Saturday, January 18, 2025

Terriers race past UNH with three in the third

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#11 Terriers erupted for three goals in the final period to break a 3-3 tie and double up #19/18 New Hampshire, 6-3, at the Whittemore Center. Co-captain Ryan Greene led the way with a pair of goals, including the game-winner. Other goal scorers were Devin Kaplan, Quinn Hutson, Jack Hughes and Cole Hutson.

Despite yielding three goals—only one of which was on him—Matthieu Caron delivered another strong performance, stopping several breakaways and 39 Wildcat shots.

The victory improves the Terriers' record to 12-7-1 and vaults them into first place in Hockey East, two points ahead of Maine, which lost to UConn.

“For good stretches of the game, we played well," Coach Jay Pandolfo said after the game. “Thought we got away from it, especially in the second period, turning some pucks over. Obviously took another five-minute major…saying that I give our guys credit. We dug in there in the 3rd.”

Kaplan got the scoring going early, converting a backhander from the slot after Sascha Boumedienne carried the puck along the left boards and centered the puck to the junior wing. He beat goalie Jared Whale through the five-hole for his fifth goal and his third in his past four games. Kamil Bednarik also assisted. 

The Wildcats matched that tally five minutes later. Caron stopped Colton Huard’s shot from the point, but Connor Sweeney jammed the puck between the senior goalie’s pads and it trickled just barely over the goal line. An initial no-goal call was reversed after a review.

BU regained the lead at 8:48. Jack Harvey handed the puck off to Greene just inside the blueline The junior from Newfoundland fired a shot on goal—perhaps hoping to created a rebound—but is glanced off Whale’s pad and into the net for Greene’s ninth of the year.

Early in the second period, Caron stoned Liam Devlin who got behind the BU defense for a breakaway. 

Cole Eiserman was called for boarding but half-way through, a UNH penalty negated the man-advantage. When the Terriers went on the power play with some pretty passing leading to Quinn Hutson’s 11th goal. Cole Hutson carried the puck into the zone on the right side and sent a cross-ice pass to Shane Lachance in the left circle. Meanwhile Quinn “got lost” along the right boards, then made a bee-line for the cage. He took Lachance’s pass, skated across the crease, deking Whale, and deposited a backhanded into the goal. 3-1 BU.

Mick Frechette’s tripping penalty midway through the period gave home team a chance to cut into the lead, which they did. Nick Ring took a pass from behind the BU goal line and beat Caron.

The Wildcats pulled even with less than two minutes left in the period. Caron stopped an initial shot from the points, but left a rebound just outside the crease. JP Turner’s follow-up was defended, but he crashed into Caron as Robert Cronin backhanded the puck over the fallen goalie to make it three all.

A dust-up moments later resulted in penalties to Gavin McCarthy and Devlin, but after a review, McCarthy’s penalty became a major for face-masking and a game misconduct. 

Four on four play closed the final minute of the second period and the first minute of the third, but BU still had to kill the final three minutes of the major—which they did with Caron stopping six shots. 

Terriers went ahead to stay when Whale was challenged behind his cage for the puck by Matt Copponi and it slid to Greene at the goal line extended. His wrist shot went off the far post and into the net, putting BU in the lead for good. For Greene, it was goal number 10.   

Midway through the period, BU doubled the lead, scoring on the rush. Quinn Hutson knocked the puck off a UNH stick to Hughes who raced up ice, 2-on-1. His attempted pass to Cole Eiserman went off a defender’s skate to a trailing Quinn Hutson, whose shot was stopped by Whale, but Hughes tweezed the puck free and poked it home for his third goal and a 5-3 lead. The senior center has scored in three straight games.

With six minutes remaining, Caron stopped Jason Siedem who had raced in alone, keeping the two-goal lead intact. 

A five-minute major to Nikolai Jenson put the Terriers on their fifth power play. Cole Hutson collected the puck at center ice and then it was showtime. He skated across the blue line, deking two defenders and putting the puck through one’s feet. Then, skating “down central,” he went around another defender and wired a shot past Whale’s glove for his fifth tally of the season. 

A jubilant Greene told the media, “It’s awesome. We’re definitely trending in the right direction. And that’s what we wanted to do coming into this weekend. That sweep last weekend definitely got some momentum for our group, so I’m happy to see it still going.”

With two power-play goals in five attempts, the Terriers have now converted on eight of their last 20 man-advantages. 

Cole Hutson's goal was #6 on SportsCenter's Top 10 for Friday Night.

The victory gives BU a 17-1-2 record in its last 20 games against the Wildcats.

Quinn Hutson’s tally extends his goal-scoring streak to five games. In that span has seven goals and five assists. He leads the Terriers in scoring with 23 points and leads Hockey East in points-per-game with 1.39. 

Greene’s 22 points are ninth in the conference.

Since being shut out by UMass on December 7, BU has 28 goals in its last five games and is up to 80 goals in 20 games for a 4.00 GPG. Only Minnesota (4.08) is higher.    

Boumedienne celebrated his 18th birthdate with his sixth assist. With Will Horcoff joining Michigan from the U18s, Boumedienne is the second youngest player in Division 1.

The teams will conclude the home-and-home series Saturday at Agganis Arena. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. ET.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score
● Video highlights
● Pandolfo post-game
● Boston Hockey Blog BU takes opener at New Hampshire, 6-3

Looking ahead

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@CollegePuckNXT posted these 2025 recruit class rankings, noting that all the panel members included for the consensus ranking had the Terriers at #1.

2026 recruit Tynan Lawrence scored his 10th goal in Muskegon's 6-2 loss to Lincoln.
 
2026 recruit Jay Feldberg scored a pair of goals in the Toronto Jr. Canadians' 8-2 win over Aurora. He has a 13-11-24 scoring line in 33 games.

Looking back 

Jeff Kealty, who is assistant general manager of the Nashville Predators, played for BU's 1995 national champions and on three Frozen Four squads. San Jose GM Mike Grier and Rangers President/GM Chris Drury, who also skated for the 1995 champs, will serve in an advisory group the the Men's National Team. 

In 2018, Kealty penned an NHL.com article describing how he transitioned into scouting and management after an injury short-circuited his playing career.

Matt Grzelcyk assisted on a pair of goals in Pittsburgh's 5-2 win over Buffalo.



 

 

 

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