Friday, February 21, 2025

UPDATED: Game Day:Terriers host Northeastern; Corbett to be honored; Women look to clinch conference title

 Game day graphic featuring posed photo of Jack Hughes. #8 BU vs. Northeastern, Feb. 21, 7 PM at Agganis Arena on ESPN+

With just five games left on the regular-season schedule, #9/8 Terriers begin a home-and-home series with crosstown rival Northeastern. Puck drop tonight at Agganis Arena is at 7 p.m. with ESPN+ providing the live stream. There will be a Rivalry Rally Towel Giveaway.

BU is currently in third place in Hockey East, six points behind co-leaders BC and Maine and six ahead of Lowell, with Merrimack, UConn and Providence right behind. 

After winning its first four conference games of 2025, BU is 2-4-0 in the last six, so the six Hockey East points at stake this weekend are critically important.  

Terrier head coach Jay Pandolfo reported that freshman Alex Zetterberg, who missed last weekend’s games with health issues, will return to the lineup. He expects all Terriers will be available. 

Noting that the team's goals against per game has dropped by more than one (3.5 to 2.4) in the second half over the first, Pandolfo explained, "Our D zone has been much better….there’s been times where we’ve probably let too many chances in the slot and Yegorov has been there for us. A lot of those plays have been off mistakes, turnovers, stuff like that, rather than our D zone structures. Overall, I like where our team defense has been in the second half." 

Quinn Hutson is fourth in Hockey East in points with 36 and has a 12-10-22 line is his last 14 games. Over the same period, Cole Hutson, who has been playing his best hockey, has 19 points (6G, 13A). 

BU is 6-6-2 against the Huskies in their last 14 meetings. Last season the teams split four games with three going to overtime.

Currently, Northeastern sits in 10th place in the conference. After a strong start to second semester with four wins in five games—including victories over Quinnipiac and UMass—the Huskies have dropped five of the last six.

Their top scorers are familiar names to Terrier fans. Junior Jack Williams leads in goals (14) and points (31). Classmate Cam Lund has 27 points (11G,16A), while sophomore Dylan Hryckowian follows with 25 (13G,12A).  Junior Vinny Borgesi (5-15-20) anchors the defense.

Soph Cameron Whitehead had been in goal for the vast majority of games with a 2.90 GAA and a .905 save percentage.  Freshman Quentin Sigurdson picked up his first win a week ago, a 2-0 shutout of Lowell earning Hockey East Goaltender of the Week honors.
 

 TONIGHT’S BU LINE-UP

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● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, BU All-Access (audio), BU Men’s Hockey Twitter
● Live Stream ESPN+
● Coach Pandolfo Media Call
● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape
● Boston Hockey Blog game preview 
● BU Hockey Stats Week 20: Preview Husky Home-and-Homes
● College Hockey News Yegorov’s Whirlwind Only Just Beginning
● NHL.com Youngest in the college league – Boumedienne still takes his place (click English)
 

 


►On this week's edition of Inside BU Hockey, Bernie Corbett interviews head coach Jay Pandolfo, head coach Tara Watchorn and graduate student Lindsay Bochna.

► BU Hockey Writer Scott Weighart examines the Terriers’ marked improvement in team defense since the calendar turned. After allowing 3.5 goals per game through December, BU cut that number by more than a goal per game to 2.4. In the last 12 games, the Terriers have yielded 29 goals, including four empty-net tallies with three in the home-and-home against BC.
● GoTerriers.com For Terriers, a good defense is the best offense 

 

►From The Athletic: Islanders NCAA Prospects

Kamil Bednarik, C, Boston University (No. 61, 2024)
Eiserman and Bednarik played together for two years at the U.S. National Team Development Program, where they both committed to Boston U. Lamoriello’s Islanders then picked them in consecutive rounds in June. “Can’t get away from each other,” Eiserman said with a laugh about his suitemate in Boston.

But the two forwards couldn’t be more different on the ice. Eiserman is a no-conscience goal scorer who celebrates as if he got shot out of a cannon. Bednarik is a defense-first center whom Pandolfo, the BU coach, already relies on for penalty killing and late-game, lead-preserving minutes. Bednarik has a goal and 14 assists in 29 games as a freshman on a team that’s been consistently ranked in the top 10 this season, but his stats aren’t what has mattered so far. 

“He’s the type of player who can help you win championships,” Pandolfo said of Bednarik. “He’s got plenty of offense in his game, too, but he’s going to be a player that any coach will feel confident calling on in big situations. He’s probably underrated offensively, but he’s playing a certain role for us now. An intelligent player, a winner. Every coach wants that.” 

Where Eiserman says Alex Ovechkin is his idol, Bednarik has a different view of his ideal NHL player. 

“I always watched Patrice Bergeron a lot,” Bednarik said. “Everybody’s always trying to score in youth hockey and no one’s really thinking about defending, the other things. I always liked the idea of stealing the puck off someone to go down and score, or keeping the other team from scoring. It’s a real challenge.”

BU had three games against top-ranked Boston College in the last month and it was Bednarik’s line that saw plenty of time opposite BC’s top two lines, which feature a handful of first-round picks.

Bednarik will get his chances to shine in the years to come — he’s still 18 so the only things in his near future are a return to BU and a chance to play some minutes at the 2026 World Juniors for the U.S. squad. But, a lot like his college coach, Bednarik has the qualities that Lamoriello and his amateur staff look for in a future NHL glue guy.

Looking ahead

2026 recruit Rian Chudzinski scored his 18th goal in #2-ranked Dexter-Southfield’s 3-1 loss to St. Paul’s. He has 40 points in 21 games for, the top-ranked New England Prep school. Carter Meyer, a freshman at Rivers, leads all prep scorers with 37-26-63 in 24 games. He’s the son of Terrier All-American and NHLer Freddy Meyer. 

Prospect Watch interviewed 2026 recruit Tynan Lawrence, who revealed his NHL role models and discussed his decisions to play in the USHL and to commit to BU. Lawrence, who has a 5-star ranking from Puck Preps, is the leading goal scorer and second in points for Muskegon as a 16 year old with an 18-20-38 line in 40 games.

 

Looking back

Brady Tkachuk scored his third goal of the 4 Nations Faceoff but Canada won the championship game, 3-2 in overtime, on a Connor McDavid goal. Mike Eruzione served as honorary captain for Team USA while Charlie McAvoy, just released from the hospital, read the starting line-up to his teammates.

Earlier in the week, Team USA Head Coach asked Jack Parker to join him at a media call.

►WEEI Jack Parker watching with “a lot of pride” as his former players lead Team USA as coaches, managers

Women’s Team

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#12 Terriers can wrap up their first regular-season Hockey East title since 2013 as they begin the final weekend series, a home-and-home with UConn. Today’s road game in Storrs begins at 3 p.m. with ESPN+ providing the live stream.

BU leads the Huskies by five points 57 to 52 and needs just one point in the series to clinch the title. 


BU is coming off a win and tie with New Hampshire, while UConn dropped two games to Providence a week ago. 

Junior Sydney Healy is the Terriers’ goal leader with 13 and points leader with 21. Four skaters— captain Tamara Giaquinto, Julia Shaunessey, Lindsay Bochna and Christina Vote—each have 17 points.

● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, BU Women’s Hockey Twitter
● Live Stream ESPN+
● Watchorn Media Call
● Boston Hockey Blog preview

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