Saturday, October 01, 2022

Game Day: Terriers open the season against Bentley UPDATED

The Jay Pandolfo Era at BU and the 101st season of Terrier Hockey begin tonight at Agganis Arena as the #12/14 Scarlet & White host Bentley. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. for the contest that will live stream on ESPN+ (details below).

Pandolfo, a former Terrier captain, All-American and Hobey Baker Award finalist, was named BU's 13th head coach in May. His staff includes another former BU captain, Associate Head Coach Joe Pereira, and Assistant Coach Kim Brandvold.

The Terriers return 21 lettermen from last season’s 19-13-3 squad including 10 seniors and seven juniors. Eight of the top nine point-producers are back led by top scorer Captain Dom Fensore (31 points) and leading goal scorer Wilmer Skoog (15G, 15A). Senior assistant captain Jay O'Brien had 22 points (10G,12A), seniors Matt Brown and Ethan Phillips each had 17 points and junior Dylan Peterson produced 16 points.

Junior Drew Commesso, recently named an assistant captain, made 28 starts last season with a 2.52 GAA and a .914 save percentage. Classmate Vinny Duplessis made seven starts, winning six and earning Hockey East Goaltender of the Month honors for last February while Commesso was at the Beijng Olympic Games.

Discussing the opening game match-up in his weekly media call, Pandolfo explained, “I don’t want to worry about what another team is doing, especially this early in the season. We’re going to play the way we want to play.

“It doesn’t matter who we play,” Pandolfo said. “We should be consistent and play the same way no matter who it is…the guys have bought into that and that’s our focus going into game one.  

“Our identity is we want to play a pressure game. I don’t think we’re a heavy team. I think we’re a fast team. We want to play with speed and skill,” he added, noting that "practice has been really competitive.”

Pandolfo also indicated that initially BU's defensive pairings would have senior assistant captain Case McCarthy with freshman Lane Hutson, Fensore with sophomore Ty Gallagher and senior John Copeland with junior Cade Webber.

Of the six Terrier freshmen, three were selected in the NHL Entry Draft: center Ryan Greene by Chicago in the second round, Hutson by Montreal, also in the second, and right wing Devin Kaplan in the third by Philadelphia.

Twelve Terriers have heard their names called at NHL Entry Drafts and fourteen attended NHL development camps this past summer.

Tonight’s game will be the third meeting between the Terriers and Falcons, Bentley took the first meeting 4-1 in 2013. Two years later BU pitched a 3-0 shutout.

Junior Cole Kodsi is Bentley’s top returning scorer 10-13-23 while senior Matt Gosiewski led the team with 16 assists. Junior netminder Nicholas Grabko started 13 games, posting a 3.35 GAA and an .896 save percentage.

 TONIGHT’S BU LINE-UP

Tuch-O'Brien-Kaplan

Phillips-Brown-Peterson

Wilmer-Greene-Q. Hutson

Armstrong-Stevens-Carrabes

Zabaneh

Fensore-Gallagher

L.Hutson-McCarthy

Webber-Copeland

Commesso

● Go Terriers.com preview, game notes, Live Stats, Terriers All-Access (audio), BU Men’s Hockey Twitter

Coach Pandolfo’s Media Call

ESPN+ Live Stream  Fan Guide to ESPN+

● Boston Hockey Blog preview, Captain’s Corner

WTBU Sports preview

The First 100 Years (video)

● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape

 

 

The Daily Free Press’s annual BU Hockey edition will be available at Agganis Arena and a digital edition is available here. It includes feature articles on the men’s and women’s programs, The Dog Pound, The BU Band and hockey alums in the pros.


►FloHockey.TV 15 Teams to Watch

►New England Hockey Journal (subscription) Hockey East previews (BU 2nd)

Whether it’s Northeastern or Boston University finishing first is up for debate, but both the Huskies and Terriers have a huge advantage in the goaltending department heading into the season. 2022 Mike Richter Award-winner Devon Levi returns for Northeastern while U.S. Olympic goaltender Drew Commesso (Norwell, Mass.) is the man between the pipes for Boston University

►New England Hockey Journal (subscription) 11 Older Freshmen to Watch

Jeremy Wilmer BU, 8/16/03, LW, left shot, 5-7/155

Wilmer comes to Boston University after taking an extra season with Tri-City in the USHL. The Rockville Center, N.Y., native spent two seasons with the NTDP before his stint in Kearney, Neb. What a season it was for the former North Jersey Avalanche star, as he became the USHL Forward of the Year while leading the league in scoring. He scored 26 goals and 80 assists for 106 points in 65 games between the regular season and playoffs. His small stature is what held him back from being drafted, but he’s a player who could prove to be a dynamic college player in time. Jay Pandolfo’s (Winchester, Mass.) team has no shortage of high-end players, but Wilmer could fit in nicely in the middle six this season.

►Grand Forks Herald  All Conference Previews  (BU 2nd in Hockey East)

 

Looking ahead

2023 recruit Jack Harvey scored his third goal as Chicago defeated Muskegon, 5-1. After three games, he is +5.

 

2023 recruit Anton Castro turned aside 39 of 40 shots, including 16 in the third period, in Fargo’s 4-1 win against Green Bay. The Mendota Heights, Minn., native split last season between the Force and NAHL Aberdeen, where he led the Wings into the playoffs.

2023 recruit Jack Musa scored his second goal in Madison’s 5-3 win against Dubuque.

2023 recruit Doug Grimes scored his first goal in Lincoln’s 3-2 loss to Sioux Falls.

Looking back


After eight seasons a Dallas Stars’ scout, former Terrier forward and assistant coach Buddy Powers has
returned to Bowling Green as a volunteer assistant coach. He had served as the Falcons’ head coach from 1994 to 2002. Powers, who also was a head coach at RPI, joined Coach Jack Parker’s staff in 2002-03 and continued as an assistant coach through David Quinn’s first season, 2013-14.





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