Thursday, March 16, 2023

UPDATED Game Day: Terriers face Friars in Hockey East Semifinal

#5 Terriers continue their pursuit of the conference tournament championship this afternoon when they face Providence at TD Garden in a 4 p.m. start. The contest will be broadcast on NESN and will be live streamed on ESPN+. The winner will face the victor of the second semifinal, matching Merrimack and UMass Lowell, in Saturday’s title game. 

BU, the regular-season champion and the top seed in the tournament, will be playing in the conference semifinal for the 26th time with a 12-13 record in its previous 25. Terriers dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to Northeastern in 2019.


BU’s last win in a Hockey East semifinal at TD Garden was in 2018, when BU defeated BC, 4-3, on Patrick Curry’s overtime goal. Terriers would then meet Providence in the tournament final and claim a 2-0 win and the Hockey East tournament championship on goals by Drew Melanson and Bobo Carpenter, backing Jake Oettinger’s shutout. 

Terriers come into the game on a five-game winning streak, that includes a pair of wins against the Friars (6-4, 2-0) in the final regular-season weekend. Over the past three seasons, BU has won five of six from the Friars. 

Providence's offense is led by seniors Parker Ford (26 points) and Max Crozier (24), juniors Brett Berard (24) and Nick Poisson (20).

Providence, Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said on his weekly media call, is “hard to play against. They’re a really good forechecking team,” Pandolfo said.  “A really good team in the neutral zone. They stay above the puck, they’re physical.  


“You have to get inside against them in the offensive zone [because] they’ll try to keep us away from the net,” he added. “Something we’ve gotten better at recently is getting to the net and getting inside. 


“We’ve got to clear guys from out of the front of the net for Drew so he can see the puck. It’s something we’ve talked about. We know how they play. It’s something that’s a strength of theirs.” 


In the two recent meetings between the teams, the Friars dominated at the face off dot, if not on the scoreboard. It’s an aspect of the game that received added attention at Terrier practices this week.

 

“They’re a really good face off team,” Pandolfo said. “So, it’s something we’ve looked at. Our centers looked at some video of what they do. You have to work together on it. The biggest thing for us is you try not to lose it clean and hopefully you can get some help from your D or wingers. We don’t want them starting with the puck all the time.” 


                                 Photo credit Kyle Prudhomme

Pandolfo could offer no definitive answer about the availability of Captain Dom Fensore, who suffered a lower-body injury in the opening minute of BU’s quarterfinal win against Vermont. 


“At this point, right now, Dom is still day-to-day,” Pandolfo said. “So, we’ll have to wait till tomorrow just to see where it’s at. No decision yet, whether he’s in or out, still just kind of waiting now.” 


Asked about his selection this week as Hockey East Coach of the Year, Pandolfo credited the support he’s received from his staff—Joe Pereira, Kim Brandvold, Brian Ecklund and Doug Friedman —and the buy-in of his players. 



Here is today’s BU line-up.

20 dressed for the pre-game skate. Game-time decision on whether Dom Fensore will play. 

Brown-Skoog-O'Brien 

Tuch-Greene-Q.Hutson 

Wilmer-Zabaneh-Peterson 

Armstrong-Stevens-Kaplan 

Phillips 


Fensore-Gallagher 

L.Hutson-McCarthy 

Webber-Copeland 

Getz 


Commesso 

Duplessis 

Schena 


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

• Pandolfo Media Call 

• Live Stream ESPN+, International Stream 

• Boston Hockey Blog preview 

• College Hockey News Tale of the Tape 

• USCHO This Week in Hockey East 

• Boston Herald preview

• FriarsHockey preview  


► WTBU Sports’ Grace Davenport spoke with Colby Cohen, now a Blackhawks game and studio analyst, about the Terrier-Blackhawks connections--Alex Vlasic, Drew Commesso and Ryan Greene—and the BU hockey family. 

• WTBU Sports Chicago Prospect Pipeline Runs through BU  


Looking back


Evan Rodrigues scored his 14th goal in Colorado's 5-4 win against Ottawa. Brady Tkachuk scored his 28th goal and added an assist for the Senators.

 

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