Monday, February 26, 2024

HEA honors for Caron & Celebrini; Polls/Rankings; defkit's Terrier Takeaway; SNL

 

 Mathieu Caron Hockey East Goaltender of the Week graphic Macklin Celebrini Hockey East Rookie of the Week graphic

Junior goalie Mathieu Caron and freshman center Macklin Celebrini earned Hockey East recognition for stellar performances in the Terriers' sweep of UConn. Caron, who transferred to BU from Brown, was named Stop It Goaltending Goaltender of the week after pitching his second shutout on Saturday and stopping 49 of the 50 shots he faced in the series. He had previously won the award in January following wins against Northeastern and New Hampshire. Ranked second in Hockey East with 22 wins, Caron has the top save percentage, .924, in conference games and is second in the conference with a 2.19 GAA.

Celebrini claimed the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week award for the sixth time this season and the fifth time since he returned from playing in the World Junior Championships. The projected pick in the upcoming NHL draft scored twice and assist on another pair--his first four-point game at BU-- in Friday's 6-1 win. On Saturday he scored his 26th goal, which is second both in Hockey East and nationally. Celebrini's 48 points and 1.60 points-per-game both rank third in Division 1.

►In addition, two Terriers were named to Hockey East's weekly top performers list.

Jeremy Wilmer, BU (So., F; Rockville Centre, N.Y.) Highlighted by a five-point performance in Saturday’s 6-0 win over UConn, Wilmer collected a career-high four assists, including the primary assist on the final three goals of the game and the game-winning goal, and also lit the lamp during his career night. On Friday in Storrs, Wilmer found the back of the net for a total of six points.

Lane Hutson, BU (So., D; North Barrington,Ill.) Had two assists in Friday’s 6-1 win over UConn.

►Terriers are College Hockey News' Team of the Week.

Polls

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As expected, BU maintained its #2 spot in both the USCHO Weekly poll and the USA Hockey/The Rink Live poll with BC on top. Four other Hockey East teams remain in the top 20: Maine-9th in both; Providence-10th in both; UMass-14th in USCHO, 12th in USA/TRL; and, New Hampshire-17th in both.

Rankings from both John Buccigross and Everything College Hockey also have the Eagles and Terriers at the top. 

No changes at the top of the Pairwise rankings where BC, BU and North Dakota are 1-2-3. Maine and Providence check in at 9 & 10, while UMass is at 13 and UNH is at 17. Northeastern has broken into the top 20 at #20.

defkit’s Terrier Takeaway

- It was great to see a full house at Agganis against a team other than BC. I don't recall the last time that happened. Unfortunately, the sound system is so terrible it actually negates some of the impact of a large crowd. It's hard for the crowd to respond to an announcement when it's hard to heard what's being said. Glad they are replacing the system.

- What a great weekend for Caron! I don't know if the TV captured it (likely not), but after the handshake line and the team salute to the fans and the band, Caron added a little more emphasis with an extra fist pump and jump into the glass, which the student section loved. I imagine it was his way of showing how thrilled he is that his transfer to BU has worked out well for both him and the team and that he loves the fans support.

- Wilmer has been quietly racking up the assists again - maybe not as quietly last night. There's been some concern about his two-way play lately. Hopefully he is seeing how this team is able to create offense from defense so quickly.

- Good to see Quinn Hutson get a couple goals on the weekend, after only having 2 goals in the prior 10 games. He's had more than his share of shots hitting iron.

- I never thought the outcome of the game was in doubt. I wasn't worried when Greene's goal was called back. Even when it was only 2-0 and we didn't play well in the second period, I was sure we would break out in the third. UConn just doesn't have the horses this year, especially with Bradley suspended for his slash on Zabaneh and Schandor being unavailable. Plus, their goalie didn't have a good night.

- On defense, I thought Case. McCarthy and Webber looked strong. The team has been able to rely on them more lately, which helps because Aiden Celebrini and Gavin McCarthy are still inconsistent in their play.

- Mick Frechette played for the first time since undergoing minor surgery, adding some physicality in the D-zone and picking up his second career point on Zabaneh's second goal. Good for depth on the blue line.

- Overall a dominant weekend for the Terriers - just what the doctor ordered going into a bye weekend, getting healthy for the stretch run.

SNL (Saturday Night Leftovers).

►After losing three in a row at the end of January, Terriers were 6-1-1 in February, averaging 4.875 goals per game, while yielding just 2.0

►February’s also been a great month for Nick Zabaneh, who has four goals in the past four games. Six of his seven goals and eight of his eleven points have come in February.

►Was there any doubt? Jeremy Wilmer’s five-point night earned him the player-of-the-game jacket. Our friend @BUHockeyStats reports that “Wilmer is just the 6th BU player since 2002-03 to record 5 points in a game and the first since Ryan Greene did so on November 11th, 2022 vs UMass.”

►Here's another look at Luke Tuch's wrap-around goal.

►Macklin Celebrini now has 26 goals, equaling Jack Eichel’s freshman total in 2015-16. Only four other BU freshmen have scored at least 25 goals. The others are Tony Amonte (25 in 1989-90), Dick Rodenheiser (25 in1951-52), Mark Fidler (30 in 1977-78) and Dave Silk (35 in 1976-77).

►Who is Dick Rodenheiser? The Malden native was a BU center in the early 1950s. He followed up his 25-goals-in- just-19-games rookie season in ’51-’52 with 29 goals the next year leading BU to the Frozen Four. Later, he skated on two Olympics teams, winning silver in 1956 in Cortina, Italy, and then gold with the first “US Hockey Miracle” in 1960 Lake Placid.

►Grad student Cade Webber remains the NCAA leader in blocks with 107 blocks after making four of BU’s 11 blocks last on Saturday.

►Wilmer, Zabaneh and Tom Willander all were +4 in Saturday’s game. Willander leads the Terriers at +23. He also leads all Hockey East defensemen and is second among all skaters.

►The dust-up between Devin Kaplan and UConn's Ryan Tattle late in the third period didn't end when they were sent to the Teddy Peanut Butter penalty boxes. Jawing between the two continued for a while

 

 

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