Monday, March 18, 2024

P-O-W Honors for Tuch; Playoff Projections; Award finalists; This Date in BU Hockey

Luke Tuch is the fourth Terrier to earn P-O-W honors this season, joining Lane Hutson, Quinn Hutson and Macklin Celebrini. Lane and Mack both have  been named twice.


Hockey East Tournament

Terriers will seek to defend the Hockey East championship title they won last year and add an 11th title. BU has reached the tournament semifinals 27 times in the 39 seasons it has qualified for the tournament. While BU-Maine match-ups at the Garden were frequent in the 1990s, their last meeting in the semifinals was in 2012 when the Black Bears took a 5-3 decision.

►Hockey East has announced finalists for the season's final major awards:

Macklin Celebrini shakes hands with Jay Pandolfo in the locker room after a BU a win

▪ Coach of the Year: Jay Pandolfo, Geoff Brown (BC), Ben Barr (Maine), Mike Souza (UNH)

▪ Rookie of the Year: Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith (BC),

▪ Player of the Year: Macklin Celebrini, Cutter Gauthier (BC), Ryan Ufko (UMass)

National Tournament Projections

BU remains #2 in the Pairwise ranking and are 100% guaranteed to be a #1 seed in a regional. See CHN's Pairwise Probability Matrix. What remains to be seen is which regional. Terrier fans are hopeful it will be Springfield, Mass. Complicating that outcome is that UMass is hosting that regional and will play there. The NCAA avoids first round match-ups between teams in the same conference. Right now, UMass is #13 in the Pairwise, making them a #4 seed. If they move up to #12, they'd be a #3 seed and the problem would be resolved. Might BU be sent to the Maryland Heights, Missouri, or Sioux Falls, SD, regionals? We'll know the answer next Sunday during the Selection Show on ESPN.

● USCHO: 11 teams have NCAA tournament spots locked up; 11 others still have a shot

 

Polls & Rankings:

● USCHO Weekly Poll

● USA Hockey/The Rink Inside Poll

● CHN Power Ranking


SNL (Saturday Night Leftovers)

Let's start with defkit's Terrier Takeaway:

▪ Great character win - exercising demons, etc...I swear I was going to start claiming PTSD if they beat us again, especially wearing those retro jerseys that bring back memories of Bruce Racine, Dave Buda,and Harry Mews...especially after that fluky second goal. Hryckovian wasn't even shooting it on net, he was just trying to pitch it out into the crease.
▪ That Celebrini goal is why the coaches have he and Harvey playing together. After having played together all last season, they both knew exactly what Harvey was going to do in that situation; so Celebrini was already thinking ahead to what he was going to do once he grabbed the puck. What a special player he is!
▪ Watching the replay of the coincidental penalties, I actually do think Celebrini went down pretty easily on that cross-check. But the right approach would be to not call either penalty if you thought he sold it too much, not to call them both.
▪ Getting Webber back on the ice was huge (pun intended). Seeing him down on the ice brought back bad memories of Case McCarthy last season in the semis.
▪ Strong disciplined game for the Terriers. Kaplan kept his composure. The refs also did a good job not calling all the post-whistle pushing and shoving.
▪ Great play by Willander and Wilmer on Tuch’s goal. Seems Wilmer has been a little quieter lately, so good to see him pitch in.

▪ Having a fourth line made up of seniors/grad students, two of whom have been drafted, but are willing to play a fourth-line role to help the team, is a huge benefit to this team. Of course, it helps that they get a lot of playing time due to their great possession game and strong defense. But credit goes to the coaching staff to get Tuch and Peterson especially, to buy into playing on that line, making it both a checking and scoring line. Depth at forward is an important strength of this team.

 

►Terriers had a 32-24 edge at the face-off dot against the Huskies who have Hockey East’s best faceoff win percentage. Macklin Celebrini won 7 of 10, Nick Zabaneh won 4 of 6, Shane Lachance won 4 of 7 and Jack Hughes won 3 of 4.

►Among Hockey East skaters with at least 100 draws taken, Lachance has the highest win percentage—63.3—having won 61 of 105.

►As a team, BU is third in the conference in face-off win percentage at 51.5, trailing only the Huskies at 55.1 and next Friday’s opponent, Maine, at 52.0

►From our friend @BUHockeyStats:

BU finished their 2023-24 home slate with a 14-2-0 record, their best home record since the 1999-2000 season (14-0-3), and a two season home record of 28-5-0, their best two season home record since 1995-97 (27-3-4).

►Advanced stats from Saturday’s win show that BU had 16 scoring chances to just six for Northeastern.

