Sunday, December 11, 2016

Terriers blank Catamounts; Women upset #2 Gophers



Playing faster and more physically than on Friday night, #5 Terriers blanked #12 Vermont behind freshman Jake Oettinger’s 28 saves. The Edina, Minnesota native foiled a number of Catamount odd-man rushes and grade-A chances, especially in the first period when he stopped a two-on-none, to gain his seventh win and third shutout of his rookie season, earning first-star honors.

BU’s fourth line produced the eventual game-winner ten minutes into the first period when Oskar Andrén’s shot from the point was stopped and junior Chase Phelps converted the loose puck for his first goal of the season. Gabriel Chabot also assisted. 

After a scoreless second period, the Terriers doubled the lead in the first minute of the third with their third power play goal of the weekend. Freshman Clayton Keller fired a bar down shot from the right circle with assists from freshman Patrick Harper and sophomore Jordan Greenway.

UVM would outshoot BU, 11-3, in the period, but the Terriers limited the Cats’ quality chances. Just after a successful penalty kill, senior Nick Roberto took a Patrick Curry pass and ripped a shot from the high slot past Vermont’s Stefanos Lekkas, who was screened by Nikolas Olsson. With Lekkas pulled for an extra attacker, Brandon Hickey intercepted a centering pass and fired it the length of the ice into the empty net..




Vermont Coach Kevin Sneddon credited BU for a strong defensive effort:

“BU did a real good job defensively. They won more battles, they won more races to loose pucks. They didn’t allow us to move. They did a really good job of clamping down low and we weren’t able to fight through it very well. Their back-pressure was excellent. We didn’t have many odd-man rushes other than two. They just played really well defensively.”


After splitting the weekend series with the Catamounts, BU and Vermont are tied for sixth in the Pairwise Rankings.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score
● Post-game comments: Coach David Quinn
● Daily Free Press recap
Burlington Free Press recap
● Hockey East Online recap

Looking ahead
2017 recruit David Farrance scored a highlight-reel power play goal in the NTDP U18s’ 4-1 win over Bloomington. The 5-11, left-shot defenseman gathered the puck in the defensive zone, raced through four Thunder defenders and beat the goalie in tight for the game’s second goal. 2017 recruit Brady Tkachuk’, who had a team-high 10 shots, set up Team USA's first goal.
● USA Hockey recap

2018 recruit Matthew Quercia scored his third goal in Sioux Falls’ 3-2 loss to Omaha.

Looking back
With an assist in Hershey’s 6-2 loss to Wilkes Barre/Scranton, Chris Bourque recorded his 600th regular season point, becoming the 46th AHL player to reach that milestone.

Women’s Team
Senior captain Natalie Flynn’s overtime goal gave the Terriers a 6-5 upset win against #2 Minnesota in a wild contest at Walter Brown Arena. A pair of early BU goals by Victoria Bach and Abby Cook were matched by two Gopher power play scores, producing a 2-2 tie after one.

Terriers scored three times in the middle people to Minnesota’s one. BU goals were from Nina Rodgers—who had transferred from Minnesota—and Samantha Sutherland, along with Flynn’s first of the season.  BU held a 5-3 lead until the Gophers scored their third power play goal 15 minutes into the third. With 1:38 remaining, Minnesota tied the score.

Early in overtime, Natasza Tarnowski won a puck battle in the corner and centered a pass to Flynn who whipped home the game-winner.  Goalie Erin O’Neil stopped 44 shots including 19 in the third period.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score
Video Highlights and post-game comments: Flynn, Coach Brian Durocher
NCAA.com recap

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