Nieto, O'Connor lead Terriers past Merrimack—UPDATED

Just days after an offensive drought against Lowell, BU flexed its scoring muscles to thump first-place Merrimack, 5-2. Junior Matt Nieto (photo) earned first-star honors with a pair of goals, an assist and a +4 for the evening. Freshman goalie Matt O’Connor stopped 32 shots and kept the Warriors at bay for nearly 50 minutes.

Playing at home for only the second time this month, BU’s victory ended a winless skein at Agganis Arena that had reached five games. Terriers score three times in the opening period. Evan Rodrigues carried the puck from his own end before scoring on backhanders. Wade Megan wristed home a centering pass from Garrett Noonan. Then Cason Hohmann was credit with finishing after a Matt Grzelcyk blast was stopped.

In the second period, Danny O’Regan led a 2-on-1 rush, then dropped the puck to a lunging Nieto for the fourth goal. Seven minutes later, blueliner Sean Escobedo, who had a +3 evening, sprung Nieto on a breakaway that he finished with shot high to the goalie’s glove side for a 5-0 lead.

O’Connor lost his shutout on a Jordan Heywood power play goal nine minutes into the third period and Heywood scored again to close out the scoring.

Coach Jack Parker, who noted several “huge saves” by O’Connor in the second period, said, “I think the puck jumped in the net for us. We made some nice plays, got some goals, took the pressure off.”

BU remains in sixth place, but is just two points behind four schools that are tied for first place. The Terriers have a pair of home games against Vermont this weekend and close out the season with a home-and-home against Northeastern.

● GoTerriers.com recap, comprehensive box score

● Video highlights
● Post-game comments: Parker, Rodrigues/NIeto

● Boston Hockey Blog recap, Three Up/Three Down and Michael Cummo slide show
● Daily Free Press feature on Nieto

● College Hockey News’ Takeaway

● WTBU Sports recap

● USCHO recap
● SB Nation: Breaking down the Hockey East playoff race

Looking back

David van der Gulik scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner in Lake Erie’s 3-1 win over Milwaukee.  With his second multi-goal game against the Admirals this month, the former BU standout has a 16-16-32 line in 48 games.

Game Day: BU vs. Merrimack

Terriers take on Merrimack tonight at Agganis Arena in make-up game for the contest originally scheduled for Feb. 8. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.

Merrimack, currently tied with BC for first place in Hockey East, lost two earlier games with BU, 3-1 at Agganis and 4-1 in North Andover. The Warriors are led by junior Mike Collins, who has a 15-20-35 scoring line and is the top scorer in Hockey East games. Sam Marotta is ranked #2 among Hockey East goalies with a 2.01 GAA.

Freshman Matt O’Connor is expected to be in goal for the Terriers, who fell to #19 in the USCHO rankings. Check back for further details.

● GoTerriers.com preview,  Game Tracker, Terrier TV Webcast, WWZN Radio Webcast, Twitter Updates

● Daily Free Press preview

● Boston Hockey Blog live in-game blog

● WTBU Sports preview

● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape

Women’s Team

Senior Jennelle Kohanchuk earned Player of the Week honors and freshman Sarah Lefort was named Rookie of the Week by Hockey East. Kohanchuk scored nine points (5g,4a) in BU’s two games against UConn, while Lefort tallied four goals—including Sunday’s game-winner—and a pair of assists.

Completing a hattrick of conference honors, the #4-ranked Terriers were named Team of the Week after sweeping the Huskies to clinch the regular-season Hockey East title.  

● Daily Free Press Second line chemistry, UConn recap

River Hawks's 3-1 win sweeps BU

After being shut out Friday night, BU got on the board Saturday night against Lowell, but Evan Rodrigues' third-period shorthanded goal was the Terriers' only score in a 3-1 loss to the Riverhawks. The loss dropped BU to 6th place in Hockey East.

