Saturday, March 05, 2022

Terriers power past Maine, 5-1

After having their eight-game victory streak snapped last Saturday, #14 Terriers got back to the winning side of the ledger, taking the first of two games at Maine, 5-0, behind two goals and an assist from Wilmer Skoog. BU also got goals from Ty Gallagher and Sam Stevens, while Ethan Phillips assisted on two scores. Drew Commesso turned aside 28 shots, including 11 in the third period, yielding only a power play goal.

With the win, BU assured itself a bye in the first round of players. And with losses by Merrimack and UConn, BU is currently tied for fourth with Merrimack in the Hockey East standings with one game remaining. Depending on Saturday's outcome, the Terriers can finish third or fourth, which would mean home ice in the quarterfinals, or fifth, which would mean a road game.

Uncharacteristically, BU got off to a slow start but soon picked up the pace. Near the end of a power play, captain Logan Cockerill first used his speed to keep the puck on the offensive zone, the beat a defender to the rebound of his own shot before finding Gallagher in the right circle for a one-timer that blew past Victor Ostman. Shots were 9-9 in the period.

Terriers scored three times in the middle period to break things open and nearly had a few more. At 7:48, Joe Campolieto head-manned the puck to Matt Brown in center ice. The junior transfer from Lowell dropped a pass to Stevens in full stride and he scored from in close, sliding the puck through Ostman’s five-hole.

Just a minute-and-a-half later, BU extended the lead to 3-0. Phillips' centering attempt from behind the Maine cage deflected off a defender to Luke Tuch, who whirled and slide the puck across the slot to an unmarked Skoog for his 13th goal of the season.

Robert Mastrosimone managed to jamb a puck home with a defender on his back but the goal was waived off for contact with the goalie. But it didn’t take long after for BU to get another one that counted. On the prettiest play of the game, Skoog took a pass from Dom Fensore behind the Black Bears’ cage and sent it back to junior d-man in the left circle. A quick pass to the slot found Jay O’Brien for his 10th goal of the season.

Moments later, Stevens, who was moved up to the top line with Brown and Mastrosimone, rang one off the crossbar. In the final minute of the period, during a offensive flurry by Maine, Gallagher cross-checked Adam Dawe in the head drawing a five-minute major and a game misconduct penalty.

The major penalty carried into the third period and was successfully killed by BU with a few big saves by Commesso, a shot off the post and a diving block by Case McCarthy.

Seven minutes into the period, John Copeland broke up a play along the board and sent the puck to Max Kaufman skating up the left side. The assistant captain quickly passed to Skoog behind the Maine defense, skating in alone. He went forehand to backhand and easily beat Ostman for a 5-0 lead. Copeland’s assist was his first collegiate point.

The Black Bears, who had failed to score when the teams met four weeks earlier at Agganis Arena, finally got on the board on a power play when Ben Poisson, unmarked at the right face off dot, put a one-timer past Commesso at the twelve minute mark.

Coach Albie O’Connell was pleased with his team’s performance despite the uneven start and indicated he’s happy with the forward lines as now constituted. He offered praise for defensemen Thomas Jarman and Copeland, who saw significant ice time with Alex Vlasic unavailable for the game.

He added, " “On balance, it’s hard to win here. … Happy for the group. It’s going to be harder tomorrow, so we’ve just got to rest up and get focused for tomorrow.”

With his assist Fensore hit the 30 point mark and his 26 assists are the most for a D1 defensman. Skoog has a goal in each of the last three games and is tied for third in conference goal scoring. 

BU is 15-2-1 in its last 18 game and 19-11-3 overall.

The teams will complete the series—and the regular-season schedule--Saturday with another 7:30 start. It will be live-streamed on College Sports Live.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Post-game comments Coach Albie O’Connell

● WTBU Sports recap


Looking ahead

2023 recruit Jack Harvey scored a pair of goals and added an assist in Chicago’s 7-4 win against Green Bay. The left-shot forward has 17 goals for the Steel. 2022 recruit Ryan Greene scored his 16th goal for the Gamblers.

2022 recruit Lane Hutson scored a power play goal in the NTDP U18s’ 5-4 win against Providence. Hutson has a 7-33-40 line in 41 games. Fellow recruit Devin Kaplan had an assist for Team USA and has seven points in his last five games.  

2023 recruit Doug Grimes scored his fourth goal in Lincoln’s 8-4 win against Waterloo.

 

Looking back

Trevor Zegras scored a power play goal, his 15th tally of the season in Anaheim’s 5-3 loss to Vegas.

 

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