Playing Against Friends Is No Fun for Hughes

Chuckie Hughes and Tony Amonte grew up together and drove to North Shore Raiders peewee hockey games together.

Last night, Amonte and the rest of the Boston University men's hockey team were not so friendly to Hughes.

The Terriers peppered the Harvard junior netminder with 38 shots last night at Bright Center, blasting four by the beleaguered goaltender.

"At least I didn't let Amonte score," Hughes commented wryly, still sore from a third-period rocket to the chest--one of many he stopped and smothered.

Despite his own remarks to the contrary, Hughes played very well.

"I played well enough to lose," Hughes said. "This game really meant a lot to me. I went to high school with four of them, and I know all of them."

Go Tree

But the Currier House resident did not lose this game for the Crimson. While that probably will not stop the jibes from high school teammates Mark and Mike Bavis, Kevin O'Sullivan or Stephen Foster when they get together over the summer, even the Terriers admit Hughes put together three periods of solid goaltending.

"We hit him with a lot of shots and he played pretty big for them," Terriers wing Mike Bavis said. "We had a lot of blasts from a lot of big shooters."

"If it wasn't for [Hughes], it probably would have been a bigger win for us," said fellow second-liner Mark Bavis, who with his twin Mike trailed Hughes by only a year at Catholic Memorial, a traditional power in the Division I Catholic League. Harvard Captain Ted Donato also attended CM.

"I know all the Boston guys pretty well," said Hughes, wearing the rattlesnake cowboy boots he picked up in Oklahoma City, Okla., during the 1989 National Sports Festival. Terriers Shawn McEachern and Amonte also played in Oklahoma.

Although Amonte did not score a goal--he had three assists--McEachern (two), David Sacco and Keith Tkachuk all tallied against Hughes.

McEachern's first goal beat Hughes to the post, but the other three were almost hockey's version of the layup. Tkachuk, who played in the same high school league as the Harvard netminder, was left all alone to Hughes' right, and simply redirected Amonte's pass into the twines.

David Sacco, on a two-on-one, drilled a slapshot from the slot past Hughes after the defender laid off him too far.

And McEachern's second goal was a repeat of Sacco's blast, including the tentative defense.

Hughes disagrees.

"I only had to make first saves," Hughes said in defense of his D. But he had to make 34 of them.

"I should have had Sacco's shot...it went off my glove," Hughes said, ignoring the difficulty of touching a slapshot taken from 10 feet away. "McEachern took a great shot," added Hughes, understating again.

Hughes looks at the job he did against B.U. with some disgust, although Assistant Coach Lane MacDonald--and everyone else--was repetitive in his positive comments about Hughes' performance.

"You make the saves when you are called upon to make them. I should have stopped the first two," Hughes said.

Road roommate and fellow goalie Allain Roy rightly rejected Hughes' self-deprecating comments. "If we're not going to score, we won't win any games. Chuckie played well."