►In addition to his recognition from Hockey East, senior assistant captain Luke Tuch also earned the player-of-the-game jacket with a goal, an assist and a strong effort away from the puck. With a career-best 27 points (up from last season's 20) and consistent physical play at both ends (yet just 8 PIMs), he's a strong candidate for the team's Most Improved Player award. 

Post-game with Bernie and Belle:

This Date in Terrier Hockey: 18 March

1995: Boston University won the final college hockey game played at the old Boston Garden, defeating Providence College, 3-2, to win its 4th Hockey East championship and complete the second leg of what would be the second "triple crown" season (Beanpot, league championship, NCAA title) in Terrier history. PC 's first period goal by Chad Quennville was matched by BU's Ken Rausch. Mike Grier put the Terriers ahead in the second before the Friars knotted the score on a Brady Kramer slapper past a screened Derek Herlofsky. Then, late in the second, Chris Drury muscled his way off the sideboards and passed to Matt Wright, who wheeled, closed on the net and whipped a shot past PC goalie (and tournament MVP) Bob Bell for the game-winner. Bell had 40 saves and Herlofsky, 24. Wright scored the last college goal at the Old Garden; a month earlier, he'd scored the final Beanpot goal at the Old Garden in BU's 5-1 win over BC in the championship game. All three Terrier goals in the HE championship game were scored by walk-on players: Wright, Rausch and Grier.

1972: Five years to the day after losing to Cornell, 4-1, in the 20th NCAA championship game, Boston University returned the favor, shutting out the Big Red, 4-0, to win its second consecutive NCAA title. A then-record crowd of 14,995 fans filled the Boston Garden for the 25th NCAA championship to see the top two teams in the East in a rematch of not only the 1967 NCAA championship, but also the ECAC championship of a week earlier (also won by BU). Forward Ron Anderson scored a power play goal in the first period and defenseman Ric Jordan added one power play goal in the second period. Each scored again in the third period. Goalie Tim Regan, who made 39 saves to lead the Terriers to the championship and only allowed one goal in the final two games, was named Most Outstanding Player.

 

Looking ahead 

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler posted his early rankings for the 2025 NHL Entry draft with four future Terriers in the top 20 and five in the top 28. Here are snippets from the profiles he posted of each of them. FYI The Athletic is running a $1/month for a year subscription sale. Tons of content.

# 8-Charlie Trethewey 6'1", 190 RD  NTDP U17s
One of the top 2007s at the program this year, even though his August birthday makes him one of the youngest players on its U17 team, Trethewey is a talented and confident right-shot defenseman with pro size, a hard shot (slapshot and wrister), stability over his skates and a real command of the game on the puck. He can attack, he can handle the puck, he defends hard.

#10-Sascha Boumedienne 6'2" 183 LD  Youngstown/USHL
Boumedienne’s a player I’ve been hearing about for some time, and he has lived up to the billing as a rookie in the USHL as well as internationally with the Swedish national under-17 team this year. He’s an excellent skater who has already provided two-way transition value in junior, with a long and fluid stride that is complemented by good footwork and strong four-way mobility. 

#17-Conrad Fondrk 5'11" 175 LW NTDP U17s
Fondrk is a highly skilled player who can excite in space. He's got a dangerous mid-range shot, excellent individual skill/hands and good overall skating. The talent level and the ability to execute finishing plays is top-end, for sure. He has made some pretty plays this year and he's definitely a threat when the puck lands on his stick in the slot.

#20- Jack Murtagh  6'0", 186 LW/C NTDP U17s
He’s a really strong skater and athlete who can play quick and push tempo in straight lines, or round corners with speed to get to his spots. He’s got a dangerous and deceptive in-motion NHL release which he hides well pre-shot. I’ve seen him make skill plays and score big goals. He’s competitive. I really like him. He’s got a game with several pro qualities.

#27-Carter Amico 6'5" 205 RD
Amico's a really interesting pro prospect because of his size and ability to cover a lot of territory with strong forward skating and good overall mobility.He's never going to be a big-time point producer but he can outlet and occasionally carry the puck, he'll jump up into the play or the backdoor, and his length and coverage area get your attention. If he takes some steps next year he'll be a high pick.

Looking back

Brady Tkachuk’s goal with 14 seconds left in overtime gave the Senators a 4-3 win over the Islanders and completed his hat trick. Brady has 30 goals this season.

Charlie Coyle scored twice (22nd, 23rd) for Boston and Joel Farabee scored twice for Philadlphia (20th, 21st) as the Bruins edged the Flyers, 6-5. (All the goals are here.)

Jack Eichel’s 21st goal was the game-winner in the Golden Knights’ 3-1 win over the Devils.

Alex Vlasic recorded his 13th assist in Chicago’s 5-2 win against San Jose.

 

 

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