Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Eiserman repeats as R-O-W; SNL

 Cole Eiserman Hockey East Rookie of the Week graphic    


Saturday night’s hero, Cole Eiserman, has repeated as Hockey East Pro Ambition Rookie-of-the Week. His rocket through Michael Hrabel’s five-hole three minutes into overtime punched the Terriers’ ticket to the conference semifinal this week at TD Garden. Eiserman also had the primary assist on Shane Lachance’s power-play goal.   
For the freshman sniper, who shared the R-O-W honors with Cole Hutson, it was the fourth time he has won rookie honors. Eiserman won the Pro Ambition award for the weeks of October 21 and November 18. He also was named Rookie of the Month for October.  Eiserman’s nation’s-best for freshmen 21 goals have come on 91 shots, giving him a 23.3 shooting percentage, among the best for skaters with at least 50 shots.
 
In conference games, Eiserman's 16 goals are twice as many as any other first-year player and he's second (22 points) to Cole Hutson (29) among freshmen.
 
 
Hockey East also announced the finalists for Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year with Cole Hutson, BC's James Hagens and Vermont's Colin Kessler competing for the rookie award. [Editor's note: You'll have to draw your own conclusions as to why Eiserman was not a finalist. I'm stumped].
 
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Sascha Boumedienne and Mikhail Yegorov were named to Hockey East's Weekly Top Performers list. 

Sascha Boumedienne, BU (Fr., D; Stockholm, Sweden) Scored a goal in BU’s 3-2 overtime playoff win against UMass after he broke up a 2-on-1, then joined a 3-on-2 rush the other way and fired a one-timer into the back of the net. He also had the primary helper on Cole Eiserman’s OT winner, clearing the puck out of the crease and onto Eiserman’s stick.

Mikhail Yegorov, BU (Fr., G; St. Petersburg, Russia) In Saturday’s 3-2 win over UMass, made 36 stops, including two saves in overtime. One of those stops helped lead to Cole Eiserman’s winner. Yegorov made 18 saves in the third period alone.

 

Hockey East Semifinals and Championship
► For those planning to attend Thursday's conference semifinals at TD Garden, plan to gather with alumni, parents and friends at The Harp on Causeway Street, starting at 2:00 p.m. prior to puck drop.
 
Poll & Pairwise Story 
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With Saturday’s quarterfinal win, Terriers moved up to #8 in the USCHO Division 1 poll. BC, upset by Northeastern, has dropped to #2, supplanted by Michigan State for the top spot. Maine remains at #4, while UConn jumps up to #7, Providence falls to #10 and Massachusetts holds steady at #14.

The USA Hockey/The Rink Live Division 1 poll is nearly identical to USCHO, except that it has BU at #7 and UConn at #8. A seventh Hockey East team to make the poll is #20 Lowell.

BU is #7 in the Everything College hockey Ranking, which has the Terriers’ next opponent, UConn, at #5.
 
In the Pairwise Rankings, the Terriers remain at #6, just ahead of the Huskies.  CHN also has a Probability Matrix for determining each team’s likely finish in the Pairwise and entry into the NCAAs. And a “You Are the Committee” simulation lets you predict the outcomes of all of this week’s tournaments to get to a final Pairwise Ranking.
 
SNL

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Ryan Greene became the 86th Terrier to reach the 100-point milestone. Quinn Hutson hit the century mark last month. The last time BU had two players hit 100 in the same season was 2015 with Danny O'Regan and Evan Rodrigues.

Let's take another look at Lachance's goal against UMass, a second attempt from his knees that banked in off the goalie's shoulder. Instagram link. 

Prior to #9 Northeastern's upset #1 BC, the biggest quarterfinal upset in Hockey East history was in 2004 when #8 BU knocked off the #1 Eagles in a best of three series. Terriers won the first game, 3-2, dropped the second, 4-0, and won the rubber game, 4-2—all at Conte Forum.

● BU Hockey Stats Quarterfinal recap

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Big Mike says "Outta my space!"         

Thirteen games into his collegiate career, Mkhail Yegorov is fourth nationally in save percentage (.937) and sixth in GAA (1.82)

Saturday’s win was the final game at Agganis Arena this season and BU finished with an 11-6 home record. That’s one more loss than the prior two seasons combined (14-3-0 in ’22-’23; 14-2 in ’23-’24). After a 4-4-0 home record first semester, BU went 7-2 at Agganis since the calendar turned, including three of the last four.

Looking back

Terriers will be seeking their 11th Hockey East tournament championship. They won their first 39 seasons ago.

