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By Brian Fitzgerald

	Captain Mark Mullen (SHA’04) was named Hockey East’s best defensive forward last season. Photo by John Quackenboss

Will the BU men’s hockey offense be firing bullets or blanks this year?

Like last season, the team probably doesn’t have any sharpshooters who are going to score 30 goals. Coach Jack Parker points out, however, that the 2002–03 Terriers were getting better at hitting their target — the opponent’s net — late in the campaign, when it counted the most.

“ Toward the end of last year we grew pretty well offensively,” he says. “We struggled to put the puck in the net earlier, but in the second half of the season, especially down the stretch, our offense played well.”
If BU, ranked third in Hockey East in the Coaches’ Poll, follows a similar pattern this year, it might just get that February and March surge needed to reach the Frozen Four for the first time in seven years, especially if the team delivers some clutch performances at the end. Still, the Terriers must get by such high-caliber teams as top-ranked Boston College and number-two New Hampshire — no easy task.

It was a mission they almost accomplished last March, however, beating Boston College in the Hockey East tournament semifinal in overtime, 6-5, before getting blanked by New Hampshire, 1-0, in the championship. Then, after defeating Harvard in the national tournament, 6-4, BU was shut out by New Hampshire again, 3-0, in the NCAA Northeast Regional.

“ We didn’t have a player in the top 15 in league scoring last year,” says Parker, “and we still ended up in the Hockey East final.” And it wasn’t as if there was a scoring drought in the postseason. Although New Hampshire shut down BU’s offense, the Terriers averaged six goals a game in the other four playoff contests. “We scored six against BC, seven and five goals in the Hockey East quarterfinals against Providence, and six against Harvard,” he says. “But UNH had our number.”

Parker says that every year he generally has three objectives: getting home ice advantage for the Hockey East tournament, winning enough regular-season games to be invited to the NCAA tournament instead of relying on winning the conference tournament for an automatic bid, and “to be a better team at the end of the year than we are at the beginning of the year. I think we basically did that last year,” he says. “We just barely missed home ice advantage, but we were lucky enough to go down to Providence and beat [the Friars] in their own building, and then we had a good run in the playoffs.”

This year, with a solid nucleus coming back, Parker expects 15 to 20 goals each from upperclassmen Frantisek Skladany (SHA’04), Brian McConnell (MET’05), and Mark Mullen (SHA’04). “But we’ll also get a big jump from our sophomore class,” according to the coach, from forwards such as John LaLiberte (CAS’06), David VanderGulik (CAS’06), and Brad Zancanaro (CGS’04). “It will be offense-by-committee somewhat,” he says, pointing to the unexpected departure of forward Justin Maiser (CGS’03), who announced in July that he was leaving school with two years of eligibility remaining to sign with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League. “We lost a good right-winger, and we don’t have a lot of depth in that position,” Parker says.

BU also has to replace three top-notch defensemen who graduated, including All-American Freddy Meyer (MET’03). “That’s arguably the toughest loss in the league as far as graduation is concerned,” Parker says, “but we brought in three good freshmen, and they’ll be solid players. We’ve also got four good defensemen coming back.” He has high hopes that Ryan Whitney (CAS’05), Jekabs Redlihs (SED’05), Bryan Miller (CAS’05), and Dan Spang (CAS’05) will continue their stellar play. All took various Hockey East honors last year, and Miller was named to the NCAA Northeast Region All-Tournament Team.

Frantisek Skladany (SHA’04) led the Terriers in scoring last year with 14 goals and 21 assists. Photo by John Quackenboss

And then, of course, mandatory to excel in the playoffs is good goaltending. Fortunately for the Terriers, 2003 Beanpot tournament and team MVP Sean Fields (CAS’04), who had a .911 save percentage, is back. “He has proven over his career that he is the spark plug for us,” says Parker. “We have a lot of confidence in our game in our zone knowing he is back there for us. There is no question that he is an All–Hockey East, All-American, and Hobey Baker candidate.” The ironman senior played in 40 of BU’s 42 games, but he might get a little more rest this season, especially since Parker is impressed with the other netminder, Stephan Siwiec (CAS’06). “Fields is our number-one goalie,” he says, “but we also want to give him some rest once in a while.”

Parker says that BU will continue to have a solid defensive team, and that offensively, the Terriers should be in even better shape than last year. Although his primary concern is positional depth, especially at right wing, he says, “I do believe we have enough talent, enough size, and enough hockey sense to generate more offense than we did last season.”

More scoring just might be the key ingredient to advancing further in the postsesason. And Parker says that the city of Boston playing host to the 2004 Frozen Four at the FleetCenter should be added incentive.

Skladany, who led the team in scoring last year with 14 goals and 21 assists, agrees. “My goal is to play in the Frozen Four at the FleetCenter,” he says. “It’s my senior year, my last chance, and the other seniors on the team feel the same way. We want to go further than the Eastern Regionals this time, and this is the year to do it. The finals are in Boston — we have the chance to play in front of a home crowd.”

17 October 2003
Boston University
Office of University Relations