Game Day: BU vs. Merrimack

#10/11 Terriers resume conference play tonight hosting #7/6 Merrimack at Agganis Arena in a 7 p.m. start. This is the teams’ second meeting of the season. On Nov. 11, BU lost a hard-fought game to the Warriors, 3-2 in overtime (video), when a highly questionable penalty call in the final minutes of regulation gave the ‘Mack a power play during which it tied the game.

BU welcomes Adam Clendening back into the lineup after spend two weeks with the U.S. Junior National Team at the World Junior Championships. Junior Ryan Ruika will sit out tonight for BU. On the forward lines, Chris Connolly will move to center on BU’s top line, with Wade Megan and Alex Chiasson, while Sahir Gill becomes the second line pivot with wingers Matt Nieto and Evan Rodrigues. Yasin Cissé is right wing on the third line with Cason Hohmman and Justin Courtnall. Ryan Santana, recovered from a shoulder injury, makes his first start of the season.

Tonight's lineup

Megan-Connolly-Chiasson
Nieto-Gill-Rodrigues
Courtnall-Hohmann-Cissé
Gaudet-Rosen-Santana
Noonan-Privitera
Nicastro-MacGregor
Escobedo- CLendening
Milan

Tonight’s game is Web accessible on BU All-Access (subscription).

BU has a second game this weekend, an exhibition Sunday night against the U.S. NTDP U18s, giving Terrier fans a look at a pair of future Terriers: 2012 recruit Matthew Lane, a forward, and 2013 recruit, Matt Grzelcyk, a defenseman.

►USCHO’s Jim Connelly found a bright spot for BU in the Terriers’ loss to Notre Dame last Saturday. In his This Week in Hockey East column, he wrote:

Though the Terriers lost 5-2 to Notre Dame on New Year’s Eve, it seemed that Sahir Gill (photo) was auditioning to become the team’s most potent scorer. Gill played like a man possessed, certainly one of the best offensive players on the ice for the Terriers.

● GoTerriers.com preview, gametracker, All-Access Webcast, WWZN Radio Webcast.
● Boston Hockey Blog preview and Parker comments about injured Minnesota prep player.
● Boston Hockey Blog live in-game blog

● Warrior Rink Rat preview/tale of the tape

● Hockey East Online live scoreboard
● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape, Tweetcast

►Inside BU Hockey-Episode 11- features Bernie Corbett’s interview with Coach Jack Parker, assistant captain Justin Courtnall and Jacques Joubert, captain of BU’s 1994-95 national championship team, who scored the game-winner in the title game against Maine, 6-2 (video).

Looking ahead
2012 recruit Robert Polesello and 2013 recruit Robbie Baillargeon, both currently with the Indiana Ice, have been selected to play in the USHL Prospects Game . The game, set for Jan. 24 in Muskegon, showcases the top USHL players eligible for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

2012 recruit Matthew O’Connor stopped 19 shots in regulation and three more in the shootout as Youngstown edged Muskegon, 4-3, in USHL action. O’Connor now has 14 wins, second best in the USHL, to go with a 2.57 GAA.

It’ll be a Three Future-Dog Night in Vernon, B.C. at the Vipers hosts the Victoria Grizzlies. Vernon D-man Marc Hetnik, Jr., will likely find himself defending against his future teammates, Wesley Myron and Mike Moran, two of the Grizzlies top-scoring forwards. All three are 2012 recruits.
● Victoria Chamber of Commerce feature on Myron and teammate Wade Murphy, a Merrimack recruit.

Looking back
Former Terrier Mark Bavis, killed aboard United Flight 175 in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, had his jersey number retired by the Hyde Park Youth league yesterday at Bajko Rink in Hyde Park.. The ceremony preceded the annual Mark Bavis Memorial Cup game in which Catholic Memorial, Bavis’ alma mater, defeated Xaverian, 4-0.

Sports Illustrated’s Pierre Maguire, evaluating the trade last season that sent Kevin Shattenkirk from Colorado to St. Louis, notes that “most scouts and coaches view the 22-year-old Shattenkirk as perhaps the best player in the deal and a key force for the Blues going forward.”

Former BU co-captain Joe Pereira scored for the South Carolina Stingrays in a 6-3 loss to the Florida Everblades.