Former Beanpot MVP Rausch now heads USA Hockey youth programs

ESPN hockey analyst John Buccigross, a youth hockey advocate who also coaches his son’s pee wee team, talked about recent changes to U.S. hockey programs at the earliest levels, with former Terrier forward and assistant coach Kenny Rausch, now USA Hockey’s manager of youth hockey.

Rausch, a walk-on speedster who became a fan favorite and an important cog on three Terrier Frozen Four teams—including the ’95 NCAA champs, had been an assistant coach at BU, Niagara and Lowell, before joining USA Hockey. At BU, he played both forward and defense. In his senior season, he scored the game-winning overtime goal against Minnesota in the Mariucci Classic, earned MVP honors in the final Beanpot Tournament played at the old Boston Garden and was named a Hockey East Distinguished Scholar.



Defensemen David Warsofsky and Garrett Noonan made the list of top performers in the last Hockey East Weekly release which includes national and conference individual and team statistics.

USCHO’s Hockey East Blog analyzed the up-and-down season of BU’s next opponent, arch-rival Boston College, who despite four conference losses, is tied with the Terriers for first place in Hockey East.

Jay Pandolfo, four games into his AHL season with the Springfield Falcons, talked with New England Hockey Journal about the challenge of trying to stay in shape on your own, waiting for a team to call.

The Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa reports on the Bruins’ acquisition of Colby Cohen.

Women’s team
The Daily Free Press recapped the women’s team’s sweep of Princeton.

Freshman Marie-Philip Poulin, who had four assists in the wins against Princeton, earned Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week honors. She’s the national leader in points per game for freshmen with 1.92 (11-23-23 in 12 games)

Freshman goal Kerrin Sperry, sporting an 8-0-2 record and a 1.58 goals against average, was named co-winner of Hockey East’s Rookie of the Month for November.

Colby Cohen acquired by Bruins

Former Terrier All-American Colby Cohen was acquired by the Boston Bruins today from the Colorado Avalanche in return for defenseman Matt Hunwick. Cohen, who scored BU’s game-winning goal in overtime in the 2009 national championship game and led BU with 11 power play goals last season, will report to the Bruins’ AHL affiliate in Providence. The trade ends a long run of Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk being teammates or at least in the same organization. The two had been teammates on the East Coast Selects and then in the U.S. NTDP program in Ann Arbor, before their three years at BU and signing with Colorado.

• Boston Bruins coverage
• Boston Globe coverage
• New England Hockey Journal coverage

Meanwhile, Shattenkirk talks with The Denver Post about his early success in Colorado. His backdoor pass to Milan Hedjuk for a goal against Dallas on Nov. 20 earned him the Avalanche Play of the Week.

The Daily Free Press offers a feature on Ben Rosen, who scored his first goal in Saturday’s tie with Brown, along with a game recap.

This week’s national ranking have BU remaining in the second spot in the USCHO poll, while dropping to third in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

Looking back
We added another post on our THIS DATE IN TERRIER HOCKEY page about the 1970-71 season. One of our readers has pointed out a similarity between the 1970-71 squad that won BU's first national championship and the most recent NCAA champs in 2009. Both teams had ended the previous season with a disappointing loss in the their conference tournament semifinals--to Clarkson on a goal in the final minute of in the ECACs in 1970 and to Vermont in the Hockey East tourney in 2008--and both used the loss as part of the motivation for what would be a record-setting season. The 1970-71 team rang up a then-record 28 wins and 210 goals scored, while the 2008-09 team won a record seven championships.

Megan goal ties up Brown

A slow start in the first period and a strong performance from Brown goalie Mike Clemente were two obstacles the Terriers overcame in gaining a come-from-behind tie with Brown, 4-4 in overtime, despite outshooting the Bears, 42-43 and having some grade A chance late in the third period and in the extra stanza.

BU's fifth tie of the season and it's fourth on home ice didn't sit too well with Coach Jack Parker who commented "I have a closet full of ties; I’ve got enough ties.”

The good news was that BU came back from 2-0 deficit; the bad news was not closing out a game the Terriers led 3-2 late in the second period. As USCHO's Scott Weighart put it, "It was the best of ties, it was the worst of ties."
Sophomore Ben Rosen (photo) scored his first career goal in the first period, which was followed by goals from Joe Pereira and Alex Chiasson in the second period. Wade Megan's third-period marker knotted the score at four apiece.

The Terriers, who will meet Brown again in the Shillelagh Tournament in Chicago on New Year's Day, return to conference play with the annual December home-and-home series against arch-rival Boston College. Both games will air on CBS College Sports.

• GoTerriers.com recap and box score

• Video highlights and photo gallery

• Coach Jack Parker's post-game comments (audio)
• USCHO recap
• The Boston Hockey Blog recap and grading the Terriers
• Boston Globe recap
• WTBU Sports recap

Looking back
Colin Wilson scored an early goal for the Predators, but the Rangers eventually won 2-1 in a shootout in Nashville last night. It was Wilson's third goal of the season (video)

Kevin Shattenkirk scored his fourth goal (video) in 12 games and added two assists (4-6-10) in the Colorado's 7-4 win over Minnesota.

Looking ahead
Goalie Matt O'Connor stopped 19 shots in Youngstown's 3-1 win against Chicago in USHL action.

