For the third time in the last month, Lane Hutson has been selected for a Hockey East Weekly Award. This time, he’s been named Hockey East Player of the Week after a two-goal performance in BU’s 5-2 win against Notre Dame. He previously gained Rookie of the Week honors on Oct. 31 (GWG, tying goal vs. UML) and Nov. 21 (GWG, assist vs. NU).
The Montreal Canadians draft pick was Defender of the Month for October with eight points and 11 blocks in the team's first seven games.
Hutson is the third Terrier to earn P.O.W. honors this season. Matt Brown was selected for the week ending Oct. 24 (2G,2A vs. UConn) and Ryan Greene was honored on Nov. 14 for his six-point performance in the UMass series.
Brown (G,2A) and Drew Commesso (26 saves) were named to the conference's weekly top performers list.
● GoTerriers.com report
Poll Story
In the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, BU moved up four spots to #7, just ahead of Connecticut. Everything College Hockey also pegs the Terriers seventh.
College Hockey News’ Power Ratings, based on KRACH, has BU at #7, with the Terrier now #3 in strength of schedule. Pairwise now shows BU at #7 with surging Merrimack one spot behind.
SNL (Saturday Night Leftovers)
Twelve games into the season, BU is tied for sixth in team scoring among D1 schools with a 3.75 GPG.
Brown is second in Hockey East in overall points per game (1.42). Lane Hutson is fourth (1.17) and Greene is tied for eighth (1.00).
tw-align-centerOnly 1 defenseman on this list. https://t.co/SI2J9bXnwp
— BurntBoats (@BurntBoats) November 27, 2022
Commesso is third in conference goals against average (1.58) and third in conference save percentage (.943).
Neal Boudette's Terrier Takeaway
The exhibition game Saturday against the USA NTDP was a story of the good, the bad, and, well, let’s call it the indifferent.
First, The Good: In the third period, the Terriers outskated and outplayed the USA boys (they are boys – they’re all still 17) and put up two goals to tie again in which BU had trailed by the embarrassing score of 5-2. Vinny Duplessis made two highlight reel saves, one moving left to right to shut down a golden open-net, back-door opportunity for USA. The save saved BU’s chances in the game. Had USA scored there, I doubt BU would have been able to draw even.
BU also showed some flashes of fire in the second period but not enough to take control of the game from the visitors. The Terriers did outscore UAS 2-1 in the middle frame, but the second came off the stick of Matt Brown with nine seconds remaining. Until then, BU had shown signs of life on certain shifts or parts of shifts.
The Bad: Sloppy play and confusion in the defensive zone led to a couple of the USA goals. BU did not come out with intensity, something of a surprise because five of the seven D who dressed have mostly been healthy scratches and you’d expect that they might take this game as a chance to play with fire and audition for some real game action.
Duplessis surely would like a few of the goals back, and none more than the first, on the first shot of the game. BU turned the puck over and Oliver Moore (Minnesota commit) fired from the face-off circle – flat on the ice, yet it got in five-hole. Ethan Phillips tied it seven minutes later but it did not light a fire under the Terriers. USA scored three more to end the first period leading 4-1.
The Indifferent: You have a big win over Notre Dame Wednesday, you have a big Thanksgiving Day dinner on Thursday, and some downtime on Friday (I don’t know if they Terriers skated Friday or not, but they clearly had more downtime than usual), and I suppose it’s not a surprise that they came out flat in an afternoon exhibition game. What was surprising was that it took BU so long to get into the game. They finally did with Brown’s goal, but that came after 39:52 of hockey. Also surprising: BU’s upper classmen who played (Skoog, Tuch, Peterson, Brown, Phillips) made some good plays but never reached a point where they were dominated the game – something you might expect playing against opponents who are physically immature and 4-5 years younger.
It's hard to draw clear conclusions on the USA’s starting goalie, Michael Chambre, a BU commit. He allowed two goals in the first to minutes of the third and was pulled, but he only faced 19 shots in 41 minutes of play. Another BU commit, Kai Janviriya, an undersized defenseman, showed good skating ability, speed and decision-making, but again it’s hard to make much of an assessment. Did he look good because he’s good, or did he look good because the Terriers were flat? (He did show some grit not backing down in a couple post-whistle tussles).
I think it’s best to set this game aside and put more focus on how the Terriers have played in their other contests this season. While they’ve had a stretch here and there of less than stellar hockey at times, they have by and large looked very fast, very intense, intelligent, and skilled in all games played. And they have been very competitive in every game except the first Michigan contest, the one marred by the two five-minute majors.
A better measuring stick will be Friday against New Hampshire, which is ranked 51 in the country. BU just handled No. 19 Notre Dame. They dominated No. 55 Bentley earlier in the season. If BU plays as it did against Notre Dame, and handles UNH, no reason for worry in Terrier Town.
Looking ahead
2023 recruit Aiden Celebrini scored his fourth goal in AJHL Brooks' 5-1 win against Olds Grizzlys. The older brother of Macklin Celebrini is a right-shot defenseman who has a 4-9-13 line in 28 games including two game-winning goals.
Looking back
Trevor Zegras assisted on three goals but the Ducks were edged by the Kraken, 5-4.