● GoTerriers.com recap, comprehensive box score

● Post-game comments: Jack Parker, Rodrigues

● Boston Hockey Blog recap

● College Hockey News’ Takeaway

● WTBU Sports recap, analysis

● USCHO recap and slideshow

Women’s Team

The # 4 Terriers’ sweep of Connecticut this weekend, combined with BC’s Friday night tie with Vermont, earned BU the regular-season Hockey East title, the second in the seven years of the women’s program.

Saturday, on senior night, BU spotted the Huskies a 5-1 in the first 23 minutes before roaring back for six unanswered goals and 7-5 win.  Senior Jenelle Kohanchuk and freshman Sarah Lefort (photo) each tallied twice for the Terriers, with sophomore Kayla Tutino scoring the game-winner early in the third period.

On Sunday, BU took a 2-1 first period lead, which it extended to 4-1 before UConn scored with seconds left in the game for a 4-2 win that clinched the conference title. Lefort scored twice again for a team-leading 19, while Kohanchuk tallied her 18^th along with a pair of assists.

The win gave was BU’s 18^th in league play, the most regular-season conference wins since UNH won 20 games in 07-08.

BU will host Connecticut in a Hockey East quarterfinal game on March 2 at 3 p.m.

● Saturday recap, comprehensive box score and video highlights

● Sunday recap and comprehensive box score

● Coach Brian Durocher post-game comments

Looking forward,

2013 recruit Brendan Collier assisted on a pair of third-period goals as the Valley Junior Warriors rallied past Springfield in overtime, 3-2.

2014 recruit JJ Piccinich recorded his 10^th assist in Youngstown’s 3-2 shootout win against Muskegon.

Looking back

Eric Gryba  pick up his second assist in five games since his call-up to Ottawa in the Senators’ 3-2 win against Toronto.

Kieran Millan stopped 35 shots to lead the Denver Cutthroats past Quad City, 5-2, earning his 13^th win of the season.

Lowell blanks BU, 3-0

Taking a step backward after last weekend’s successful Maine series, Terriers were shut out, 3-0, by UMass-Lowell at Agganis Arena last night. After BU had the upper hand in a scoreless first period, Lowell’s top scorers, Scott Wilson and Joe Pendenza, scored even-strength goals two minutes apart in the middle stanza, the second one glancing off a BU defender’s skate. Meanwhile, a stifling defensive scheme kept BU from generating much offense. Riley Wetmore’s 13^th goal late in the third period closed the scoring.

Matt O’Connor (photo) stopped 24 shots including a clean breakaway by Lowell’s Derek Arnold. Among the few bright spots for BU: killing five of six Lowell power plays and Danny O’Regan winning 12 of 17 faceoffs.

The loss dropped BU into a fifth-place tie with the Riverhawks. The teams play their final regular-season game tonight at Tsongas Arena.

● GoTerriers.com recap, comprehensive box score

● Video highlights

● Boston Hockey Blog recap, Three Up/Three Down, slideshow

● College Hockey News’ Takeaway , analysis

● WTBU Sports recap

● USCHO recap

Looking back

Last night was the 33^rd anniversary of the “Miracle On Ice” U.S. Olympic hockey victory over the Soviet Union with former Terrier co-captain Mike Eruzione scoring the game-winning goal.

Looking ahead

2014 recruit Jack Eichel, moved up from the NTDP U17s to the U18s, scored his 20^th goal of the season in the U18s’ 5-3 win against USHL Lincoln.  The forward from Chelmsford, Mass., had a 19-15-34 scoring line in 36 U17 games.

Women’s Team

#4 Terriers take on UConn at 3 p.m. today in their final regular-season home game, beginning with Senior Day activities. Among the ten seniors on the BU roster, center Jill Cardella and blueliner Kathryn Miller have not missed a single game during their four-year careers.

In the teams’ previous meeting, BU doubled up the Huskies, 4-2, in Storrs. The home-and-home series concludes tomorrow at UConn. If the Terriers, who have won 13 consecutive conference games, can sweep the Huskies, they will guarantee at least a first-place tie in the Hockey East standings. 

● GoTerriers.com preview, GameTracker, WTBU Radio Webcast, TerrierTV Webcast, Twitter Updates

● Hockey East Online weekend preview