Women's team
Goals by Jill Cardella and Tara Watchorn helped the Terrier women's team edge Princeton, 2-1, in a game at Agganis Arena, completing a weekend sweep of the Tigers. Goalie
made 23 stops as the team improved its record to 11-2-3.
• GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score
• Photo gallery
• Coach Brian Durocher comments

Game Day: BU vs. Brown

Terriers are home for the holiday, taking on Brown University in the first matchup between the teams since BU’s 8-1 win at Walter Brown Arena in November 1997. The Bruins, who opened the hockey community’s eyes with a strong run in last Spring’s ECAC playoffs where they upset RPI and Yale, are coming off a milestone weekend, having beaten Cornell and Colgate on the road for the first time in 18 years. Brown’s strength is its power play which has been clicking at 28.1 percent.

Chris Connolly’s broken pinky and excessive penalties by Sean Escobedo have led to several lineup changes. Andrew Glass moves up to left wing on the third line with Ross Gaudet and Wade Megan. 6-4 freshman defenseman Patrick MacGregor makes his collegiate debut tonight, paired with sophomore Max Nicastro. Last season, MacGregor played for New England Prep Champion Avon Old Farms.

• GoTerriers.com has links to game notes, gametracker, the WWZN Radio Webcast and the All Access video Webcast.
• Boston Hockey Blog game preview. BHB will be live blogging tonight.

Expected lineup for tonight:
Matt Nieto - Corey Trivino - Alex Chiasson
Sahir Gill - Charlie Coyle - Joe Pereira
Andrew Glass - Ross Gaudet - Wade Megan
Justin Courtnall - Ben Rosen - Ryan Santana

David Warsofsky - Ryan Ruikka
Garrett Noonan - Adam Clendening
Max Nicastro -Patrick MacGregor

Kieran Millan
Adam Kraus
Grant Rollheiser

For the Scarlet Daily Digest, Scott Weighart traces the circuitous route that brought junior Chris Connolly from Duluth, Minn., to Commonwealth Avenue and a national championship in his freshman season. After several season of junior hockey, Connolly, whose younger brother Jack stars for hometown Minnesota-Duluth, caught the eye of then Terrier Associate Head Coach David Quinn at the 2007 USHL Fall Festival.

Looking back
Check out our THIS DATE IN TERRIER HOCKEY page. Today we begin posting some of the games from the 1970-71 season, as we mark the 40th anniversary of BU's first national championship team. We'll also be posting some articles with recollections of some of the players and coaches of that squad that went 28-2-1.

Women's team
The #5 ranked Women’s team skated past visiting Princeton last night, 8-2, with a balanced attack led by Jenelle Kohanchuk’s goal and two assists and a pair of goals by Jillian Kirchner.
• GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score
• Video highlights
• Coach Brian Durocher comments (video)

The women’s team takes on Princeton again today, this time on the sheet at Agganis Arena, for a 3 p.m. start as part of Ivy Saturday that sees both hockey teams and the men’s basketball team (vs. Cornell) playing Ivy League schools.
• WTBU Sports game center

Parker & Ebert ?

In addition to his passion for hockey and sailing, Terrier Coach Jack Parker is a movie buff. For the Scarlet Daily Digest, the veteran coach offered up his personal list of ten favorite movies.

At a BU alumni event this past summer, film afficionado Parker entertained a group of alums with the story of the the tragically short life of actor John Cazale (bio). A Revere, Mass., native who attended BU’s School of Fine Arts (now College of Fine Arts) where he was a classmate of Olympia Dukakis, Cazale was primarily a stage actor. He appeared in only five feature films, but all five were Oscar nominees for best picture--including the first two Godfather movies, in which he played Fredo Corleone--Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. Cazale's life--he died at 42 in 1978--is the subject of the 2009 HBO documentary, "I knew It Was You—Rediscovering John Cazale." (YouTube trailier)

Parker offered up some kudos for sophomore winger Alex Chiasson in the Boston Globe’s hockey notes:

I think he’s made a huge step this year as far as confidence. He’s given us great games every game, shift after shift, practice after practice. The thing that is best about his game right now is he’s so consistent. He’s made a step up because he’s more confident and he’s a better player right now. But he’s a more consistent player by far than he was last year, so that’s really helped.

Looking back
Jay Pandolfo, who signed on with AHL Springfield last week, assisted on a Falcon’s goal in his first AHL game since 1998,the year he played in the league all-star game. Springfield lost to Manchester, 3-2 .

Rick DiPietro’s first shutout of the season enabled the Islanders to snap their 14-game winless streak, as New York beat the Devils, 2-0. DiPietro, the NHL’s first overall draft choice in 2000, turned aside 29 Devils’ shots in his 16th career shutout, earning first-star honors.

The Providence Journal’s Rhode Island Hockey Report talked with former Terrier goalie and current Providence women’s coach Bob Deraney about his team’s current rivalry with Brown and how it compares with the BU-BC rivalry.

Looking ahead

2011 recruit Cason Hohmann scored his seventh goal in 12 games as Cedar Rapids edged in a shootout, 2-1.

Turkey Day Linkorama

A College Hockey News feature by Avash Kalra provides an update on Travis Roy, the former Terrier forward who suffered a spinal injury in his first varsity game 15 years ago, leaving him a quadriplegic. He founded The Travis Roy Foundation in 1997 to help spinal cord injury survivors and to fund research into a cure. Roy, who also is a motivational speaker, author, and artist, was interviewed by Kalra on Radio Rounds — a weekly national talk show produced entirely by medical students.

