Pereira Wraps Up Terrier Win

It was a classic marquee matchup.

After trailing third ranked Boston University by a two goal margin going into the third period, No. 5 Michigan stormed back to tie the game with 5:30 remaining, and they threatened to score more.

Joe Pereira tucks in the game winner despite Brandon Burlon’s efforts (photo: Melissa Wade).

Suddenly, though, Wolverine goalie Bryan Hogan misplayed a puck behind the net, and Terrier Joe Pereira pounced on the puck for a wraparound and the decisive goal with just 2:31 remaining. Despite getting outshot 21-4 in the third period, BU emerged with a stirring 3-2 win in front of an Alumni Weekend crowd of 6,221 at Agganis Arena.

Though he gave up the one bad goal, Kieran Millan played a great game in the Terrier net with 33 saves. Chris Summers led the way for Michigan with two assists. All in all, it was a gratifying first win for Terrier coach Jack Parker and his players — particularly after inconsistent showings during the first two games of the season.

“Overall I thought we played a pretty solid game in a whole bunch of different areas, but I thought that the best thing we did was we competed from the opening faceoff to the end of the game,” Parker said. “Even when we were exhausted, we were still competing real hard. We were really back on our heels in the third period — you can see that on the shot chart — and a lot of that has to do with the penalties we took. We were self-destructing with penalties, but the game was won and lost with special teams. We did a great job killing penalties.”

The latter was especially impressive considering that BU played without Luke Popko — their best forward in terms of killing two-man advantages — and then lost their best overall forward in Nick Bonino, who dislocated his shoulder in the first period. The good and bad news is that it was the first time Bonino has suffered a dislocation. Players who have no previous history of the injury have a much lower probability of a recurrence, but they also tend to have a longer recovery time. The best case has Bonino missing about three weeks, but it could be more like a month.

Meanwhile, Michigan coach Red Berenson reflected on some positives and negatives as well.

“I thought it was a good game,” Berenson said. “From our standpoint, the early penalties hurt us. It’s hard to get any momentum when you’re killing penalties.

“The third period I thought our team started to compete harder and turn the wheel. College hockey is a game of momentum, and we started to get momentum. We finally got a break around the net. I like the way we were playing — just a bad goal on our goalie to decide the game.”

There were few scoring chances early in the game. The most noteworthy development was Bonino’s injury at 14:39, when he hit down hard when checked while going into the Wolverine zone. Even before he left the ice, it was obvious that he had suffered a shoulder separation — which would have been worse — or a dislocation.

On a power play, the Terriers took the lead at 16:13. Foreshadowing the clinching goal, this one was also the result of a mishandled puck behind the net by the Michigan netminder.

“He played the one puck off the glass, which a goalie should never play,” Berenson said. “If the puck’s coming around the board you might play it, but not the glass. He played the first one off the glass, it took a bad bounce, and bang, it’s in our net.”

Zach Cohen scored the goal — his first of the season.

“Corey Trivino was able to find the puck, and I found an open spot right in front the net,” Cohen said. “He got it out to me, and I didn’t know it was in the net at first.”

The second period featured great skating and action-packed play.

BU had a great chance at 2:23 when Vinny Saponari shot, followed by Ryan Santana shooting the rebound off the post. That rebound sat in the crease, and David Warsofsky raced in and took a whack at it. Hogan stopped it — but did the puck cross the line before he did? A video review ensued after the next whistle, but the footage was too inconclusive to overrule the no-goal call on the ice.

Millan made perhaps his best save of the night at 4:20 of the period, when he was hung out to dry on a two-on-one rush. Left wing David Wohlberg was left to go mano-a-mano with the sophomore, and Millan stoned him.

BU made it 2-0 at 12:59 during the waning seconds of a power play. Chris Connolly got the puck along the left-wing boards and fed it to Colby Cohen at the center of the point. Unmarked, the defenseman drifted in with the puck and had ample time to set up his slapshot, which beat Hogan high glove side.

The third period was all Michigan for the first 16 minutes or so.

Ben Winnett takes down Eric Gryba in front of the BU bench (photo: Melissa Wade).

Eric Gryba got called for a five-minute major after crunching Wohlberg into the boards at 2:15, but Michigan gave up the advantage when Chris Brown received the same call 59 seconds later. Still, Michigan gained momentum and piled up the shots. Millan looked fabulous until he surrendered a soft goal at 10:04.

“It was a little mistake on my part,” Millan said. “I anticipated a rebound, and it ended up getting stuck underneath my pad. While I was rotating to make the next save, it popped up and went toward the net.” The goalie pounded his stick on the ice in frustration.

Michigan tied it up less than four minutes later, when Luke Glendening set up Matt Rust, who raced in and beat Millan with a high backhander at 14:30. Less than two minutes after that, sensing his team was exhausted and out of position, Parker called a time to give his team a breather as well as a chance to regroup.

That set the stage for Pereira’s heroics.

“It was actually the end of our shift,” Pereira said. “Ryan Santana had the puck, and he saw me shooting down. He dumped it in the far corner, and the goalie went out to play the puck. I jumped, and the puck was right there. Once I got control of the puck, I knew that if I took it to the net as fast as I could it would be a good chance. I just stuffed it hard.”

“The ice is not as good as the game nears the end,” Berenson said. [Hogan’s] anticipating that the puck will move better than it did, and his decision was not good, and his execution was not good. It was a bad goal, and that’s too bad because he had a good game.”

BU (1-2-0) resumes Hockey East play with a home-and-home showdown with UMass-Lowell next weekend, while Michigan (2-2-0) travels to Lake Superior State for a pair of CCHA games.