Boston just common/ Alma mater of many NHL players, BU now struggles

Normally, inviting Boston University to a game in your arena is a frightening proposition. BU is a perennial national power, owner of four national championships.

It's the alma mater of dozens of NHL players, including the Colorado Avalanche's Chris Drury and Phoenix's Keith Tkachuk. Coach Jack Parker is an icon in the coaching ranks.

So it was an odd sight to see BU skating into the World Arena Saturday night with a 2-8-1 record, suffering through a five-game losing streak and fresh off a 5-2 drubbing at Denver on Friday night.

A year ago, CC and DU played the Terriers in Boston and walked away with matching four-goal losses.

But even BU struggles every now and then, just more infrequently than most programs. Parker's teams have finished with a losing record only five times in his 27 seasons. The last one was in '98-99, when BU was 14-20-3.

Last year's game against CC was Parker's 600th career win. His 300th came against CC as well, in 1987. Parker is the NCAA career leader for wins (618) with one school, having spent his entire career at BU. Saturday night was Parker's 980th game.

WOE IS CC: The Tigers' injury woes, already enough to qualify them for their own episode of "ER," show no sign of abating.

The injuries from Friday night's game - to defenseman Tom Preissing and forward Tyler Leibel - kept them out of Saturday night's game. Preissing is out indefinitely with a serious shoulder separation. Leibel's sprained knee was too swollen Saturday to allow him to play, but CC coaches expect he will be back for next weekend's games against Air Force and Bemidji State.

For the second straight night, a CC freshman made his first appearance in a game. This time it was John Van Pelt, a 6-foot-2 defenseman from Edina, Minn.

BU's struggles have nothing to do with injuries. They had two defensemen, Keith Emery and Freddy Meyer, miss four games each with injuries, but both have returned.

SUPERLATIVES: BU got its first goal of Saturday's game at the World Arena from an unlikely source, freshman Kenny Magowan, a fourth- line wing who has appeared in seven games. It was the first goal of his career.

CC freshman defenseman Andrew Canzanello didn't score the first goal of his career, but he did collect an assist and played an excellent offensive game.

- Lynn Zinser may be reached at 636-0376 or lzinser@gazette.com

CC notes

Injuries to Tom Preissing and Tyler Leibel on Friday night kept them out of action on Saturday.

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