USCHO's Jim Connelly, offering his perspective on what each Hockey East team has to be thankful for, points to BU's strong netminding duo of Kieran Millan and Grant Rollheiser and callsfreshmen Charlie Coyle and Sahir Gill "possibly the most dynamic duo of rookie forwards in the country"

Better late tha never, we have WTBU's recap of Saturday’s 4-2 win against Hampshire.

Hockeysfuture.com, looking at top NCAA prospects for the NHL, discussed freshman Matt Nieto’s performance, among others.

Looking ahead
Coach Kevin Patrick of the Muskegon Lumberjacks, interviewed by Terrier broadcaster Bernie Corbett and ex-Princeton star Paul McNamara on Pure Hockey on Campus, talked about his top players including 2011 recruit Alexx Privitera, whom he called a “warrior” and a “great shotblocker” in addition to his offensive skills.

2012 recruit Robert Posello, back in the Vaughan Vipers lineup after having played in the World U17 Challenge, scored his 9th goal of the season (9-8-17 in 13 games) in the Vipers' 9-0 drubbing of Dixie.

The Scouting Report commented on some top prospects from Quebec, including Anthony Duclair and Jonathan Drouin of the Lac St. Louis Lions, who recently visited BU and attended a game at Agganis Arena.

Looking back

Check out our THIS DATE IN TERRIER HOCKEY site for our first post about the 1990-91 Terrier squad, which reached the NCAA championship game, falling to Northern Michigan in triple overtime. We're marking that team's 20th anniversary with a number of features, including some of its most memorable games. We'll also begin doing the same for the 1970-71 squad, BU's first national champions forty seasons ago.

Former Terrier captain Sean Sullivan scored a goal in his third consecutive game--this one the game-winner--and added an assist in Worcester's 3-2 victory over Hershey. Sullivan, with a 6-5-11 line is third on the Sharks in scoring.

John Curry, an All-American and HockeyEast's MVP in 2007-2008, stopped 29 shots to gain his first shutout of the season in WilkesBarre/Scranton’s 3-0 blanking of Albany. Improved his record to 6-2. The Penguins, in John Hynes’ first season as head coach, have the AHL’s best record

Nick Bonino heads West again, as he’s been recalled from Syracuse by Anaheim.

Monday Linkorama

The Daily Free Press provides two articles on Saturday’s 4-2 win over New Hampshire.
• Saving the Weekend
• Freshmen rise to the occasion

Inside Hockey’s recap of Saturday’s win.

Five Terriers made the list of top performers in the Hockey East Online Weekly release: Goaltenders Kieran Millan and Grant Rollheiser, defenseman Dave Warsofsky and forwards Alex Chiasson and Sahir Gill.

Chiasson (photo), a sophomore from Quebec and a Dallas Stars draft choice, has scored at least one point in seven of the last eight games and has 11 points (4g,7a) during the stretch

BU has five come-from-behind wins this season, equaling last season’s total.

Last week NHL Central Scouting issued its fall list of NCAA players to watch. Of the seven players given “A” ratings, two are Terrier freshmen Matt Nieto and Adam Clendening. Gill received a “C” rating.

Nieto also was the subject an a Q&A interview by West-Coast blog MayorsManor.com, in which he discusses his reasons for choosing BU and his thoughts about playing for Jack Parker.

Poll story
BU remained in second place in the USCHO weekly poll, the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine weekly poll, and INCH’s power rankings.

Looking back
After nine NHL games, Kevin Shattenkirk is “turning heads” in the league and among Avalanche Nation with support building for him to stay with Colorado even after injured teammates return. Chris Nichols of SportsNet.ca quotes Avs’ forward Matt Duchene saying :

"I remember our first minicamp, two summers ago. He was here and I said, 'Wow, this kid can play."I remember being excited for him to finish college and get here and he's really showing what he can do."

Anaheim has assigned Nick Bonino to Syracuse where he began the season. The former Terrier forward had no points in 11 NHL games.

Women’s team
The Terrier Women’s team gained a split of its weekend series with Boston College, blanking the Eagles, 1-0, Sunday. Jenn Wakefield’s 11th goal of the season was the lone tally, supported by 22 saves by freshman goalie Kerrin Sperry, who earned Hockey East Rookie of the Week honors.

Terriers rebound and double up UNH--UPDATED

In a game in which they played better and better as the contest progressed, BU rode four second-period goals to a 4-2 win over New Hampshire and earned a split of the weekend series. Junior goalie Grant Rollheiser (photo) was a standout, stopping 41 shots. BU, trailing by 1-0, entering the middle period, got goals from Matt Nieto, Adam Clendening –his first—Alex Chiasson and Sahir Gill. Chiasson with a goal and an assist and Corey Trivino with two helpers were the only multiple point scorers.

Terriers won the faceoff battle 39-27, with Charlie Coyle and Wade Megan putting up strong numbers. The one negative note was a broken finger suffered by junior wing Chris Connolly, who will miss the rest of the first semester.

• Go Terriers.com recap and comprehensive box score
• Video highlights
• The Boston Hockey Blog recap, grades, Connolly injury report and slide show
• USCHO recap
• WTBU Sports recap
• Postgame audio from BU head coach Jack Parker and from UNH head coach Dick Umile and forward Paul Thompson
• College Hockey News recap
• Boston Globe recap
• Union-Leader recap

• Chiasson/Rollheiser post-game comments

Looking back at Terrier defensmen
Brian Strait scored his first goal of the season and John Curry stopped 24 shots as Wilkes Barre/Scranton beat Hershey, 4-3, in AHL action.

