After a lackluster loss at Notre Dame on New Year’s Eve, the Terriers rallied to beat Merrimack at Agganis Arena last Friday and tied the US Under-18 team in an exhibition game Sunday.
One of the challenges was figuring out who was going to play center. For now, Chris Connolly and Sahir Gill are filling in at the pivot. Both played the position before but not for very long.
Although BU mixes up its lines fairly frequently, Connolly has been centering Matt Nieto and Alex Chiasson, and Gill is playing between Wade Megan and Evan Rodrigues.
“Guys have stepped up and people have moved to different positions,’’ said Parker. “[Connolly and Gill] are doing a good job.
“It was fortunate we had enough depth up front that we could afford to lose a couple of guys. It would’ve been nicer if it was one forward and one defenseman or one wing and one center.
“In any event, obviously we’re a lot thinner now because those two guys are gone but we still have plenty of talent. I think it was necessary to realize that and I think they did realize that when they put together a pretty good game against Merrimack.’’
Parker said morale has been good, although he kind of wondered after the subpar performance against the Fighting Irish.
“We played really flat against Notre Dame,’’ he said. “I was wondering if that was because we were down because we didn’t think we were going to be any good. But I think we were just flat and not ready to play.
“The way we came out and how we played against Merrimack was a good showing and showed we still have plenty of talent. It was a good thing for them to realize, ‘Hey, this is still a viable operation here.’ ’’
The Terriers face a couple of stern tests this weekend, tonight at Northeastern and tomorrow at Harvard.
The Huskies are 7-1-1 in their last nine outings.
“Northeastern is arguably the hottest team in the nation, and Harvard is not far behind,’’ said Parker. “Both of them are getting great goaltending.
