Wednesday, January 31, 2024

UPDATED: Controversial call costs BU in OT after rallying to tie Huskies

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After rallying from two goals down in the third period to tie Northeastern, BU gave up a goal in the extra session, losing 4-3 to their cross-town rivals at Matthews Arena. But that’s not the real story.

2:33 into overtime, the Terriers were whistled for too many men on the ice—a beyond questionable call we’ll get to in a moment—and with six ticks left on the 4-on-3 man-advantage, NU’s Dylan Hryckowian redirected a Gunnarwolfe Fontaine shot past Mathieu Caron.

The penalty was called with Tom Willander leaving the ice and Lane Hutson hopping on while the puck was being carried across the NU blueline by Dylan Peterson. Willander was about two feet from the bench when Hutson went over the boards—a standard occurrence in a game where changes are made on the fly. Penalties are only called in this situation when the puck is close to the changing skaters. But this wasn’t the case here. Judge for yourself.

Criticism of the call came quickly from veteran hockey journalists

Mark Divver tweeted: ESPNU audience gets great taste of what Hockey East is about and then there's a brutal call that decides the outcome at the end.”

Scott McLaughlin of WEEI Sports tweeted: I don't think I've ever seen as awful of a too many men call as the one that just cost BU in OT. The guy changing off was a foot from the bench when the new player jumped on, and neither of the players involved played the puck. Absolutely bizarre call to make in OT. Watched it 10x and still don’t get it.

NESN’s Tom Caron responded: “Couldn't agree more. A brutal call in OT that leads to the game winner. Give Northeastern credit for the W, but that should never be called." 

Head Coach Jay Pandolfo, described as "fuming" by the Boston Hockey Blog, would only say, "I don’t really have any comment on that call at all. Zero.”

Unlike the media and fans (yes, they were ripped, too), a coach doesn’t have the luxury of sounding off on such a terrible call, lest he be suspended by conference officials.

Terriers dominated much of the opening period, but it was the home team who scored the only goal. At 15:16 Matthew Staudacher’s shot from the left boards found its way past Caron. Near the end of the period, Jack Harvey stole a puck and skated in on goalie Cameron Whitehead but couldn’t lift the puck over the netminder’s pad. Shots were 9-6 BU.

The guys in Scarlet came out firing in the middle period with 11 shots in the first eight minutes—but no goals. Terriers finally broke through at 14:44 when the game’s first penalty put them on a power play. After Quinn Hutson’s shot was deflected over the cage, Lane Hutson recovered the puck at the left boards and slid it to Macklin Celebrini skating in from the right point. A few strides, a deke and a hard wrist shot flew over Whitehead’s left shoulder. Shane Lachance, displaying Skoog-like screening ability, timed his move across the crease perfectly. For Celebrini, it was his 18th goal1-1 after two.

In the third period, a Case McCarthy hooking penalty give NU its first power play and Jack Williams broke the tie with a one-timer from the left face-off dot.

At 8:32 the Huskies stretched the lead to 3-1. Vinny Borgesi attracted a trio of Terriers at the right point and passed to an unmarked Jackson Dorrington who fired from the top of the left circle. A perfectly timed leap by Andy Moore, right in front of Caron, took away the goalie’s eyes and the puck sailed into the BU net, stick side.

BU responded quickly. A Ryan Greene shot that went wide of the net was recovered by Lane Hutson who whipped a centering pass to brother Quinn Hutson skating into the crease. His quick shot beat Whitehead high to the glove side for his 10th goal, cutting the deficit to one goal.     

Terriers would outshoot their hosts, 17-11 in the period but the tying goal wouldn’t come until just over a minute remained. With Caron pulled for an extra skater, Quinn sent the puck around the end boards to Lane, who promptly dished to Celebrini above the right circle. He skated to the high slot and fired a shot past a screening Lachance that Whitehead defended. But Greene was on the spot to bury the rebound for his eighth goal and a 3-3 tie.

That set the stage for 3-on-3 overtime with BU holding an early advantage until the beyond questionable call that will be hard to put in the past. 

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                                 Photo credit Gracie Davenport 

“We’ve just got to regroup. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves," Pandolfo explained. "You can’t keep your head down. We’re a good hockey team and we’ll find a way to bounce back.”

For the game BU outshot the Huskies, 41-29. 

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Post-game comments Coach Pandolfo

● Boston Hockey Blog Terriers losing streak extends to three games

 

Looking ahead

Pair of Chicago Steel and Sioux Falls' Michael Chambre named USHL Players of the Week for Week 11 - The Rink Live | Comprehensive coverage of youth, junior, high school and college hockey

2024 recruit Michael Chambre stopped 23 shots in Sioux Falls' 5-4 overtime win against Tri-City. After splitting the goaltending duties for the Stampede since early in the season, Chambre has been in goal for the team's last five games with six wins in his last eight starts. He improved his record to 15-6-2 and owns all but six of Sioux Falls wins.

● Stampede.com recap

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