Matt Gilroy picked up his third assist of the season in the Ranger’s 5-2 win over the Wild.

A night after scoring his first NHL goal, Kevin Shattenkirk recorded his first multiple-point game with two assists in Colorado’s 4-3 shootout win against Dallas. Shattenkirk, who logged nearly 25 minutes of icetime, talked with the Denver Post's Adrian Dater about his prospects for staying with the Avs when injured players return.

Former All Hockey East defenseman Bryan Miller scored the game-winner in overtime as the Alaska Aces edge Utah in EHCL action., 5-4. It was the second goal of the year for Miller, now in his fourth season on the Aces' blueline.

Former Terrier captain Sean Sullivan's scored his fourth goal of the year in Worcester's 2-1 shootout loss to Portland.

Looking ahead
2011 recruit Cason Hohmann scored the game-winning shootout goal for Cedar Rapids in a 4-3 win against Muskegon in USHL play. Alexx Privitera had an assist and a shootout goal for the Lumberjacks.

2011 recruit Matt O'Connor turned away 22 of 23 shots in Youngstown's 1-0 loss to Dubuque.

Women's team
The Terriers suffered their second loss of the season, falling to Boston College, 6-3, Saturday at Walter Brown Arena. Freshman Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice and Jillian Kirchner added the third goal, while Jenn Wakefield assisted on all three. The team meet again Sunday evening at Conte Forum.

• GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score
• Video highlights
• Coach Brian Durocher's post-game comments.

Wildcats dump BU from unbeaten ranks

Terriers suffered their first loss of the season last night, losing 5-2 to UNH in Durham. Junior co-captain Dave Warsofsky (photo) gave BU an early lead on the first of his two goals, but the Wildcats scored the next four to put the game out of reach. BU, clearly playing its worst game of the season, was markedly outshot by UNH, 49-22. BU played much of the game with five defenseman as Sean Escobedo received a five-minute major and game misconduct penalty for hitting from behind.

Team meet again tonight at Agganis Arena.

• GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score
• HockeyEastOnline recap and NESN video highlights
• The Boston Hockey Blog recap, grading the Terriers and slideshow
• Boston Globe recap
• Union Leader recap
• Coach Jack Parker's post-game comments





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Looking back
Kevin Shattenkirk certainly has good timing. With the Avalanche hosting the Rangers in a game his family in New York was watching, he scored his second NHL goal, was +3 for the evening and was interviewed on the Rangers' broadcast--in Colorado's 5-1 win. Matt Gilroy didn't make the scoresheet for New York, but did lay a nice hit on his former BU teammate Brandon Yip.
• Recap with video link

Ryan Whitney assisted on two goals for Edmonton but the Oilers lost to Phoenix, 4-3 in a shootout. With 16 points overall, Whitney is sixth among NHL defensemen in scoring.

Looking ahead
2011 recruit Alexx Privitera assisted on two goals in Muskegon's 4-3 shootout win against Dubuque. With sixteen points, Privitera is the top-scoring USHL defenseman and sixth overall in scoring.

Game Day—BU at UNH

Terriers are on the road tonight at the Whittemore Centre in Durham to take on the University of New Hampshire. Wildcats are ranked #6 in the USCHO poll and are undefeated in their past 8 games (5-0-3). Last weekend, UNH took three of four points from UMass.

BU’s lineup is expected to have as its top line Chris Connolly, Corey Trivino and Alex Chiasson, with an all freshman unit, Matt Nieto, Charlie Coyle and Sahir Gill, will follow them. Wade Megan centers for Joe Pereira and Ross Gaudet on the third line, while Ben Rosen makes his second start between Andrew Glass and Ryan Santana. Junior Kieran Millan will be in goal tonight; Grant Rollheiser gets the start Saturday at Agganis Arena.

BU has the best record at the Whittemore Center of any UNH opponent: 9-7-5.

Gill (photo) is tied for fourth in the country in plus/minus with a +10 rating.

Wildcats coach Dick Umile is in his 21st season at the helm of his alma mater and has compiled a 467-235-81 (.648) record.

• GoTerriers.com links to game notes, live stats, and the WWZN Webcast. NESN will air tonight’s game, beginning at 7 p.m. ET
• The Boston Hockey Blog’s Live In-game Blog
• Daily Free Press game preview
• WTBU Sports Game Day report
• USCHO’s Hockey East picks

• Hockey East Online preview of conference games.

• Hockey East live scoreboard

• USCHO snapshot of all ten Hockey East teams.
• CHN Tale of the Tape
• NEHJ Hockey East Journal

Looking back

Former Terrier captain and Hobey Baker Award finalist Jay Pandolfo has signed a professional tryout agreement with the AHL Springfield Falcons. Pandolfo has played 819 NHL games, all the New Jersey Devils with whom he won Stanley Cups in 2000 and 2003. In 1995-96, he led the Terriers to the Frozen Four, scoring 38 goals and 29 assists.

The Worcester Telegram talks with former BU captain Sean Sullivan who signed as a free agent this summer with the Sharks. Now playing for their Worcester/AHL affiliate, he see a path to reach the NHL.

Former Terrier co-captain Matt Gilroy probably won't have time to exchange pleasantries with ex-BU teammates Kevin Shattenkirk and Brandon Yip when the Rangers play the Avalanche tonight.

.

Midweek Linkorama--UPDATED

The Daily Free Press discussed some of the changes Coach Jack Parker made during Saturday’s game, including putting three freshmen together on a forward line and pairing red-shirt sophomore Ryan Ruikka (photo) with David Warsofsky.

