Terriers move past Vermont to stay alive
His hockey team had gotten far too comfy in its plush surroundings at Agganis Arena, where it had won only seven of 17 games all season. So Boston University coach Jack Parker served an eviction notice yesterday. "Pack your bags," he told the Terriers. "We're going on a road trip."
Right down the hall, no need for a bus. BU has been much better away from Commonwealth Avenue this season (9-2-4) than it's been at home, so the players pretended they were elsewhere last night, dressing in a Spartan room and wearing their red warm-ups instead of their customary jackets and ties.
And then the defending Hockey East champions went out and played the kind of game they'd been expecting to play here all season, blanking Vermont, 2-0, before 4,361 witnesses to force their quarterfinal playoff series to a decisive third game tonight.
"Now we play another game to see who goes to the Garden," said Parker after goals by Pete MacArthur and Brian Strait plus goaltender John Curry's nation-best seventh shutout of the season had done in the 19th-ranked Catamounts (18-15-5).
After Thursday's 3-2 loss, BU (19-8-9) knew it had to come strong last night or risk sitting at home for another nine days wondering whether it would get an NCAA bid.
"Guys looked at themselves in the mirror," said captain Sean Sullivan, whose colleagues had lost three straight for the first time since November 2004, "and decided that they had to come out and give it their all for the guy next to them."
Not that the Terriers didn't have to sweat mightily for this one. They didn't get on the board until MacArthur blasted a power-play goal at 10:59 of the second period and didn't put it away until Strait lofted one through traffic from the right point with 6:08 to play. If Curry (29 saves, 15 in the third period) hadn't made two huge stops on Peter Lenes and Corey Carlson, it might have been different.
It wasn't the first time that Curry, now tied with Jack Ferreira for most career shutouts (13) in BU history, has come up with a big night for big stakes. But this time he had the help from his friends that he hadn't gotten in the opener.
"Give a lot of credit to BU," saluted UVM coach Kevin Sneddon. "A lot of things we did very effectively last night they turned around and did to us. Their team played with a lot of heart and a lot of emotion."
The Catamounts noticed it right away. "They came out flying," said captain Kenny Macaulay , whose mates were outshot, 15-5, in the first period. Yet BU couldn't break through, and came close to falling behind early in the second period when Colin Vock dinged the crossbar on the power play.
Even after MacArthur hammered his shot past goalie Joe Fallon from above the right circle ("An NHL one-timer," said Sneddon. "Beautiful shot"), the Terriers had to keep battling and Curry had to stand tall. Not until Strait wristed another past a screened Fallon could the home-based "visitors" breathe easy.
Now the series begins anew, but the Terriers won't be back in their carpeted doghouse tonight. In fact, they won't be back there before a game again until October. "We've got one more game in this building and we're treating it like a road game," said Curry. "And after that, we don't have any more home games."
Neither do the Catamounts, who are trying to win their first road playoff series in four years and get to the Garden for the first time since 1989, when they shocked eventual NCAA champion Harvard in the ECAC semis. That's the way this sport works in March. Win or lose, you can't go home again.
John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com. 
