Terriers and Warriors battle to 1-1 tie

#2/3 Terriers and #18 Merrimack played to a 1-1 overtime tie at sold-out Lawler Rink in North Andover. Junior Matt Lane (photo) scored BU’s only goal early in the third period, seconds after a Terrier power play had ended.

After a scoreless first period, Merrimack freshman Brett Seney skated into the BU zone and ripped a shot past goalie Matt O’Connor from the right circle. Terriers spent half of the middle period on the penalty kill, taking five penalties (six with an added misconduct to John MacLeod), but not allowing their hosts to score again.

Yet some of BU’s best scoring chances would come in that period. Ahti Oksanen rang a shot off iron. Then midway through the period, Cason Hohmann, in alone following a ‘Mack turnover, was stoned by goalie Collin Delia. Two minutes later, Jack Eichel broke through two defenders on a rush from his own end; but his bid for a shorthanded goal was turned aside. And a two-on-one opportunity resulted in no shot taken.

BU’s tying goal followed a one-time blast by Brandon Hickey that was blocked by the Warrior defense. Lane grabbed the rebound and stuffed it past Delia for his fourth goal of the season. Brandon Fortunato also assisted on the play.  Terriers had a number of good chances to take the lead, including a power play in overtime, but couldn’t put another one past Delia.

 

For the Terriers, O’Connor stopped 26 shots and as WBIN-TV analyst Don “Toot” Cahoon pointed out, O’Connor controlled the rebounds throughout the game, allowing few if any second-chance opportunities for Merrimack.

Coach David Quinn emphasized that the Terriers need to move the puck more quickly and put more shots on net:

“We’re definitely a little bit snake-bitten, but we’re not shooting enough. You become snake bitten when you get 22 pucks on net. You’d be a lot less snake bitten if you got 35.

"It was a hard earned point on the road. It's not an easy building to play in. That's a good team. They're well coached. They make you earn every inch of the ice. It was a good goal in the third period to tie it."

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Video highlights

● Post-game comments: Coach David Quinn

● Daily Free Press recap

● Boston Hockey Blog:  Pluses & Minuses , Penalties Hinder Terriers, Lane post-game comments

● HockeyEastOnline recap

● The Mack Report recap

● SB Nation recap

Terriers and Warriors do it again tonight in a 7 p.m. start at Agganis Arena

● GameTracker , TerrierTV Webcast, Terriers Sports Radio Network Webcast

Looking ahead

2016 recruit Kieffer Bellows scored his fifth goal of the season, a power play tally, as Sioux Falls edged Omaha, 3-2. 

2015 recruit Max Letunov scored a shootout goal and had an assist in regulation for Youngstown, but the Phantoms fell to the NTDP U18s, 5-4.

Looking back

Sahir Gill, called up to AHL Wilkes Barre/Scranton, had an assist in his first game with the Baby Penguins, who beat Lehigh Valley, 5-1.

Former Terrier and MVP of the 2005 Beanpot Chris Bourque scored his eighth goal of the season for Hartford and added an assist in the Wolfpack's 6-5 loss to Syracuse.

Women’s Team

#5 Terriers begin a two-game series at Vermont's Gutterson Fieldhouse today at 4 p.m. The Catamounts have an 8-8-1 overall record, but are only 1-6-0 in Hockey East games. BU is 4-0-1 in its last five games and is led by junior Sarah Lefort with 11 goals and captain Marie-Philip Poulin and freshman Victoria Bach (photo), who each have nine.

● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, UVM TV Webcast (free)

●  Daily Free Press preview

● Hockey East weekend preview