Parker analyzed his teams’ strengths and areas to improve during the Hockey East coaches’ teleconference this week. Link to other HE coaches’ comments.

The Bruins Draftwatch Blog assessed draft-eligible freshmen Matt Nieto and Adam Clendening. Both are also seven college players included in the sidebar of an NHL.com entry draft article.

Kevin Shattenkirk rang up his first NHL goal in the Avs' 4-3 OT win against San Jose Wednesday night. Video. Earlier in the week, he levels a St. Louis blue with a hip check.

A Hockeysfuture.com examination of San Jose’s organizational depth includes both current Terrier Charlie Coyle, and former BU captain John McCarthy, currently skating for the Sharks.

NHL Central Scouting has issued ranking of draft-eligible players for Canadian major junior leagues and also the USHL. 2011 recruit Cason Hohmann is 25th among USHL skaters while Matt O’Connor is sixth among goalies.

The Daily Free Press talked with grad student and Olympic gold-medal winner Catherine Ward—and with her coach, Brian Durocher—about the path that brought her from Quebec to BU.

And then there was one

The pair of ties against Merrimack this past weekend cost BU its spot atop the national polls, as Minnesota-Duluth inched past the now second-ranked Terriers. But with Yale's surprising loss to Air Force on Sunday, BU remained the only undefeated team in Division 1 with a 6-0-4 record.

• USCHO weekly poll

• USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll

In the weekly Hockey East release, junior forwards Chris Connolly and Corey Trivino (photo), who brought the Terriers back from a two-goal deficit, earned places on the top performers list, along with Kieran Millan who seems to make the list every week. Millan is tied for sixth in the nation with a .938 save percentage.

Additional weekend coverage

• Daily Free Press recap

• Inside Hockey recap

And then, there were two
Colby Cohen, who played three games for Colorado’s depleted defense corps, has been sent down to Lake Erie. With Dave Van der Gulik’s MCL injury, that leaves just two ex-Terriers, Brandon Yip and Kevin Shattenkirk, on the Avs’ active roster. Yip scored his fifth goal of the season tonight in the Avs' 6-3 win over St. Louis. Shattenkirk logged 17:29 of playing time in his sixth NHL game.

Two ex-BU blueliners, Matt Gilroy and Ryan Whitney, made the score sheet--each with an assist--in yesterday’s Rangers-Oilers game, but it was Gilroy’s team, New York, that came away with an 8-3 win. Gilroy added another assist tonight in a 3-2 OT win over Pittsburgh.

Former Terrier standout defensive forward Luke Popko has signed on with the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays following a brief stint with the Ontario Reign, also in the ECHL. He was in uniform last night in Reading, Penn., for a game against the Royals.

With a goal and two assists in his past three games, Mike Grier has eight points for the Sabres this season.

Looking ahead
HockeyProspects.com, looking at some of the early-season surprises in the USHL, writes about 2011 recruit Muskegon Lumberjacks defenseman Alex Privitera :

Sure, his four goals and ten assists through twelve games are pretty impressive, but that’s just his game. What the biggest surprise with Privitera has been the quick and impressive development of his defensive game.

Hockey Prospects.com had previously named both Privitera--now tied for sixth in USHL scoring and 2013 recruit Adam Erne to its All USHL Fall Classic team back in September.

2011 recruit Matt O’Connor stopped 35 shots in Youngstown’s 6-3 win against Indiana on Saturday. One of the shots he didn’t save came off the stick of Erne who registered his second goal of the season.

Two future Terriers, Canada East's Robert Polesello and USA's Cason Hohmann, faced off in the gold medal game of the World Junior A Challenge on Sunday, with Team USA claiming its third consecutive title with a 6-4 win. For the tournament both had three points: Polesello 2+1,

Third Tie's a Charm? -- Updated

For the second game this weekend and third in a row, BU played to a tie, this time by a score of 3-3 against the Merrimack Warriors. Merrimack struck first, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period on power play goals by Mike Collins and Joe Cucci. BU was able to get one back before the first period expired, as Wade Megan beat his defender and drove to the net. Merrimack extended their lead to two once again very late in the second period courtesy of a tally from Jesse Todd. The Terriers faced an uphill climb to keep their undefeated record alive, but got a goal from co-captain Chris Connolly (pictured) before the halfway point of the third period before fellow junior Corey Trivino tied the game with less than 5 minutes remaining. Another 10 minutes of combined regulation and overtime played out, but neither team could score.

Merrimack outshot BU by a margin of 37-29, as Kieran Millan had to be good in goal once again to help his team earn a point in Hockey East play, making 34 saves. The power play struggled once again, going 0-6, while Merrimack converted on both of their power play opportunities in the game. The linemates Chris Connolly, Corey Trivino, and Alex Chiasson each collected two points apiece.

• GoTerriers.com game recap and comprehensive box score
• Merrimack Athletics game recap (with Merrimack interviews)
• HockeyEastOnline video highlights
  
• Boston Hockey Blog recap and grades
• USCHO recap and scoreboard
• Boston Globe recap
• Boston Herald recap
• Eagle Tribune recap
  

Corey Trivino post-game




Looking Ahead
Cason Hohmann recorded an assist in tonight's 5-1 win for Team USA over Canada West in the World Junior A Challenge. USA will play tomorrow for the gold against Canada East at 8:30 pm ET, who advanced over Switzerland by a score of 4-2. Robert Polesello was credited with the game's opening goal in the first period: an empty netter due to a Swiss puckhandling gaffe with a delayed penalty on Canada East.