1986: Terriers win their first Hockey East tournament title in the Providence Civic Center, thumping BC 9-4 behind MVP Peter Marshall's hat trick and a pair of goals by Jeff Sveen. Single goals were added by John Cullen, Clark Donatlli, Scott Shaunessy and Brad MacGregor. Terry Taillefer stopped 39 Eagle shots. Terriers had been mired at 9-9-2 as of Jan. 10, but embarked on a 15-3-2 run that brought them to the second-ever title game in the new Hockey East Conference. The tournament win was the first of seven Hockey East titles for BU.
• 1985-86 roster/stats
• THFB feature on the 1985-86 season 

BU's fourth Hockey East title was achieved 30 seasons ago today.

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. 

Looking ahead 

The NTDP has announced the roster for its U17 evaluation camp, which begins March 19 in Plymouth, Michigan. While none of the 46 invitees can make college commitments until August, a few with Terrier connections bear continued watching. That includes The Rivers School's high scoring line of Carter Meyer, Sam Pandolfo and Finn Sears. Carter, the younger son of Rivers coach and Terrier All-American Freddy Meyer led New England Prep skaters in goals (41) and points per game (2.50). Sam, the oldest of Jay Pandolfo's three children, had 38 points.

• USA Hockey NTDP Evaluation Camp Roster Announced 


 

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Sunday, March 16, 2025

UPDATED Eiserman's OT blast sends BU to the Garden

    

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Scroll down for defkit's Terrier Takeaway

Freshman sniper Cole Eiserman’s 21st goal three minutes into overtime powered #9/7 Terriers past #14 UMass in the Hockey East quarterfinals at Agganis Arena and into next Thursday’s conference semifinal at TD Garden. The high-intensity game was played before a crowd of 5,563.
 
Because top seed BC was upset by ninth seed Northeastern, BU will next face UConn, a 3-1 winner over Providence in their quarter-final. Northeastern will play the other semifinal against Maine, who trounced Lowell, 7-1.
 
Terriers will be making their 28th appearance in the semifinals, which is a Hockey East record.
 
Eiserman, who has rung up five goals in the last three games, has scored 18 times at Agganis Arena in his freshman season and leads all D1 rookies in goals.
 
“He must enjoy playing here,” head coach Jay Pandolfo said pos-tgame. “I wish maybe we were playing here next game if that’s the case.”

Cole Eiserman celebrates his OT goal against UMass in the 2025 Hockey East Quarterfinals

             Photo credit Matt Woolverton
 
Terriers took one goal leads in the first and second period—only goals by Shane Lachance and Sascha Boumedienne—only to have the surging Minutemen tie the score twice to force overtime. What would have been a third BU goal in the last minute of the middle period was disallowed after a review for an offsides call.
 
Mikhail Yegorov authored another stellar effort, stopping 36 shots including 18 of 19 in the third period. In 13 starts, he has allowed two or fewer goals 11 times.
 
“I’m very happy with the end result,” Pandolfo said. “First period was pretty even. We got a power play goal. Second period, I thought we played well. We had our chances, then they got a break when we lost coverage in the D-zone and they tied it [before] we ended up taking the lead.
 
“Not going up 3-1 with the offsides call, I don’t know if that deflated us a little bit. They pushed hard in the third and we played on our heels too much. They were getting to our net. We found a way in the overtime after they were pushing hard.”

BU took advantage of an early power play to get on the board first. Midway through the man-advantage, Cole Hutson and Ryan Greene set up Eiserman for a one-timer from the left circle that Michael Hrabel defended. Lachance swatted the rebound off the goalie's pad and the puck came back to him just behind the goal line. On a second try, the co-captain banked a shot in off Hrabel for his 11th tally of the season.

Greene's assist on the play gave the junior co-captain 100 career points (34G,66A), a mark that Quinn Hutson had reached earlier in the season. 

The Minutemen tied the scored at 3:32 of the second period when the conference's leading scorer, Cole O'Hara, circled the offensive zone and drove to the net. His shot attempt went off a UMass skate to the slot where Jack Musa fired it past Yegorov's stick side. 

After Jack Harvey had a pair of chances at the seven-minute mark that Hrabel turned aside, Boumedienne broke up a dangerous two-on-one-rush with a stick check. Tom Willander quickly sent the puck ahead to Jack Hughes and joined the three-on-two rush. Skating into the offensive zone, Hughes made a perfect cross-ice pass to Boumedienne whose one-timer flew past Hrabel on the glove side. It was the freshman's third goal, all coming in the last seven games.

