The Takeaway: BC Outplays UMass in Win
Saturday, October 22nd, 2011CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Boston College received two goals from Bill Arnold in a largely uncontested 4-2 win over Massachusetts on Friday night. After a fairly even first period ended with the Eagles up, 2-0, BC took over the second period, outshooting UMass, 14-2, and draining any confidence, momentum and energy the Minutemen may have felt after the first period.
Goaltender Parker Milner started for the Eagles and played strong, turning away all but two of UMass’ 20 shots. As we’ve seen fro the Eagles in recent years, Friday’s win was thorough team victory. All four lines contributed to the win, and the three defensive pairings BC coach Jerry York sent out handled their assignments with confidence and ease.
What I saw
- BC forwards have more confidence in their defensemen than any other group I’ve ever seen. Early in the game, UMass succeeded in establishing a forecheck, but the Eagle defensemen prevented them from turning any of their work behind net into quality looks from Grade-A. As the Minutemen tired, which took about 17 whole minutes, the BC forwards seemed to begin their transitions up ice early. At first, this just seemed like laziness. They weren’t getting back on defense and supporting their defensemen. It became clear, though, that the BC forwards know their defensive corps — led by the defensive defensmen in Hockey East Brian Dumoulin — can handle any pressure from anyone, especially a young, inexperience team like UMass.
- Parker Milner is good, but he’s not quite John Muse yet. No one ever said John Muse was the best goaltender in Hockey East. More often than not, he just let his rings tell the story. While the 8-4 thrashing BC took in Muse’s final game cemented his “average goalie on a great team reputation for some,” this reporter was always impressed by Muse. Rarely did he allow a soft goal. Rarely did he make a bad decision on playing a puck or coming out to challenge a shooter. His teammates were equally impressed with him, and it showed in the occasional risks they took, knowing Muse would bail them out. That level of confidence isn’t quite there yet with Milner. After taking the job from Muse in February 2010, before Muse earned back just in to lead the Eagles to every championship ever, many thought Milner would become the Eagles No. 1 from there on out. He’s capable of being a truly great No. 1 at this level, and with that defensive corps in front of him, the confidence needed to get there won’t take long to develop
- BC’s penalty kill is still something that greater skilled teams can exploit. Jerry York said after the game that the Eagles have eight forwards he is fully confident in when killing penalties. For years, a hallmark of the BC penalty kill has been aggressive puck pursuit and pressure on point men by the BC forwards on the kill. Last season, though, the Eagles allowed seven power play goals combined in the Hockey East semifinal, championship and first round of the NCAA Tournament. Against teams with confident, deft puck handlers at the point and blow the circles, the aggression at the blue line can leave a penalty-killer out of position, as we saw last March. However, the Minutemen were unable to take advantage of this.