Women's team
Again, the Terrier's women's team tied the Vermont Catamounts for the second afternoon in a row, this time by a score of 2-2.

• GoTerriers.com game recap, box score, and video highlights
  
• Post-game comments from Coach Durocher and Holly Lorms
  

Terriers Look to Hand Merrimack First Home Loss

After fighting to a 1-1 tie last night, the BU will travel to Merrimack's Lawler Rink for the second half of the home-and-home with the Warriors. Despite the undefeated record both home and away, it's been apparent this season that the Terriers have played some better games on the road. However, Merrimack has been difficult to beat on their own home ice, where they are 2-0 this season and 17-5-2 in their last 24 games.

• Live video coverage is available on B2 Networks
• WZZN radio will be broadcasting the game live tonight
• Boston Hockey Blog will be live blogging tonight's game
  
• Game notes and live stats, from Merrimack Athletics

69 shots--two goals--no winner

Terriers remained unbeaten after playing their second consecutive overtime tie, 1-1, against Merrimack at Agganis Arena. Reshirt sophomore Ross Gaudett (photo) provided BU’s only goal, knocking home a loose puck midway through the second period, only to have Merrimack cash in on a defensive lapse just minutes later. But the #1 start for BU, once again, was junior goalie Kieran Millan, who turned away 35 shots.

In a penalty-filled game—a total of 44 minutes—neither team could take advantage of power plays. BU was 0-7 on power plays, while Merrimack failed to score in 10 tries. BU has now killed 32 consecutive penalties. Junior Corey Trivino was dominant on faceoffs winning 22 of 29 draws.

Terriers' record stands at 6-0-3 overall and 4-0-3 in league play. The two teams play again Saturday night at refurbished Lawler Arena.

• GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score.
• Video highlights
• USCHO recap
• The Boston Hockey Blog recap, feature on penalties, grades

• National scoreboard

• Jack Parker's post-game comments:




• Millan, Gaudet post-game comments.




Looking back
Kevin Shattenkirk recorded his first NHL point with an assist in the Avs's 5-1 win against Columbus.

Women's team

The Terrier Women's team also played a 1-1 tie, spotting the visiting Vermont Catamounts a lead before senior caption Holly Lorms scored the equalizer. Game 2 of the series is Saturday afternoon at Walter Brown Arena.

• GoTerriers.com recap and box score

• Brian Durocher post-game comments

Game Day--Terriers vs. Merrimack

The Merrimack Warriors, long the Hockey East doormat, are now anything but. The Terriers' opponent for a home-and-home pair this weekend, turned the corner last season and have continued their strong play this season with 2-2-2 record that includes a win over BC. After finishing six the in conference last season, Merrimack is ranked 18th in the INCH power rankings, led by last season's Hockey East Rookie-of-the-Year, Stephane Da Costa (3-5-8) and junior goalie Joe Canata (2.21, .936)

• USCHO's Dave Hendrickson analyzes the Warriors' emergence as a force to contend with in Hockey East.

Last season, BU won two of three regular season games and then two of three Hockey East quarter final games.

The Daily Free Press reports that Coach Jack Parker has shaken up the forward lines for tonight's game. Matt Nieto joins Charlie Coyle and Joe Pereira on the top line, with junior Chris Connoly joining classmate Corey Trivino and Alex Chiasson on the second line. Ross Gaudet (photo) moves up to the third line with Sahir Gill and Wade Megan. Ben Rosen, normally a defenseman, will center Andrew Glass and Ryan Santana. Kieran Millan starts in goal

• GoTerriers.com preview with links to game notes, game tracker, WZZN Radio Web cast, All-Access Web cast.

• College Hockey News' Tale of the Tape

• Hockey East Online weekend preview
• Fanhouse blogger Bruce Ciskie writes about the return to national prominence of BU and Notre Dame, two teams that fell far short of expectations last season .
• The Duluth News Tribune reports on the Connolly brothers- Jack and Chris—respectively of the top-ranked Terriers and second-ranked Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs.

• The Boston Hockey Blog's Hockey East power rankings and live in-game blogging

•WTBU Sports GameCenter (with live blog) and Hockey East power rankings.

• The Boston Herald traces how two seasons of injuries have not deterred redshirt sophomore Ryan Ruikka from nailing down a regular spot on BU's blueline.

• Eagle Tribune preview of home-and-home series with Merrimack

Looking ahead
With the World Junior A Challenge completing preliminary round play, International Scouting Services reported on five players to watch on each of the participating teams. BU 2011 recruit Cason Hohmann, the USHL/Cedar Rapids center playing for Team USA who combines a strong skillset and work ethic earned an impressive assessment:

dynamic player ... explosive offensive talent ... great
playmaking instincts ... excellent work ethic ... plays bigger than his size ... accurate wrist shot ... tremendous passer ... works hard in all three zones ... sees the ice well

In Wednesday’s second round game against Sweden, Hohmann scored a power play goal and added an assist in the U.S. Selects’s 5-1 win, which earned the Americans a berth in Saturday’s semifinal game. 2012 recruit Robert Polesello scored a goal for Canada East in its 6-2 first-round win over Sweden . Tonight, he assisted on the game-winner in a 4-3 win against Russia, sending Canada East to the semifinals.

Wednesday was national signing day and 2011 recruit Alexx Privitera of the Muskegon Lumberjacks was among those signing a national letter of intent.

