Monday, November 14, 2022

Terrier Takeaway; P.O.W for Greene UPDATED...Again

Note: Chris Henes passed away at home on Saturday, just shy of his 72nd birthday. He was the manager of the '71 and '72 national championship teams, a blog contributor, for decades the glue of the Terrier Hockey alumni community and a friend to everyone who was fortunate to have known him. We'll have a stand-alone post about a great Terrier in the next day or two. Visitation/funeral details are here. 

                              Photo credit OnBrannd

BU Oldtimer’s Terrier Takeaway

•           At least through the first period and a half, there was little time spent in the neutral zone. As soon as a team was able to clear its zone, they’d race through center ice, and establish an extended presence in the opponent’s d-zone.

•           During the first period, and early in second period, UMass was able to get the puck to the front of the BU net. They were very effective behind the BU net and in the corners. UMass used their bodies; BU used their sticks. They generated opportunities off the initial rush, also. Consequently, Commesso did his best work early in the game.

•           As well as BU played, they were the beneficiaries of mediocre goaltending and weak play defensively by UMass down low in its d-zone. BU hopped on big rebounds directly in the front of the UMass net for its first two goals.

•           The flow of the game changed after BU scored its third goal (McCarthy’s goal). BU used its speed to assert control of the contest. Not coincidentally, BU’s play in its own end of the ice improved, also. Still, with the score 3 – 0, Commesso made a big save with 2:30 remaining in the period.

•           Once again, Skoog used his size and penchant for net front play to completely obscure the vision of the UMass goalie, Cole Brady on O’Brien’s goal. That said, O’Brien’s shot was a genuine snipe to the short side top corner.

•           So far this season, and increasingly so, the puck movement and player movement by BU has been impressive. Its play away from the puck has been outstanding, see the goals by McCarthy and Zabaneh. Also, moments before Armstrong’s goal, Fensore moved into the weak side circle, and fielded a cross ice pass for a scoring opportunity on an open net. Alas, his shot was high and wide. Simply stated, there is a high degree of anticipation and awareness in BU’s game. Good solid coaching.

•           An astute observer points out that BU has yielded 14 goals in regulation time in eight games, ignoring the mess of the first Michigan game. And has allowed two or fewer goals in seven of those games.

 

                               Photo credit Jena Van Sickle
A six-point weekend (3G,3A) has earned freshman center Ryan Greene Hockey's East's Player of the Week award. In Friday's 7-2 win, the Paradise, Newfoundland, native, set career marks for points (5) and assists (3) in a game. He scored his fifth goal--tied for the team lead--in Saturday's 5-1 victory. Following a two-goal,one-assist effort in the season-opening win against Bentley, he was named the conference's Rookie-of-the-Week.

● GoTerriers.com report

                                            

Poll Story--Moving up

Following the weekend sweep of UMass, Terriers moved up three spots to #11 in the DCU/USCHO  Division 1 weekly poll. Denver regained the #1 ranking while conference foes UConn and Providence are #7 and #9 respectively. Harvard, which remains undefeated, is just ahead of BU at #10.

BU took a bigger jump in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine weekly poll, moving from #14 to #9. Once again, Hockey East has seven teams in the top 20.

Terriers are also #9 in the Everything College Hockey poll and #10 in John Buccigross' Cawlidge Hawkey Top 16. 


SNL [Saturday Night Leftovers]

The three stars of Saturday’s 5-1 win: #3 Drew Commesso, #2 Case McCarthy and #1 Jay O’Brien, who with a goal and an assist earned the player of the game jacket.  


14 different BU players had at least one point apiece in the UMass series, led by Greene with six points, Quinn Hutson with four points (2G,2A) and Luke Tuch with four points (4A).

17 Terriers skaters have scored at least one goal. Matt Brown and Greene share the team lead with five apiece. Brown, with 13 points in 9 games leads all Hockey East skaters in points per game with 1.44. Greene is third at 1.22. Lane Hutson leads all defensemen with 1.11 pts/game.

Beside heeding Coach Jay Pandolfo's “pucks to the net” message, the Terriers have largely responded to the coaches’ insistence on more discipline/few penalties. In each of the last three games, BU has taken just two minor penalties. Of course, O’Brien’s major penalty for slew-footing was a step backwards, but to his credit, the senior center took responsibility in his post-game comments.

Why is BU #1 in Pairwise? With the exception of Bentley, all of BU’s opponents to date are teams in the current Pairwise top 15: #3 Michigan, #5 UConn, #7 UMass Lowell and #A15 UMass—even after being swept. Terriers also are on top in the KRACH rankings.

Commesso stopped 50 of 53 shots in the two-game series. Add in his 29 of 30 against Lowell and he has a .952 save percentage since returning to the line-up.

Deja vu? Those listening to the BU audio stream Friday night heard analyst Mark Linehan "call" Wilmer Skoog's lacrosse goal moments before it happened. But that wasn't the first time that Mark saw a "Skoog" coming. Last year's Feb. 2 BU-Maine game:


There were more firsts Saturday night than O’Brien’s and Nick Zabaneh’s initial goals of the season. Sasquatch made his first appearance at Agganis this season.

Looking ahead

A trio of 2023 Terrier recruits among the top 11 USHL goal scorers: Jack Harvey, Macklin Celebrini and Shane Lachance.

Harvey, who scored four goals on 11 shots in two games, was named USHL Forward of the Week. The Stacy, Minn., native, has produced four consecutive multiple-goal games for the Steel and leads the league in scoring with 24 points (14G,10A) in 15 games.

Looking back

For the first time, four Terriers—Charlie Coyle, Matt Grzelcyk, AJ Greer and Charlie McAvoy—suited up for the Bruins in their 5-2 win over Vancouver. Is that the most collegians from one school in an NHL line-up? We’ll inquire. Coyle and McAvoy each had an assist.

Jake Oettinger turned aside 27 of 28 shots in Dallas’ 5-1 win against the Flyers. The win was his sixth of the year and lowered his GAA to 1.80 and boosted his save percentage to .938.

Clayton Keller’s sharp-angle snipe was Arizona’s only tally in a 4-1 loss to the Rangers. It was Keller’s sixth goal of the season.

 

 

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