No team wants a goaltending controversy. And even though Northeastern seems to have found a diamond in the rough in Bryan Mountain, that may not be the best thing for this club. That leads my three things I learned this weekend:
1. Rawlings struggles, Mountain shines
Chris Rawlings is supposed to be the backbone to this year’s Northeastern team. But he’s been fighting the puck of late, particularly Friday night when the Huskies let a two-goal lead slip against New Hampshire. Head coach Jim Madigan pulled Rawlings in favor of Bryan Mountain, a senior who hadn’t started a game since January of 2010. On Saturday, Mountain matched UNH’s Casey DeSmith save for save posting a 44 stop scoreless overtime draw. Whether or not Mountain becomes the number one is yet to be seen but one thing is for sure: Northeastern must have consistency in net if they’re to be successful this year.
2. Providence seems to be the real deal
Granted the Friars swept a struggling Maine team, but mark my words that late in the season we’ll look back to this past weekend’s sweep of the Black Bears and realize this was a big-time success for Providence. The Friars needed a solid bounce back after getting just a a tie in a tough two-game series at Miami last wekend. They got exactly that and did so with balanced scoring and solid goaltending from rookie Jon Gillies, who posted his first career shutout on Saturday.
3. Terriers solid; alums show support
Boston University looked solid in a two-game sweep of Massachusetts, a nice bounce-back after a lackluster loss to UNH last weekend. More impressive was the show of support for head coach Jack Parker from his alums, who showed in en force on Friday night – somewhere between 75 and 100 strong – to honor the coach’s 40th season at BU. Unfortunate for Parker, he was unable to be on the bench after tweeking his back during the week, needing crutches to get to his perch in a private box at Agganis Arena, from where he coached the game. Great to see such support for Parker given the rough times his program went through late in the summer after a university investigation into the culture surrounding the hockey team.