Looking back

Former BU All-American defenseman Tom Poti scored his first goal of the season in the Caps' 6-3 win over Tampa Bay.

Mike Grier, who recently played his 1,000th NHL game, tied the Rangers-Sabres game with seconds left in the second period, but New York won, 3-2 in overtime, as Matt Gilroy returned to the Rangers' lineup. Chris Drury remains out of the lineup due to a hand injury.

Brandon Yip scored his 4th goal of the season in Colorado's 4-2 loss to Calgary. David Van der Gulik tore an MCL in his knee and will be out indefinitely. As a result, the Terrier quartet that has skated in recent Avalanche games is down to a trio. Avs lost two forwards in the game, so could Zach Cohen be a future call-up?

Women's team

The BU women's team, unbeaten in nine games since an opening night loss to North Dakota, take on Vermont for a pair of games at Walter Brown Arena Friday afternoon and again on Saturday. Once again, they'll be without the three players competing for the Canadian National Team in the Four Nations Tournament in Newfoundland. The Daily Free Press reported on Jennifer Wakefield's four assists in Canada's 8-1 cakewalk over Sweden.

• Daily Free Press preview of Vermont series.

• GoTerriers.com preview with game notes, game tracker, WTBU broadcast and video interview with Coach Brian Durocher.

Linkorama

The Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings were among many NHL clubs who had scouts at Agganis Arena Saturday night. Adam Clendening and Matt Nieto (photo) have been projected as first-round draft picks in 2011 and Sahir Gill’s strong start has placed him on the scouting radar as well. ESPN’s Dallas Stars’ blog tracks the team’s draft picks and focused on 2009 second-round pick Alex Chiasson.

• The two Los Angeles Kings scouts in attendence were former Terriers: Bob Crocker, the dean of New England scouts and former assistant coach under Jack Kelley, and Mark Mullen, captain of the 2003-04 BU squad.

After eight games, the plus-minus leaders for BU are Gill +8, co-captain Chris Connolly and assistant captain David Warsofsky +7 and redshirt sophomore defenseman Ryan Ruikka +6.

Looking back
Denver Post blogger Adrian Dater reports that yet another injury to a Colorado defenseman means that Colby Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk will be in the Avs lineup for a while. Colorado hosts the Calgary Flames tonight. Dater spoke with Cohen on his initial NHL experience:





Women’s team
Sophomore defenseman Kathryn Miller was named player-of-the-week and the Terriers earned the nod as team-of-theweek in Hockey East’s weekly release. Miller equaled her scoring output of 2009-10 with two goals and three assists in BU’s wins against Providence College and New Hampshire. Miller is the third Terrier to win player-of-the-week honors; Jenn Wakefield and Marie-Philp Poulin were previous honorees. BU, off to its best start in program history with an 8-1-1 record, has outscored opponents 43 to 20. Next up are a pair of games with Vermont at Walter Brown Arena, both 3 p.m. starts.

Reluctantly, number one--UPDATED

When top-ranked Miami, second-ranked Minnesota-Duluth and #4 BC all lost Friday night, Terrier fans knew that only a loss to Maine would keep BU out of the top spot in today’s USCHO poll. It’s just the way these polls work. Saturday's 2-2 OT barnburner tie with Maine was just enough to turn the trick for BU.

But Terrier coach Jack Parker, who wants no part of the bulls-eye-on-the-back that comes with the top ranking, was quick to disagree about BU’s inevitable ascent. Following Saturday’s game he said, "We're a pretty good team, but I don't think we're the No. 1 team in the nation."

• The Boston Hockey Blog's poll coverage.

The Daily Free Press brings us another game recap and a feature on how BU’s penalty-killing unit got the better of Maine’s vaunted power play.

USCHO’s Jim Connelly reviews the weekend in Hockey East.

Charlie Coyle, who knocked a puck out of the air and into the Maine net with 1:21 left in regulation Saturday, is this week’s Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week. He’s the second Terrier to earn the honor. Sahir Gill, received the award for the first week of the season. Co-captain Chris Connolly and goalie Kieran Millan made the weekly top performers list The two juniors are tied for first place in Hockey East’s Three Stars of the Game award competition. Hockey East Weekly release. Scroll down for national and conference statistics.

Looking back
Adam Dater, who writes the All Things Avs blog for the Denver Post, likes what he’s seen of ex-Terriers Colby Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk and is lobbying for one or both to remain in Colorado when injured blueliners return. Meanwhile, Coach Joe Sacco was enthused about the resilience of his injury-wracked team.

• Before Shattenkirk and Cohen were Terrier teammates, they were together in the NTDP program, but the frienship began back in 2003 in the East Coast Selects elite tournament program.

While his Terrier teammates have moved up to Colorado, Zach Cohen works for a similar opportunity while with AHL affiliate Lake Erie. He tallied two assists in the Monsters’ 4-3 loss to Grand Rapids.


Check out our This Date in Terrier Hockey page. We’re cranking it up again and will feature many dates primarily from two remarkable BU seasons, marking milestone anniversaries this year. 40th anniversary of the 1970-71 championship team and the 20th anniversary of the 1990-91 club that lost in the title game in triple overtime. But our first new listing is from a Nov. 8, 1988 game that featured two seven-point performances.

