Sunday, October 06, 2024

UPDATED Greene leads Terriers to 5-2 win against Holy Cross; Terrier Takeaway

 

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#3-ranked Terriers kicked off the 2024-25 season--the program's 103rd--with a 5-2 win over Holy Cross at a sold-out Agganis Arena. Co-captain Ryan Greene scored the first and last goals of the contest with three freshmen--Cole Eiserman, Cole Hutson and Alex Zetterberg netting singletons. Mathieu Caron was sharp in goal, turning aside 29 Crusader shots including nine on power plays.

SCROLL DOWN FOR DEFKIT's TERRIER TAKEAWAY

Five of goals were scored in a penalty--and officials' review--filled second period--four by the Terriers and one by the visitors.

“Ryan ended up with two goals, but he could’ve easily had five,” Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said. “He was really good.”

Ryan Greene and Gavin McCarthy celebrate a goal at Agganis Arena

The first period was scoreless, although both teams had some grade A chances.  Brandon Svoboda's pass through the crease and behind the goalie almost produced an early lead.  During the only man-advantage midway through the period, Liam McLinskey, the ACA's preseason player of the year, had a half-open net but Caron pushed across quickly to rob his attempt from the left circle. Shots were 8-6 HC.

It took BU just 39 second into the second period to get on the board with the top line delivering the score. Quinn Hutson's shot from the high slot was defended, but he recovered the puck and fired again from the left circle. Co-captain Shane Lachance collected the rebound and his shot went off goalie Thomas Gale to Greene who backhanded it home. 

Four minutes in, with BU on its first power play, Greene set up Eiserman in the right circle for a one-time, bar-down blast past Gale. Quinn Hutson had the second assist. 

Moments later things got nasty behind the Holy Cross net after a stoppage with four players penalized. Both Devin Kaplan and the Crusaders' Owen Kim received major penalties and game misconducts for grabbing the facemask. 

At 8:30, Lachance sent Cole Hutson racing through center ice and down the left side. He broke past the defenseman, drove to the net and whipped a shot through Gale's five-hole to make it 3-0. And yes, it was a déjà vu goal for Terrier fans, as well as the game-winner.

The Crusders got one back midway through the period on a Jack Stockfish shot ...., Defenseman Gavin McCarthy was interfered with on the play but no call was made.

BU restored the three-goal advantage less than two minutes later. With the Terriers putting on the pressure, Tom Willander fired a shot from the high slot that Gale defended, but Zetterberg grabbed the loose puck and deposited it in the net for his first collegiate goal. 

Eight minutes later another dust-up between the teams that began with Eiserman being called for contact to the head sent seven players to the box. Eiserman drew a major penalty and a game misconduct, reducing BU's forwards to 10 and requiring line juggling the rest of the way.  Second period shots were 22-10 BU.

A Holy Cross power-play goal by Jack Seymour on the carryover of the major penalty early in the third cut the lead to two goals and gave the visitors hope of drawing closer.

BU regained the momentum and cashed in at the 7:50 mark. Quinn Hutson forced a turnover at the Holy Cross blue line and found Greene alone, busting "down central." His wrister from between the circles beat Gale to the glove side for a 5-2 lead.

Greene nearly completed a hat trick three minutes later when he broke in alone and rang a shot off the crossbar to Gale's glove side.

BU had a strong night at the faceoff dot, winning 41 of 68 draws, led by Matt Copponi (12 of 18) freshmen Kamil Bednarik (8 of 13) and Svoboda (7 of 11). 

Shot totals favored BU, 37-31.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Video Highlights and Post-game Pandolfo, C. Hutson, Greene 

● Boston Hockey Blog recap

defkit’s Terrier Takeaway

-Offensively, I liked the balance across all four lines. While the first line garnered most of the points, there were scoring chances for all of them.

- A great start for Ryan Greene, who has had dry spells in his first two seasons. I expect as part of his leadership role, we will see him hit the scoresheet more consistently this season.

- Eiserman showed us the shot that made him a star. Shades of Macklin on the PP, but definitely had more power on the shot. I was impressed that on Eiserman's first scoring opportunity, he opted to pass. I didn't see the penalty that got him tossed - I was watching the other Cole getting untangled with his opponent.

- Bednarik and Svoboda both showed their two-way game. I was encouraged to see them both getting shifts on the PK. Copponi looked solid. Hughes and Harvey were somewhat quiet. Harvey will need to be on a more offensively capable line to show what we saw from him last year. Zetterberg looked pretty good - glad to see him get his first goal already.

- Defensively, I thought we did well. While there were some turnovers, there was nothing as egregious as we saw in the first couple games last year.

- My favorite way to describe Cole Hutson: 70% Lane Hutson, 30% Dom Fensore. He has more speed (as he showed on his goal), and a little less lateral shiftiness than Lane. He is going to get a ton of ice time this season, especially early on while others develop.

- Boumedienne looked very poised. He used his size/length to his advantage. As the game went on, he did get a bit sloppy with the puck. That is to be expected given his age--like Macklin last year, he's the youngest player in D1.

- The sophomore defensemen looked solid, though at least two of them still had some tough turnovers. For this team to be a Frozen Four contender, they will need to play more consistently. I was encouraged to see Frechette, who is very physical, get the nod over Engum; he showed a lot last year in his limited minutes and will be a regular.

- In net, Caron made two or three highlight-caliber goals. A full year of him playing well will help the cause in the Pairwise.

- Overall, a solid start to the season, much better than last year's OT win over Bentley.

- It was great to see a full house—kudos to The Dog Pound--and the renovations to the arena were all for the better.

 

 

Looking ahead

2025 recruit Callum Hughes scored his third goal in West Kelowna's 3-1 win over Trail.

2026 recruit Jay Feldberg scored his fifth goal and added an assist in the Junior Canadians' 3-1 win against Pickering.

Women's Team

Terriers will complete their two-game series against Minnesota today at 1 pm CT. Game Day links are here. Golden Gophers won Friday's game, 1-0.

 

 

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