After a disappointing Beanpot, #5 Terriers return to conference action with a home-and-home series against #20 Merrimack, beginning with tonight’s game at Lawler Rink in North Andover. ESPN+ will live-stream the game with puck drop set for 7 p.m.
BU, which sits atop the Hockey East standings a point ahead of Northeastern with a game in hand, is five points ahead of the third-place Warriors, also with a game in hand.
The Terriers will be looking to make a statement after losing two in a row for the first time this season and they’ll be looking to do it against a team that has proven a challenge for the Scarlet & White. In each of the last three seasons, BU and Merrimack have split two-game series.
“The most important thing is
that we get back to playing our game with the right attitude, the right effort,
and enthusiasm. I just thought that was missing the last two games,” said Coach
Jay Pandolfo in his weekly media call. “We got away from the stuff that has
made us successful throughout the year, and we have to get back to that more
than anything else.”
He pointed to keeping things simple and supporting the puck in all three zones as areas of emphasis in this week's practices.
Merrimack, Pandolfo explained, "plays with really good structure, they're a good forechecking team. They're going to be good in the neutral zone, they're not going to just let you skate through the neutral zone. We have to put pucks behind them and get to work. It's a tight building and things happen really fast."
The Warriors got off to their best start in many years with a 14-5-0 record through December that had them ranked 36, but have cooled off recently and now stand at 16-12-1. Their most recent games, two weeks ago, were a pair of 3-2 overtime losses to Maine and New Hampshire.
Merrimack’s offense, averaging 2.83 goals per game, is led by junior Alex Jeffries with 34 points (12G,22A), tied for third in the conference. Senior Ben Brar and sophomore Matt Copponi each have 21 points on ten goals and 11 assists. Slava Denmin, a grad transfer from UMass and freshman Zach Bookman anchor the defense with 13 points each. Goaltending has been split between sophomore 6’8” Hugo Ollas (2.62) and junior Zachary Borgiel (2.18).
Pandolfo confirmed that Thomas Jarman would be in the lineup again as the sixth defenseman and that Drew Commesso would be between the pipes, despite looking shaky on the game-winner in the Beanpot consolation game.
“Every goalie goes through some stretches where they’re not at their best. I think he’s actually been really good recently,” Pandolfo explained. “We can look at the last goal versus BC and yeah, does he want that one back? Of course, he does. But overall, I think he’s playing really well as of late, and you have to trust your number one guy and we do. So he’ll be back on the net tomorrow night and we expect him to play well, and I’m sure he will.”
TONIGHT'S TERRIER LINE-UP
Brown-Skoog-Kaplan
Tuch-O’Brien-Phillips
Wilmer-Greene-Hutson
Zabaneh-Stevens-Peterson
Carrabes
Fensore-Gallagher
Hutson-McCarthy
Webber-Jarman
Commesso
Duplessis
Schena
● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, BU All-Access (audio), BU Men’s Hockey Twitter
● Live Stream ESPN+, International Stream
● Boston Hockey Blog preview
● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape
► Former BU All-American Colby Cohen, now an analyst for ESPN and a content provider for the Chicago Blackhawks, offers his projection for the NCAA tournament field.
Looking ahead
tw-align-centerThe latest update to the 2005-born North American player ranking has US NTDP’s Zeev Buium as the top defensemen in the US.
— Puck Preps (@PuckPreps) February 15, 2023
Link to the full 2005-born 🇺🇸 defensemen ranking ➡️ https://t.co/R383lUSUu9 pic.twitter.com/DxhncMcSKx
A pair of future Terriers are among Puck Prep’s Top 10 US.2005 Defensemen: Muskegon’s #5 Gavin McCarthy, a 2023 recruit, and #9 NTDP U17 Kai Janvariya, a 2024 recruit.
Looking back
Mike Grier's path from Terrier All-American and national champion to longtimer NHLer to becoming the league's first black general manager is traced in a BU Today feature story.
ESPN conducted a survey to determine the top current NHL defense, using a panel of 10 current players and 10 from team operations. Charlie McAvoy was ranked #5 while two former BU opponents topped the list: #1 Cale Makar and #2 Adam Fox.
● ESPN+ Top 10 NHL Defensemen of 2023—Execs, players vote for the best
McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk each assisted on a goal as the Bruins defeated Coach John Hynes’ Predators, 5-0
Clayton Keller’s shootout goal was the difference in Arizona’s 1-0 win against Tampa Bay.
Women’s Team
Terriers begin a home-and-home with Hockey East’s first-place team, Northeastern, on Senior Night at Walter Brown Arena. The game, which will be live-streamed on ESPN+, begins at 7 p.m.
● GoTerriers.com preview, Live Stats, BU All-Access (audio), BU Women’s Hockey Twitter
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