Women's team
With three of its biggest guns on loan to the Canadian National Team, the BU Women’s team completed its first weekend of two conference games by pasting UNH, 5-2 at Walter Brown Arena. Senior Jillian Kirchner and junior Jennelle Kohanchuk stepped up to score a pair of goals apiece, while sophomore blueliner Kathryn Miller scored her second goal of the weekend and added an assists. Freshman Kerrin Sperry earned the victory stopping 18 shots and upping her record to 6-0-1. BU remains 5th in the USCHO poll.
• GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score.
• All-Access video highlights.
• Daily Free Press recap
• Post game comments:
--Brian Durocher
--Jennelle Kohanchuk
--Jill Kirchner:



Tara Watchorn, one of the three BU women playing for Canada in the Four Nations’ Cup in St. John's, Newfoundland, talked with CBC Sports about the event.. Tomorrow night, Team Canada takes on Team USA.

Late goal ties Maine--UPDATED

Charlie Coyle’s (photo) extra attacker goal with 1:21 left in regulation knotted the Terriers and Black Bears at two apiece in a very entertaining game played before a near capacity crowd at Agganis Arena.

Despite being outplayed in the middle stanza, BU carried a 1-0 lead--a Chris Connolly power play goa-- into the final period, but Maine scored two within four minutes early in the third period. BU carried the play and had numerous “grade A” chances, but didn’t break through until the final two minutes. Both clubs had scoring bids turned away in overtime.

BU moved to 6-0-2 (4-0-2 HEA) on the season and, in the process, became the first Terrier team since the 1977-78 national championship squad to go undefeated in its first eight games.

BU and Yale (4-0) are the only remaining undefeated Division 1 teams.

Kieran Millan was sharp and steady again in goal, stopping 34 of 36 shots. BU, which took 30 shots, lost the faceoff battle by a 27-38 margin.

BU killed all six Maine power plays (including two 5-on-3s), yielding just seven shots, and has thwarted 36 of its opponents past 37 man-advantage situations, including the last 22.

Next up is Merrimack for a home-and-home series.

• GoTerriers.com recap
• Comprehenisve box score
• Grading the Terriers (The Boston Hockey Blog)
• All-Access video highlights
• USCHO recap
• Boston Globe recap
• WTBU Sports notebook and post-game analysis
• Press Herald recap and blog
• Post game comments, Maine and BU

Jack Parker post-game comments:



• Connolly, Dave Warsofsky post-game comments:






► Blog contributor cdral reports that among the 6100+ attending the game were ex-Terriers Billy Pierce, Tony Ruvolo, Kirsten Durocher, Stan Mescon, Bob Crocker, Dennis O'Connell, Mike O'Connell, Tom O'Regan, Matt Marden, Dick DeCaprio, Doug Friedman, Joe Robillard, Marc Hetnik, and Bill LeBlond.

Blog contributor defkit reports that Friedman brought his Portland Junior Pirates 98/99 Selects team to the BU-Maine game. We posted about Friedman's appointment as coach in an October blogpost (scroll down to "Looking back")

Looking back
Colby Cohen’s first NHL game was a resounding home –ice win for the Avalanche who blanked the Dallas Stars, 5-0. Neither Cohen nor Kevin Shattenkirk, playing his second game, figured in the scoring, but Brandon Yip recorded his third goal of the season and Dave Van der Gulik assisted on Colorado’s first goal of the evening. Cohen logged more than 15 minutes of ice time and picked up a pair of minor penalties and was +1. Yip took a 5-minute fighting major in the game’s waning seconds. Recap with video highlights.
• Denver Post notebook on Colorado’s Terriers.

Another member of the 2009 National Champions, John McCarthy, playing his ninth game this season, scored his second NHL goal on a quick slapper (video) in San Jose’s 5-2 win over Tampa Bay. McCarthy has three points overall.

► There are now seven members of the 2009 NCAA championship team playing in the NHL: Yip, McCarthy, Nick Bonino, Colin Wilson, Shattenkirk, Cohen, and Matt Gilroy.






Looking ahead
In exhibition games for the World Junior A Challenge, 2012 recruit Robert Polesello tallied a goal and an assist for Canada East in its 7-2 win over Canada West on Friday. Meanwhile, 2011 recruit Cason Hohmann scored the first goal for the U.S. Junior Selects in a 5-3 victory against Canada West on Saturday.

Another 2011 recruit, Alexx Privitera contributed a goal and an assist in Muskegon’s 7-4 win against the NTDP U18s in a game that featured 98 shots on goal. The defenseman from New Jersey has a 3-9-12 line and has scored in eight of 10 games for the Lumberjacks.

In addition to the recent visits to BU by numerous top recruiting prospects, the Toronto Marlies ’95 Team, currently the leader in the Greater Toronto Hockey League, are playing at Agganis Arena this morning. The contest is technically an intersquad scrimmage and will feature players from the Seacoast Saints, too. USHR reports that about a dozen of the Marlies are interested in playing college hockey. The two biggest names on the team are forward Nick Ritchie, expected be a top pick in next June’s OHL draft and defenseman Jordan Subban, younger brother of the Canadiens’ P.K. Subban.

Women's team upends Providence
The fifth-ranked Terriers Women’s team spotted Providence a first-period goal, then blistered the Friars with four second-period goals in a 4-1 win. Sophomore blueliner Kathryn Miller led the way with a goal and two assists. Graduate student Catherine Ward, senior Holly Lorms and freshman Louise Warren also scored for BU. Sophomore goalie Alice Fromkin, returning from an injury, stopped 27 shots to earn the win. BU outshot Providence 45-28.

• Video highlights
• Comprehensive box score
• Brian Durocher video comments
• Holly Lorms video comments