span in the third stanza to tie the game. Lance Harrington capped the three-goal spurt at 13:29 of the period with his first career tally.
• Kieran Millan turned aside 38 shots in goal for the Terriers, while Rob Madore recorded an impressive 43-save performance for Vermont.
• Junior Chris Connolly, sophomore Alex Chiasson and freshman Matt Nieto each scored in the victory on Saturday.
• After a scoreless first frame, Connolly and Chiasson scored second-period goals to give BU a 2-0 lead. Nieto added his marker in the third before Vermont's Tobias Nilsson-Roos ended the shutout bid with five seconds remaining in the game.
• Millan made 27 saves, while Rob Madore turned aside 31 shots.
• BU was 2-for-7 on the power play with both tallies occurring while Vermont was killing off a major penalty.
• Chiasson scored two goals, including the game-winner, and Millan recorded 29 saves in a 4-2 BU win at Vermont on Jan. 9.
MILLAN COMING ON STRONG
• In BU's 12 conference games since the turn of the new year, junior goaltender Kieran Millan is 8-2-2 with a 1.81 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage.
• Millan put together BU's longest shutout skein of the year at 123:05, making 67 straight saves from the first period of a 1-1 draw at Maine on Jan. 29 until giving up a late goal in regulation in a 3-1 victory over UMass Lowell on Feb. 4.
MILLAN HAULS IN MONTHLY HONOR
• Millan was named the Hockey East Goaltender of the Month for February on Tuesday.
• The junior earned a 5-2-1 record with a 2.09 GAA and .936 save percentage overall in the month. Those numbers inlcluded a 5-0-1 mark during league play with a 1.47 GAA and a .954 save percentage over those six contests. He stopped 99 of 100 shots during one stretch.
• Millan also earned league Defensive Player of the Week accolades on Feb. 21 and Jan. 31.
• Freshman Adam Clendening was named runner-up for Rookie of the Month honors. He led all rookie defensemen in the country in points for the month with nine (3g, 6a).
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP FOR CHIASSON
• Alex Chiasson has tallied a team-best 31 points (13g, 18a) in 30 games this season and has at least one point in 19 of those contests, including a seven-game point streak that was snapped on Dec. 11.
• Chiasson has seven points (4g, 3a) over his last five contests and ranks tied for ninth in the nation among sophomores in points per game (1.03).
• Twenty-eight of his points have come in Hockey East play, which ranks tied for eighth in the league.
• Chiasson has topped his freshman totals of seven goals, 12 assists and 19 points.
• Nationally, he ranks tied for sixth in game-winning goals (5) and tied for 12th in shorthanded goals (2).
ROOKIE STANDOUTS
• Charlie Coyle (7g, 16a) and Adam Clendening (5g, 18a) are tied for the lead in scoring among Hockey East rookies with 23 points each. Sahir Gill (5g, 17a) ranks fifth with 22 and Matt Nieto (8g, 9a) is tied for ninth with 17 to give BU four in the top 10.
• No league rookie has more assists than Clendening, who ranks fourth nationally among freshman defensemen in points per game (0.68).
• Clendening enters the weekend on a five-game point streak during which he's tallied six points (3g, 3a).
• Coyle put together seven points (2g, 5a) during a six-game point streak immediately after returning from World Juniors.
ON THE KILL
BU's penalty-kill unit currently ranks seventh in the nation. The Terriers are 146-of-169 on the year for an 86.4-percent success rate and have given up just one goal on their opponents' last 22 chances.
