Saturday, February 04, 2023

UPDATED: Top Line Powers Terriers past Black Bears in frigid Maine; Women win in shootout

Third-period goals by Wilmer Skoog and Jeremy Wilmer allowed #3 BU to pull away from a stubborn Maine squad and claim a 5-3 victory at Alfond Arena, completing a three-game sweep of the Black Bears.

UPDATE: Game analysis by Mitch Fink, the Boston Hockey Blog's newest writer.

Devin Kaplan and Matt Brown also found the net—giving each member of the Terriers’ top line a tally—and Ryan Greene scored as well. Lane Hutson assisted on four of the goals and leads all Division 1 defensemen with 35 points.

BU took one-goal leads three times, only to have Maine produce an equalizer with two scores coming on the power play. Skoog’s 11th goal proved to be the game-winner.

The victory improved BU’s record to 20-6-0 overall and 14-4-0 in Hockey East where the Terriers now lead Northeastern by three points and Merrimack by six points.

Drew Commesso brought his A-game stopping 25 shots, including a few of the highlight-reel variety, to make a difference in what BU Terriers All-Access analyst Mark Linehan called "a hard-earned, old school road win."

Commenting on his team's seventh consecutive win, Coach Jay Pandolfo said, "The guys, they’re determined to play well every night. This is a tough place to play,” . “We ended up sticking to it and finding a way to get the win, so it was a huge win for us tonight.”

The victory also gives Pandolfo the most wins of any BU head coach in his inaugural season. 

Four minutes into the game, BU scored off an offensive zone face off. Skoog won the draw to Brown who sent the puck to Lane Hutson at the blue line. He skated to his right and dropped a pass to Kaplan who fired a shot through Skoog’s screen, beating Victor Ostman to the glove side. It was the freshman’s eighth goal. BU was outshot in the first period, 12-8, but emerged with a 1-0 lead.

 

A boarding penalty by Dylan Peterson five minutes into the second period put the Black Bears on the power play. BU nearly killed it off but in the final seconds, Cole Hanson’s shot deflected off Ben Poisson's skate and past Commesso to tie the score.

Two minutes later, Hutson set up Brown in the left circle for a shot that was defended. The senior wing from New Jersey collected the rebound, wheeled into the slot and backhanded a shot past Ostman for his team-leading 12th goal. Skoog had the second assist.

 

Late in the period, Maine connected on the power play again with Lynden Breen converting a loose puck in close after a deflected scoring attempt.

 

BU would respond with its own power play score at 17:58. Lane Hutson and Wilmer traded passes before the freshman forward found Greene in the high slot for a quick-release shot that the freshman center wristed home for his seventh goal.

Maine produced one more equalizer just a minute into the third period. Commesso stopped two close-in shots but Nolan Renwick, from behind the cage, flipped the puck off John Copeland's skate and into the net.

After Commesso robbed Michael Mancinelli on a point blank shot, BU took the lead for good.

 

In the final seconds of a power play, Skoog’s game winner came at 10:59 on a sharp-angle backhand shot. As a BU power play was ending, Jay O’Brien took a pass along the right boards from Hutson. Whirling to protect the puck he dished it to Skoog on the goal line to the right of the cage. With his back to the net, the Swedish center whipped a backhander under the bar for a 4-3 lead. Dom Fensore had the second assist.

 

Maine had 10 shots in the final period but BU minimized their grade A chances the rest of the way. In the final minutes BU controlled the puck preventing Maine from pulling Ostman for an extra attack. 

In the final two minutes Quinn Hutson slid a pass to Lane at the Maine blue line and he proceeded to play keep away with the puck. He skated around the Maine cage, turned and skated back the other way before putting up Wilmer for a one-timer from the slot that sealed the victory. Wilmer has a six-game scoring streak with goals in each of the last four games and owns an 8-12-20 scoring line.

 

With a goal and an assist, Brown now has 37 points, which ties him for fifth in the national scoring race. He and Lane Hutson (35) are first and second in overall scoring among Hockey East skaters.

The BU contingent at the game wasn’t too big, but Sasquatch and son were in the house. Given the frigid weather, he kept his shirt on.


Maine outshot BU, 28-25, holding the Terriers 11 shots below their season average.

BU blocked 18 Black Bear shots. Cade Webber, Fensore and Luke Tuch led the way with three blocks each.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● VideoHighlights  Thank you, @BartRhett  !!

● PandolfoPost-Game Comments

● Boston Hockey Blog recap and player comments

 

Looking ahead

 2023 recruit Macklin Celebrini scored his 24th goal and added his 23rd assist in Chicago’s 6-2 win against Cedar Rapids. With the two points, the center from Vancouver takes over the USHL scoring lead with 47 points, one point ahead of fellow recruit Jack Harvey, who notched his league-best 26th goal unassisted. Celebrini also has a league-best 1.52 points/game.


2024 recruit Kamil Bednarik scored his 14th goal in the NTDP U17s 7-2 win against Madison. Fellow recruit Cole Hutson picked up his 27th assist and has 33 points, third best on the team.

2023 recruit Aiden Celebrini scored his fifth goal on a power play as AJHL Brooks Bandits routed Olds Grizzlys, 9-3.

 

Women’s Team

Terriers rallied from a 2-0 deficit with a pair goals in the final four minutes of regulation and, after a scoreless overtime, won the shootout over #15 Connecticut. Catherine Foulem scored the game tying goal with 1:15 left on the clock and then she scored the shootout winner on the fifth round. BU has  now is unbeaten in its last six games.

The Huskies built up their lead with single goals in the first and second periods. BU finally got on the board on Brooke DIsher’s tally at 16:07 of the third, assisted by Foulem and Christina Vote.  Minutes later, Vote and Maeve Kelly set up Foulem’s game-tying goal.

Andrea Brändli stopped 23 shots for the Terriers.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Video highlights

● Post-game: Coach Brian Durocher, Foulem/Brändli

● Boston Hockey Blog recap

 

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