UPDATED Game Day BU vs. BC: Round 4

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#5 Terriers face off against Boston College in the Beanpot Consolation game at 4:30 p.m. ET today at TD Garden. There is no TV broadcast or live stream, but an audio-only broadcast with BU’s Bernie Corbett and Mark Linehan can be accessed here.

BU and BC, the teams with the most Beanpot wins (31 for the Terriers and 20 for the Eagles) remarkably will be meeting in the consolation for the first time in the tournament’s 70-year history. And that means there’s a first-time Harvard-Northeastern championship game.

BU holds a 29-16 edge over BC in Beanpot tournament games, with the most recent meeting being a 5-4 double-overtime win in 2020 with Wilmer Skoog authoring the game-winning goal.

This will be the fourth meeting of the season between the Commonwealth Avenue rivals. BU came out on the short end of a wild, 9-6 shootout in December. Last month the Terriers swept a home-and-home with the Eagles, winning 6-3 at Agganis Arena and then 3-1 at Conte Forum.

The Terriers have had no games since last Monday’s 3-1 loss to Northeastern, which snapped BU’s seven game winning streak.

The Eagles, who rallied late to tie Harvard in the Beanpot semifinal before falling in overtime, dropped a 3-1 home decision to surging Maine, extending BC’s winless streak to eight games (0-6-2).  BC’s offense is paced by freshman Cutter Gauthier with 14 goals and 25 points and junior Nikita Nesterenko with 22 points. Captain Marshall Warren anchors the defense and grad transfer goalie Mitch Benson brings a 2.73 GAA and a .901 save percentage.

Coach Jay Pandolfo expressed confidence that his team will be up for the consolation contest, despite the likelihood of a sparse crowd when the game begins.

He explained, “It’s certainly not a throwaway game. It’s probably better that we’re playing BC. All the games are big for us. Both teams will get up for this so I think there will be energy on both sides.

“They (BC) present some challenges,” Pandolfo continued. “They’re a good transition team. You know, really good speed, they have some game changers in their lineup. So there’s some things that we have to make sure we’re aware of. But I do think the most important thing is getting our game back.”

He also reported that injured senior forward Jamie Armstrong is not ready to return to the line-up. Ethan Phillips, who has been out since the Dec. 11 win against Connecticut, returns to the line-up.

TODAY’S TERRIER LINE-UP

Phillips-Skoog-Kaplan

Wilmer-O’Brien-Brown

Tuch-Greene-Hutson

Zabaneh-Stevens-Peterson

Amonte

Fensore-Gallagher

Hutson-McCarthy

Webber-Jarman

Commesso

Duplessis

Schena

 

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

● Pandolfo Media Call

● Boston Hockey Blog preview

● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape

 

                           Photo credit Kyle Prudhomme

The Chicago Sun-Times talked with Blackhawks assistant GM Mark Eaton about the development of draft picks Drew Commesso and Ryan Greene at BU. And Commesso describes his use of a virtual-reality app, Sense Arena, that simulates hockey situations, including crowd noise, to improve his reaction time:

“I want to beat pucks before they get to the passer, instead of meeting them there, and part of that is staying low and at a steady level.” 

 Both Terriers are second round draft picks by Chicago, Commesso in 2020 and Greene in 2022.

● Chicago Sun-Times Blackhawks Encouraged by Progress of Commesso and Greene

Poll Update

Terriers fell two slots, from #3 to #5, in both the USCHO Weekly Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. They also slid to fifth in the Everything College Hockey ranking.

In the Pairwise rankings, BU dropped from #3 to #4.

Looking ahead

In case you missed it, 2023 recruit Macklin Celebrini had a seven-point weekend--including a hat trick--in a pair of Chicago Steel wins, earning the #1 USHL star of the weekend. Here is one of his two assists in Saturday's win against Des Moines.

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Holy moly Macklin Celebrini is ripping apart the USHL as an 06 this year. He’s going to terrify opposing defenses at @TerrierHockey. Look at this beautiful assist and set up. Up to 54 points in 34 games with 28 goals. Video games numbers for USHL. Let alone a 16 year old https://t.co/tWiTOxH7nY

— TheCollegeHockeyHoodlum (@CHHoodlum) February 12, 2023

Hockey journalist Chris Peters notes that Celebrini "owns the fifth-highest points total for a U17 player in USHL history and is on pace to top that list by 20 points."   

Looking back

Jack Eichel scored his 17th goal and assisted on two others as Vegas routed the Ducks, 7-2. Trevor Zegras had an assist for Anaheim.

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the delayed reaction here is everything 👏 pic.twitter.com/1tHaWH1S39

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) February 12, 2023