Friday, January 20, 2023

Terriers host Black Bears; Swedish D-man commits UPDATED

#5 Terriers return to Hockey East action for a two-game home series against Maine with important standings points on the line. Tonight’s game, set for 7 p.m, will be broadcast on NESN and will be live streamed on ESPN+.

The Black Bears (9-10-2) started slow this season with just two wins in their first 11 games. Since then, seven wins including a 5-3 win against Lowell in Orono. Last season BU and Maine split a pair of games at Alfond Arena. The loss in the second game cost BU home ice in the Hockey East quarterfinals.

Maine’s offense is led by familiar names: senior Ben Poisson (5G,11A), junior Lynden Breen (8G,6A), juniors Donavan Villeneuve-Houle and Didrik Henbrant with eight points each. A young defense—skating three freshmen and two sophomores—is headed by fifth year Jakub Sirota from Czechia.

With Maine’s offense averaging 2.5 goals a game, it’s been junior Victor Ostman’s strong work in goal that has kept the Black Bears competitive. He brings a 1.95 GAA and a .923 save percentage

“Maine is playing very well. They’re 7-2-1 in the last ten,” Head Coach Jay Pandolfo pointed out during his media call. “They play really hard. They’re structured. They’re very well coached. They’re good on the forecheck and hard to play against. Goaltending has been good.”

Pandolfo dismissed last season’s split with Maine as a factor moving forward. “We try to go into every game with the same mindset—playing our game. We’ve had that mindset since day one.

“This is a new season. We can’t worry about what happened last season,” he added. “You put what’s happened in the past and get ready for the next game. Hopefully our guys are ready to forget about what happened against Cornell, a huge win, but now we’re on to Maine and have to be ready.”

Penalty-killing has been a strength for Maine while BU’s power play has struggled lately. Pandolfo noted that too often “we try to look for the best play instead of getting pucks to the net. This week we worked on getting more pucks to the net and recovering pucks.”

Two Terriers remain unavailable due to injuries. Pandolfo indicated the Jamie Armstrong, who began skating Thursday, is “day-to-day” while Ethan Phillips is “week-to-week.”

 

TONIGHT’S BU LINE-UP

Brown- Skoog- -Kaplan

Wilmer- Greene-Hutson

Tuch-O’Brien-Peterson

Zabaneh- Stevens -Amonte

Carrabes

Fensore-Gallagher

Hutson-McCarthy

Webber-Copeland

Commesso

Duplessis

Schena

 

● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, BU All-Access (audio), BU Men’s Hockey Twitter

● Live stream ESPN+, International Stream

● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape

● Boston Hockey Blog preview

● WTBU Sports preview

 

Episode 6 of Inside BU Hockey features Bernie Corbett's conversations with Pandolfo, Women's Head Coach Brian Durocher and assistant coach Kim Brandvold. In addition, James Garrison catches up with senior Jay O'Brien.

● Inside BU Hockey

 

In case you missed yesterday's post, three Terriers were nominated for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.

 

Looking ahead—New commitment

On Thursday, Terriers received a commitment for 2023 from Swedish defenseman Tom Willander.  A 6’1”, 180 lb., right-shot from Stockholm, Willander plays for Rögle BK in the J20 Nationaell and has a 4-15-19 line in 28 games. After spending the majority of his development in AIK's system, he joined Rogle which has been one of Sweden’s best developmental programs in recent years.

This past summer he played for Sweden in the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup recording two assists in five games. Last month, he played in the World Junior A Challenge in Cornwall, where he scored a pair of goals and added two assists in six games, earning a place on the tournament All-Star team. Two other 2023 defensive recruits played in the WJAC: Aiden Celebrini for Canada West and Gavin McCarthy for the U.S., although an injury limited him to one game.

 


In November Willander represented Sweden in the Five Nations in Plymouth, Michigan, earning this NHL draft assessment from The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler:

He’s a 6-foot-1 righty and a strong skater (he’s really impressive on his heels and going backward, with balanced posture in all four directions) who plays the game very intentionally. He looks sure of himself and his decisions in a way that defencemen at this age typically aren’t. He looks and operates like a pro out there. His head is always up. His passes are quick and firm. He’s aggressive on pinches and closing gaps, and rarely mistimes them. I liked what I saw. He looks like a second- or third-rounder who could become a solid depth defenceman.

Known for his speed and hockey smarts, Willander was ranked #16 among international skaters—and #6 defenseman—in the NHL Central Scouting Midterms for the next entry draft. Elite Prospects ranked him #39 overall for the draft, while TSN’s Craig Button rates him #15 and FC Hockey slots him at #84.

● Elite Prospects Page

● SportsNet.ca Review of WJAC-19 Top Performers

● NHL.com draft information

 

2023 recruit Shane Lachance scored his 19th and 20th goals in Youngstown’s 7-3 win over Muskegon.  The second goal came on a power play. 2024 recruit Brandon Svoboda, who played in Monday’s BioSteel All-American Game, scored his eighth goal on a power play and assisted on Lachance’s first. Lachance is second in the USHL in goals to 2023 recruit Jack Harvey, who has 25.

Looking back

Trevor Zegras' 15th goal proved the game-winner as Anaheim rallied from 3-0 to defeat Columbus, 5-3. Zegras also added an assist, giving him a 15-22-37 scoring line in 46 games.

 

Women’s Team

Terriers earned a shootout win against Providence on Tuesday at Walter Brown Arena. BU got goals from Julia Nearis and Julia Shaunessy, while Christina Vote assisted on both tallies. Nearis and Lacey Martin provided the shootout goals that sealed the win.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

2023 recruit Alex Law helped Team Canada claim the gold medal in the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship. Law, from Markham, Ont., had a 3-6-9 line in four games including the overtime winner against Finland. Former Terrier standout and assistant coach Tara Watchorn '12 served as an assistant coach for Team Canada while Savannah Newton '18 was the team's coordinator of operations. 

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