In the final minute of the period, BU appeared to score again on the rush as Quinn Hutson rifled home a shot from the right circle. UMass immediately challenged for offside on the play and a review showed Harvey was in the zone a step ahead of the puck. BU outshot the Minutemen, 13-8, in the period.  

UMass pressed for an equalizer from the get-go in the third period. With the teams skating four-on-four, O’Hara skated into the BU zone and, from the right circle, fired a hard wrister that tweezed through Yegorov’s pads but was cleared away from the crease by Gavin McCarthy.

Two minutes later Ryan Lautenbach won a puck battle in the corner and centered a pass that went off Devin Kaplan’s skate to Suniev in the slot. His shot through a maze of players went over Yegorov’s shoulder to tie the game once again.
Two and a half minutes into overtime, a 40-footer by Larry Keenan eluded a screened Yegorov but rang off the post on the goalie’s stick side. Moments later, he defended a shot by Joey Musa. Boumedienne fired the rebound into the corner and up the boards where Eiserman grabbed it in full stride creating a two-on-two rush with Hughes. From the top of the left circle he quickly got off a rocket—likely sooner that Hrabel expected—that was in and then back out of the net in a split second for the game-winner. 

Eiserman's game-winner was his fourth of the season, tying him with Cole Hutson.

After the game, he explained, “Sascha rimmed it out and they had a lot of guys collapse. I had a lot of time and space and just took it wide. I had a shot, tried to go five hole, and was lucky enough for it to go in.”     

BU has advanced to the conference tournament semifinals for the 28th time and all three seasons since Pandolfo became head coach.

defkit's Terrier Takeaway

- I thought BU was off their game for much of the night, especially when compared to the last two games of the regular season. They seemed out of synch at times, most notably with some poorly executed line changes leading to great opportunities for UMass.

- They had better stretches at times in the first and second periods, but went into too much of a defensive focus in the third period, giving up 19 shots in the period.
- With all that said, this team has found a way to win big games, and they did so again in this case. Having a top goalie has given this team the extra advantage that it needed, with Yegorov making a number of strong saves including one just seconds before the GWG. And of course, having a true sniper like Cole Eiserman is another fantastic advantage.
- I thought the Bednarik/Kaplan/Lachance line was particularly effective. Kaplan has really turned his season around by staying disciplined. And while not flashy, Bednarik has clearly earned the coaches trust to be on the ice in critical moments. While he will likely never be a top point producer, I expect that we will see a significant jump in Kamil's production next season - all of this ice time is going to pay big dividends for the next couple of years. It's easy to forget how young the NTDP guys are compared to most of the competition.
- Speaking of young players, the team's most improved award could very well be going to Sascha Boumedienne. His overall play and his confidence have really improved dramatically as the season has gone on. Gone are the weak clearing passes leading to great scoring opportunities for the opposition. His defensive stick and his skating are even better than Willander's were last year at this time. I expect his draft stock will jump into the top 20 on most boards between now and July. He is really showing his potential now.
- Cole Hutson did not have a great game. A couple early turnovers and UMass targeting him for hits seemed to fluster him. But he has earned the luxury of having an off-night, given his overall strong play in the second half.
- For the past three seasons, Coach Pandolfo has been able to get his team to win some big games in tournament play. There have been very few disappointing losses when a trophy is on the line in his short tenure. There are two trophies remaining, and both will be very difficult to grab. This team lost a lot of skill and leadership from last season. But as a Terrier fan, I am thrilled that we have a shot at titles on a consistent basis again.
 
● GoTerriers.com recap and box score
● Highlights
● College Hockey News Hockey East tournament recap

Looking ahead
 
2026 recruit Tynan Lawrence scored his 22nd goal and added his 24th assist as Muskegon thumped Fargo, 6-2. The left-shot center has 46 points in 48 games for the Lumberjacks and is third among USHL rookies.
 
2025 recruit Jonathan Morello’s eighth goal was the game winner as Dubuque edged Waterloo, 2-1. The 6’1” center has 27 points in 51 games for the Fighting Saints.

2025 recruit Callum Hughes scored his 11th goal in Erie's 5-2 loss to Niagara.

2025 recruit Jack Pridham assisted on the game-winner for Kitchener, who edged Owen Sound, 3-2.

Looking back

Jack Eichel scored his 21st goal to give Vegas a lead late in the third period, but Buffalo rallied to tie and won in a shootout, 4-3. 

Macklin Celebrini's 21st goal was all the scoring for San Jose in a 5-1 loss to the Capitals.  

Lane Hutson recorded his 48th assist as Montreal blanked Florida, 3-0. He remains atop the rookie scoring chart with 52 points, two ahead of Celebrini.

 

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