Friday, March 15, 2024

Game Day: Terriers vs. Huskies in HEA QFs; Four named to conference All-Star Teams

           


#2 Terriers begin the defense of the Hockey East tournament title won last season with their fourth meeting of the season with Northeastern. Puck drop is 4:15 p.m. with ESPN+ providing the live stream for the final home game of the season. 

All three prior meetings were 4-3 decisions, each in overtime, with BU winning the first and the Huskies taking the next two. Jeremy Wilmer had the game-winner for BU on January 9 at Agganis. On the January 30 at Matthews, Ryan Greene’s extra-attacker goal late in the third tied the game, but an iffy too-many-men penalty in the extra-session led to an NU victory.

The overtime loss in the Beanpot final stung even more because the Terriers played one of their best and most complete games of the season, limiting the Huntington Hounds to just eight shots in the first two periods and 17 overall. A phantom holding call in third period that infuriated the usually unflappable Head Coach Jay Pandolfo enabled a tying goal before NU scored on its only shot in overtime.

Hopefully, the Terriers have long memories.

While the Terriers are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and have outscored opponents 49-27,  Pandolfo is reluctant to call his squad a finished product.

“I think we’re getting in the right direction, he explained. “We’re playing a more complete game from our end out. Always looking for areas to improve in. Still think our second periods haven’t been great, though it was better on Saturday.

What does he expect from a Northeastern team that must win to keep its season going?

“No question they’re going to be desperate. They always seem to play their best against us,” Pandolfo said. “We’ve had our issues against them, closing out games. We have to be ready for everything they throw at us.

“They do a good job defensively, not letting you get to the inside, and they have some bigger D, longer D with good sticks. They do a very good job protecting the middle of the ice. Their goaltender is excellent and they have some players who can make plays offensively.”

Since the Beanpot, Northeastern is 4-3-1, but produced a thorough 4-0 win over Merrimack in Wednesday’s opening round. They boast two very productive lines with names BU fans know very well by now: Clarkson transfer Alex Campbell (21 goals) and the Hryckowian brothers on the top line, and Jack Williams, Cam Lund and Gunnarwolfe Fontaine on the second unit. Vinny Borghesi, Pito Walton and Jack Dorrington head a veteran and sizeable defense, while Cameron Whitehead is the “excellent goalie” that Pandolfo referenced.


BU assistant captain Cade Webber, named Hockey East's top defensive defenseman this week, told the Boston Hockey Blog, “It’s an easy game to get up for,”  said Friday. "It's playoff hockey. We have to be ready to go from the puck drop. We have to stick to our game plan, use our speed, stay within our structure.

“I want to compete for team goals here. Obviously it starts Saturday, winning one game, and then take it from there.”

Terriers will be at full strength as Dylan Peterson has practiced this week and will return to the line-up.

CHECK BACK FOR TODAY’S BU LINE-UP 

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

● Live Stream ESPN+, International Stream

● Pandolfo Media Call 

● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape

● Boston Hockey Blog Terriers host Northeastern in Hockey East Quarterfinals

● College Hockey News Hockey East Quarterfinal Preview


►Hockey East announced its All-Star Teams on Friday and four Terriers were among those recognized. 

Macklin Celebrini and Lane Hutson were named first team all-stars with Celebrini, the league scoring champion (44 points) and nation's points-per-game leader (1.69), being the only unanimous selection. Hutson leads all NCAA defensemen in points per game (1.34), is tied for first in total points (43) among all D-men. He is the first Hockey East defenseman to be a first-team all-star in both freshman and sophomore years. 

Tom Willander, who led all freshmen defensemen in points (21) and was third in the conference in plus/minus (+17) was named a second team All-Star. Nationally, he is tied for best plus/minus (+21) for all rookie defensemen.

Mathieu Caron, the junior transfer from Brown who started all 34 games, earned third-team honors.  Within league play, he finished second in both save percentage (.924) and goals-against average (2.14).

● GoTerriers.com Four Terriers named Hockey East All-Stars 

● HockeyEastOnline.com Hockey East names league All-Stars


► The Globe’s Andrew Mahoney relates how a playoff win by the Celtics set the wheels in motion leading Macklin and Aiden Celebrini to Comm. Ave.

No one was sure that Celebrini was even considering going the college route, but Pereira reached out to his father to see if he was interested in meeting up in between Games 3 and 4.

Rick Celebrini agreed, and went to the BU campus to tour the facilities and meet the coaching staff. He liked what he heard and saw, and agreed to bring the family if the Warriors came back to Boston.

That Game 4 victory ensured that there would be a Game 6 in Boston, and when the Warriors returned (after winning Game 5 on Macklin’s 16th birthday), the Celebrini clan was in tow. That included older brother Aiden, a talented defenseman who would be selected by the Canucks in the sixth round of the 2023 draft. 

● BostonGlobe.com A twist of fate brought Macklin Celebrini to BU

This Date in BU Hockey: March 16

1972: Terriers defeat Wisconsin, 4-1, in the NCAA semifinal on the strength of Captain Jake Danby’s hat trick. Two days later they shut out Cornell, 4-0, to win back-to-back championships.

1996: Behind two goals apiece from captain Jay Pandolfo and Chris Drury, BU routs Lowell, 7-3, in the Hockey East consolation game.

2018: Patrick Curry’s overtime goal gave BU a 4-3 win over BC in the Hockey East semifinals.

Looking ahead

2024 recruits Cole Eiserman and Kamil Bednarik each scored goals in the NTDP U18s' 6-5 shootout loss Cedar Rapids. Eiserman's tally was his 46th of the season and 115th career score, leaving him 11 shy of Cole Caufield's program mark. He has 70 points.  Bednarik's goal was his 22nd and he also assisted on a pair of goals. He has three consecutive multi-point games and a season total of 55 points in 48 games.

In a match-up of future Terrier goalies, 2025 recruit Mihail Yegorov outdueled 2024 recruit Michael Chambre as the suddenly hot Omaha Lancers defeated Sioux Falls, 7-3. Yegorov stopped 19 Stampede shots.

Earlier in the week Yegorov turned aside 27 of 29 shots in Omaha’s 4-3 overtime win over Lincoln. The 6’4” goalie won his second game in a row and third in his last four starts.

2024 recruit Jack Pridham scored his 21st goal, assisted by 2025 recruit Callum Hughes in West Kelowna's 4-3 overtime loss to Penticton. Hughes also had a second assist and now has 39 points. Pridham, with tallies in five of the last seven games, has 43 points and is second among all BCHL rookies.

Looking back

Clayton Keller scored his 26th goal in the Coyotes’ 4-1 win over Detroit.

Wilmer Skoog scored his 12th goal as AHL Charlotte blanked Hartford, 4-0. He has 19 points in 35 games for the Checkers.

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