#5 Terriers are set to face #9/11 Western Michigan at SNHU Arena in the first game of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Puck drop is at 2 p.m. for the contest that will air on ESPN2 and will be live-streamed on ESPN+.
BU is the second seed in the Manchester Regional while the Broncos are the third seed. #1 Seed Denver faces #4 Cornell in the second game.
BU is making its 38th national tournament appearance with a 43-38 record. They have the fifth most tournament wins and have claimed the NCAA title five times. BU’s most recent tournament appearances were in 2021—a first-round loss to St. Cloud—and 2018—a loss to Michigan in the Regional final following a win over Cornell.
This Date in BU Hockey: The Terriers' last win on March 23 was in 1996, when Jay Pandolfo was captain. A 3-2 win over Clarkson at the Albany Regional final. Sounds like an omen.
BU and Western Michigan have met only three times previously, all Terrier wins. The most recent was a 5-2 victory on December 30,1994 in the Mariucci Tournament semifinal when Head Coach Jay Pandolfo was a junior wing on BU’s eventual national champions.
“A big thing for us we’ve focused on throughout the course of the year is playing our game,” Pandolfo told the media on Wednesday (see link below). “You obviously have to make adjustments to what certain teams do, but we feel we’re at our best when we’re playing the style we want to play.”
Today’s game features two of the five highest scoring teams in college hockey. Both BU (27-10-7) and WMU (23-14-1) are averaging more than 3.9 goals per game. Similar to the Terriers, the Broncos play an uptempo game with pace.
They’re the only D1 team with three skater who have 40 or more points and all three skate on the “Assassin Line.”
Freshman Ryan McAllister leads the squad in both points (48) and assists (35) while junior Jason Polin has 46 points, including a nation-best 29 goals and, like BU’s Lane Hutson, is a Hobey Baker top-10 finalist. Sophomore Max Sasson, with 42 points (15g, 27a) is one of eight Broncos who have 22 or more points this season.
“They obviously have some great offensive players up front, so it’s going to be our job to stay in their face and take away time and space for them and kind of close quick on them on the D-zone as well and transition to offense quickly,” said BU captain Domenick Fensore.
The Broncos' goalie, Cameron Rowe has started 36 games and brings a 2.45 GAA and a .905 save percentage.
WMU finished second in the NCHC regular-season race behind Denver but lost 3-1 and 3-2 in OT to Colorado College in the conference's best of three quarterfinals two weekends ago.
The Terriers, who sport the longest active winning streak in Division 1 of seven games, will welcome back first line center Wilmer Skoog (14g,15a), who had been suspended for the Hockey East championship game. They’ll be without senior defenseman Case McCarthy, injured in the win over Providence, and junior center Nick Zabaneh, injured in the win against Merrimack.
Coach Jay Pandolfo indicated (see Inside BU Hockey podcast below) that Skoog will return to his usual spot on the top line while senior Jay O’Brien will fill in for Zabaneh on the third line. Freshman Lachlan Getz will again skate on defense replacing McCarthy.
The Terriers have two 40+ point scorers of their own in freshman Lane Hutson with 47 (14g,33a), the top-scoring defenseman in D1, and senior Matt Brown with 44 (15g,29a). Ten BU skaters have 20+ points this season in what has been, particularly of late, a balanced attack. Goalie Drew Commesso, who yielded just three total goals in the conference semi and final, has a 2.51 GAA and a .912 save percentage.
TODAY’S BU LINE-UP
Brown-O'Brien-Phillips
Tuch-Greene-Q.Hutson
Wilmer-Skoog-Peterson
Armstrong-Stevens-Kaplan
Amonte
Fensore-Gallagher
L.Hutson-Copeland
Webber-Getz
Commesso
Duplessis
Schena
● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, BU All-Access (audio), BU Men’s Hockey Twitter , Practice Day Photo Gallery
● Live Stream ESPN+, International Stream
● March 22 Press Conference: Pandolfo, Fensore Brown
● Boston Hockey Blog preview
● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape; Manchester Regional Preview
● USCHO Manchester Regional Preview
►On Episode 10 of Inside BU Hockey, Bernie Corbett catches up with head coach Jay Pandolfo and Owen Gund chats with junior Dylan Peterson as the Terriers prepare for the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
► Boston Hockey Blog Six Takeaway from the Hockey East Tournament
► Our friend BurntBoats reports that BU is #5 overall in the final PairWise ranking, which marks their best finish since #3 in 2015, besting #7 in 2017.
tw-align-centerOnly one @HobeyBakerAward finalist can do #LaneHutsonThings™️https://t.co/uOXGdBmNLU pic.twitter.com/8Pdm2lsoVF
— BU Men's Hockey (@TerrierHockey) March 22, 2023
► Three of the big plays that delivered a Hockey East Championship to BU.
tw-align-centerLast week of top plays 🥹#HockeyEast Plays of the Week presented by @EmeraldGreenLL1 #WhereChampionsPlay pic.twitter.com/5nITPqxM3W
— Hockey East (@hockey_east) March 22, 2023
Looking ahead
2024 recruit Kamil Bednarik scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, as the NTDP U`7 defeated Green Bay, 7-3. He has 18 goals and 17 assists in 48 games.
Looking back
Former Terrier Head Coach David Quinn has been named to lead Team USA in the IIHF World Championships. Quinn is in his first season behind the San Jose Sharks’ bench.
tw-align-centerDavid Quinn has been named head coach of the 2023 U.S. Men's National Team for the upcoming #MensWorlds in May!
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) March 22, 2023
“He knows the player pool extremely well and understands the dynamics involved in preparing a team to win a gold medal on the world stage.” -Chris Clark, GM
Alex Chiasson scored his fourth goal in Detroit's 3-2 shootout loss to Edmonton. Chiasson, who began his season with the Wings' AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids, has a 4-2-6 lines in nine games since being signed by Detroit earlier this month.
No comments:
Post a Comment