Clearing the Bases Blog Index
January 25, 2009
No. 14 Boston College 4, Maine 1

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Four different players scored as No. 14 Boston College defeated the University of Maine men's hockey team 4-1 at Conte Forum.

Barry Almeida, Tim Kunes, Joe Whitney and Brock Bradford scored for the Eagles (11-8-3, 6-7-3 Hockey East), who won the season series 2-1. BC goalie John Muse made 22 saves.

Mike Banwell scored for Maine (10-11-3, 6-8-3), and Dave Wilson made 22 saves for Maine, which is winless in the past eight games. Maine faces UMass-Lowell at 7 p.m. Friday at Alfond Arena.

***

Dave Wilson wants what any other guy on the Maine hockey team wants right now.

"Personally, I wish we were winning," said Wilson, who made 22 saves in a 4-1 loss Sunday at No. 14 Boston College.

Wilson made his third appearance in nine days in goal, Wilson stopped 20 shots in a 3-1 loss to Bentley on Jan. 16, and relieved Scott Darling on Saturday in a 6-3 loss at No. 14 Boston College. Prior to that, Wilson hadn't played in nearly two months, save for a 7-3 exhibition win over the US Under-18 team Jan. 2 in Portland.

"We're confident in front of Willie," Maine defenseman Mike Banwell said. "We've got two solid goaltenders and Willie played well tonight."

A goalie controversy might not be brewing yet, given that the Black Bears are winless in their last eight games, but it's possible that the Black Bears might go back to a platoon system. It's what they used in the first two months of the season, until it appeared to be a forgone conclusion that Darling was the team's No. 1 goalie.

Consider the stats:

Wilson: Seven games, 2-4-0, .893 saves percentage (168 shots, 150 saves), 2.81 goals-against average.

Darling: 18 games, 8-7-3, .915 saves percentage (457 shots, 418 saves), 2.18 goals-against average.

***

The Black Bears still can't create traffic in front of the net. Banwell's goal came on a slapshot from inside the blue line, but Maine was unable to bury - or even create - those shots in front of the goal.

"We still missed out on opportunities to get pucks to the net and to generate second and third shots," Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said. "We passed up some of those chances and they didn't pass up too many of theirs."

"They get those second and third shots and they fight in front of the net," Maine forward Tanner House said. "We have to be better defensively, taking away their sticks and taking away their second and third opportunities."

***

In the end came a breakdown in discipline by both teams. Of the 21 penalties doled out Sunday, 12 came in the final 10 minutes of the game after a pair of skirmishes - including seven against BC: Brock Bradford, roughing; Benn Ferriero, roughing, grasping the face, cross-checking; Nick Petrecki, head-butting, game disqualification, roughing.

Maine's penalties were: Jeff Dimmen, roughing; Keif Orsini, roughing; Chris Hahn, hitting from behind, game misconduct; Orsini, high sticking.

"I'd like to have seen us be a little more disciplined," said Boston College Coach Jerry York, whose team was penalized 19 times in the weekend series.

***

Here's some food for thought from Bradford, who leads Hockey East with 16 goals. During the post-game press conference, Bradford was asked about his team's ability to "go for the jugular," in terms of successfully closing out a win.

"Andrew Orpik was talking about this after the game in the locker room," Bradford said. "We did a lot better job playing with a lead. We were a lot more confident. We weren't sitting back … We kept the pressure on them. It's tough to lose when you're in the offensive zone."


Posted at 06:19 PM

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Comments

Tough one for the boys, but that's a tough team they played. I have no doubt Timmy will have them ready for the next series! We're still in playoff position if the season ended today!

Posted by KeepWhitehead
January 26, 2009 05:31 PM

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Rachel is in her fifth year as a sports reporter at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. A former college soccer and softball player, she covered sports at newspapers in Pennsylvania, Texas and Colorado before joining the Press Herald/Sunday Telegram staff in June of 2004.

Rachel takes over coverage of the University of Maine hockey team and was introduced to Maine hockey as a seventh-grader in Annapolis, Maryland, after reading a 1988 Sports Illustrated story about Shawn Walsh's impact on the program. Nearly 20 years later, she still has the four-page article in her possession.

She and her husband, Tommy (who also works for MaineToday Media, Inc.) are avid sports fans who root for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Kansas Jayhawks. After a year of marriage, their next step in life is to find a bigger house!



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