At Hockey East’s Media Day event at TD Garden, first-year Head Coach Jay Pandolfo spoke optimistically about his heavily upper-classmen squad that is ready “to make a really good run.”
In the conference coaches’ pre-season poll, BU was second behind Northeastern and just ahead of defending conference tournament champion UMass. The Huskies received seven first-place votes while the Terriers garnered one and the Minutemen three. The next four teams are separated by just five voting points.
1. Northeastern - 105 (7)
2. Boston University - 94 (1)
3. Massachusetts - 93 (3)
4. Providence - 75
5. Boston College - 71
UMass Lowell - 71
7. UConn - 70
8. Merrimack - 44
9. New Hampshire - 37
10. Vermont - 29
11. Maine - 26
Pandolfo, a former BU captain and All-American who served as associate head coach last season, told the media:
“We have 17 upperclassmen, which isn’t typical for a BU team, so it’s helping me a lot and making my job a lot easier. We have a mature group, a big leadership group this year and it’s helping me in my first year so it’s really exciting.
“I think as a group we feel like we have a really good team and we can go on a pretty good run, but the biggest thing for us is to set the culture at BU in how we want to play and how we want to look every night when we’re competing. And that’s the biggest thing we’ve tried to establish as a group. We’ve talked more about the process than the results. We feel like if we do things the right way, the results will take care of themselves.”
● GoTerriers.com BU Selected Second in Hockey East Preseason Poll
● NESN.com Pandolfo Excited about Manning BU’s Bench
Earlier, in an interview with New England Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver, Pandolfo described the team identity he’s begun to instill.
“I want it to be back to when I played at BU. We always had talent and skill, but we always competed really hard and were hard to play against ... That’s the biggest thing, to be hard to play against every single night.
“It doesn’t just mean running people through the boards, it’s not that. It’s being hard on pucks all the time, that relentless pressure. That’s what I remember BU hockey being about and that’s how I envision it moving forward.
“The expectations for the program and for our players from the coaching staff is to make a run at a national championship this year. That’s the goal”
On having both the team’s top returning scorer, senior captain Dom Fensore and highly-regarded freshman Lane Hutson on the Terrier blueline:
"A big part of having success is the ability to break the puck out of your own end. To have those two guys going back on pucks, you feel pretty confident they’re going to make the right play and a lot of times it’s a 1-man breakout."
● NEHJ.com Jay
Pandolfo brings confident voice as BU Terriers aim high (subscription site)
►Joe Bertagna, who was Hockey East Commissioner for 23 year was recognized with the 2022 Joe Concannon Award.
►Everything College Hockey’s preseason national rankings find the Terriers at #12.
Looking ahead
2023 recruit Doug Grimes scored a goal and assisted on the game-winner as Lincoln edged Tri-City, 3-2, in its exhibition opener. The 6'3" power forward from Brookline, Massachusetts returned to the Stars after an injury-shortened first USHL season in which he had 16 points (8G,8A).
Women's Team
The Terriers hold down the #5 slot in the Hockey East Pre-season Coaches' poll. BU is just two voting points behind #4 Providence. Defending champion Northeastern holds down the top spot followed by Vermont and BC.
1. Northeastern - 90 (9)
2. Vermont
3. Boston College - 76
4. Providence - 61
5. Boston University - 59
6. UConn - 53
7. Maine - 39
8. New Hampshire - 38
9. Merrimack - 26
10. Holy Cross - 19
● GoTerriers.com Women Picked Fifth in Preseason Poll
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