BOSTON — With the United States losing in the quarterfinals of the World Junior Championship Friday, many fans came out to Agganis Arena hoping to see freshman sensation Jack Eichel play for Boston University.
That didn’t happen.
But even minus the phenom, who was also Team USA’s captain, all present were treated to some phenomenal hockey between the NCAA defending champions in Union and the current No. 1 in BU.
In an intensely physical game with a good share of scoring chances and lead changes, Evan Rodrigues scored with 4:16 remaining to tie up a 3-3 game in front of an impressive crowd of 5,286 despite BU being on winter break.
On a night when BU celebrated the tenth anniversary of Agganis Arena, captain Matt Grzelcyk assisted on two of the three BU goals, while Mike Vecchione scored a goal and added an assist for Union.
“I just thought it was a great college hockey game – up and down, chances for both teams,” BU coach David Quinn saId. “I thought we got better as the game went on. I thought our third period was the best period we had.”
Union coach Rick Bennett opted to send his assistant coach Jason Tapp in to speak to the media afterwards. Tapp played goal for the Terriers from 1998 to 2002.
“I thought it was a well-played hockey game by both teams,” Tapp said. “I know it’s their first game coming off break; we went through that ourselves last week. But both teams skated hard, competed hard.”
BU had talented forwards Robbie Baillargeon (mononucleosis) and Nikolas Olsson (concussion and lung issues) back in the lineup after a couple of months out, while Union didn’t have to reckon with Eichel tonight. Quinn said he was not remotely tempted to play Eichel, wanting to give him a physical and mental break after an intense couple of weeks in Canada.
Both teams have struggled to score in the first period most of the season, but tonight it was 2-2 within the first 14 minutes. BU made it 1-0 about six minutes in. Grzelcyk shot from the left point and Alex Sakeliaropoulos made the pad save but seemed to have no idea where the puck went off the rebound. It was about a foot to his left, and A.J. Greer swopped in to bury it.
Union tied it just 38 seconds later with some nice teamwork. Vechionne took the initial shot and the rebound squirted to Matt Wilkins at a sharp angle on goalie Matt O’Connor’s glove side. Instead of shooting, Wilkins wheeled and found Spencer Foo at the top of the slot for the shot and score.
Union took its first lead with a shorthanded goal at 8:51. Brandon Fortunato gave up the puck just inside the Union zone and Daniel Ciampini raced off with it. Fortunato hustled to catch up and did a good job of meddling with the forward, who fell down, only to have the puck drift through O’Connor for a frustrating goal. Perhaps the BU goalie was distracted by Ciampini going down.
“We made some costly mistakes that ended up in the back of the net,” Quinn said. “That’s what happens when you play a good hockey team like that.”
BU tied it up less than five minutes later when Olsson’s shot from the right point went through traffic, hit something, and went in. At first the goal was awarded to Cason Hohmann, but apparently it went off of defender’s stick, so it was credited to Olsson.
“I saw the high shot; I saw the goalie stand up, and I saw the puck enter the net in the bottom half, so I didn’t think it was mine,” Olsson said.
“He gives us a swagger,” Quinn said of the burly freshman. “He’s got a physical presence out there. He’s a horse. He’s trying to hurt people and hit them, and he’s got skill. Once he gets out there and hits someone on his first shift, that’s the cue for everyone else.”
The second period was much less eventful, except for BU forward Danny O’Regan ringing one off of the crossbar in the final minute.
The crushing hits continued into the third period, with Rodrigues leveling Ciampini at the eight-minute mark. Olsson must have had a half-dozen hits of his own.
Finally, though, BU gave up a power-play goal at 14:24. A clearing attempt went right at a Union player, and some tic-tac-toe passing ensued. The puck went from Foo to Ciampini to Vecchione in short order, and the Saugus, Mass., native buried his team-leading ninth goal of the season to make it 3-2.
It looked like the Dutchmen might steal a win despite being BU having a slight edge in shots and huge advantages in shot attempts (76-55) and power plays (7-4). But BU finally capitalized on their final power play, when O’Regan made a terrific cross-ice pass to find Rodrigues in the right-wing circle, where the senior buried the shot past the lunging goaltender.
After that, both teams seemed fairly spent, and the rest of regulation and overtime went by without any real close calls.
With the whole roster available to play for the first time since Nov. 8, the Terriers (11-3-3) will head out to Wisconsin for a pair of games next weekend, while Union returns to ECAC action with road games at Princeton and Quinnipiac.
