Friday, March 28, 2025

Terriers erupt for 8-3 rout of the Buckeyes; Will face Cornell in the Regional Final; defkit's Terrier Takeaway

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Why settle for one hockey game when you can have three in the space of 60 minutes?
 
En route to a wild 8-3 win over #9 Ohio State in the Toledo Regional, the #8 Terriers were nearly blown out of the building in the opening period—Thank goodness for Big Mike! They settled down and rebounded in the second period to emerge with a 3-3 tie. And then, they poured in five unanswered goals in a dominant final period to punch their ticket to the Regional final where they’ll face Cornell, the 4th-seed in the regional, who upset #1-ranked Michigan State, on Saturday at 4 p.m..
 
BU scored its eight goals, which included one power-play goal and two short-handers, on just 23 shots. Cole Hutson had a four-point game with a goal and three assists, while the other half of the “Cole Train,” Cole Eiserman, connected twice. Jack Hughes scored a goal and assisted on two others. Matt Copponi and Jack Harvey each had a goal and an assist, while Quinn Hutson and Aiden Celebrini also found the net.
 
“If you had told me after the first period that we won 8-3, I would have laughed at that,” Coach Jay Pandolfo said. “But at the end of the day we got the result we were looking for.”
 
“The season is over if you don’t find a way,” Pandolfo said. “Our guys are going to fight until the end.”
 
Disturbingly once again, the Terriers came out flat in the opening period. It looked like a continuation of last week’s loss to UConn in the Hockey East tournament.
 
“Certainly not the start we were looking for, that's for sure,” Pandolfo said. “We just weren’t winning battles or skating even in the first period. We just were on our heels. They were on top of us. Give them credit, they did a really great job of just putting pucks behind us and winning puck battles."
 
The shots were a mind-boggling 15-2 in favor of the Buckeyes and the offensive-zone possession time was heavily skewed to OSU as well. Midway through the period, the Buckeyes scored when Aiden Hansen-Bukata’s shot from the right point was stopped by Mikhail Yegorov, but the rebound went to an unmarked Joe Dunlap who banged it home.        

Yegorov, who would stop 33 shots, was under considerable pressure throughout the period, but kept turning shots away. One, however, did trickle through him and only a quick stick by Gavin McCarthy kept the puck from crossing the goal line. BU killed two penalties in the period, limiting OSU to four shots.

The turnaround for BU began in the second period with better zone exits, better entries and some extended possessions. An early power-play, though unsuccessful, helped to reverse the momentum. And at 8:07, the Terriers scored off an offensive zone draw. Kamil Bednarik pulled the puck back to Devin Kaplan who tapped it to Eiserman. The freshman wing took one stride and rifled a shot past Logan Terness’s glove for his 22nd goal and a 1-1 tie.   

A Kaplan penalty for roughing put the Buckeyes on the power play and midway through the man-advantage, they cashed in on the rush. Dunlap took a pass from Jake Rozzi, got around Cole Hutson and beat Yegorov low to the glove side.

The score remained 2-1 until just past the 17-minute mark when the teams combined for three goals in just 42 seconds. The first came on a BU power play that produced the slickest passing sequence of the game. Cole Huston skated down to the goal line and passed to Ryan Greene at the top of left circle. He dished to Quinn Hutson who, instead of shooting, sent the puck to Cole who had gone around the net and was arcing the tops of the circles. He passed back to Quinn in the high slot for a no-mistake wrister that went in off the pipe on the goalie’s stick side. Hutson’s 21st goal restored the tie at 2-2.

The deadlock lasted just 30 second as the Buckeyes caught BU on a 2-on-1 rush. Max Montes held the puck, then from the right circle fired a low stick-side shot that went under Yegorov’s pad. 3-2.

Terriers pulled even just 12 seconds later on the very next play. Harvey chased a loose puck into the OSU corner and pushed it to Hughes behind the cage for a quick centering pass to Copponi just outside the crease. He fired a low shot past Terness’s glove for his fifth goal and a 3-3 tie. 

If those five goals weren’t enough for one period, OSU nearly scored again on a power play, but Dunlap’s bid for a hat trick crossed the goal line 0.2 seconds after the horn sounded to end the period. Shots were 13-11 BU. 

And, if you thought the third period would be like the back-and-forth middle period, you and me and most folks watching were dead wrong. 
 
Prior to the regionals, the Buckeyes were 6-1 when entering the third period tied, while BU was 3-1-1. 
 
Terriers took their first lead on an innocent-looking rush with OSU having four men back. Celebrini took a pass from Copponi, was forced a bit wide at the right circle and ripped a shot on goal, beating Terness, again to the stick side. It was his second tally of the season with Tom Willander getting the second assist.     

A very borderline cross-checking call on Brandon Svoboda gave the Buckeyes a chance to respond, but a good indirect clearing pass from Cole Hutson sent Hughes and Greene off to the races on a two-on-one. Hughes closed to the bottom of the left circle and lasered a shot home on the goalie’s glove side for his sixth goal and a two-goal lead at 5-3.

BU added to the lead at the eight-minute mark on an outstanding individual effort by Eiserman, who took a Cole Hutson pass and skated into the offensive zone. He put the puck between his legs to shake a defender but saw it trickle away into the shallow corner. Recovering the puck and fighting off the defender, he backhanded it from below the goal line and it slipped between Terness’s body and the goal post. His 22nd goal increased the lead to 6-3.  

“Had a one-on-one to try and make a play,"  Eiserman explained."Got held up and buckled in the corner and did what I try to do a lot of the time, just throw it on net and it ended up working out.” 

A few minutes later,  Eiserman nearly completed a hat trick when Cole Hutson carried the puck to the slot and set up Eiserman alone in the right circle for a shot that rang off the post.

The Terriers, however weren’t done. At 14:16, a Hughes indirect pass sent Harvey speeding into the zone. The Minnesota native undressed a defender, putting the puck through his legs, recovered it and beat Terness for his 10th of the season and a 7-3 lead. Sascha Boumedienne recorded the second assist.

Penalties to Celebrini and Kaplan in the final minutes gave Ohio State a two-man advantage and when they pulled the goalie, it was six-on-three. The Buckeyes managed just one shot before Cole Hutson poked a puck lose, made a spin move and found the empty net for his 13th goal and the 8-3 final score.

“We started getting pucks to the net, recovering pucks and that’s when our offense started to take over a little bit,” Pandolfo explained, post-game . “Listen, we’re fortunate we have some guys on this team that can finish. They don’t need a lot of chances to put the puck by the goalie. We saw that tonight.”

defkit's Terrier Takeaway

- What a remarkable comeback. Getting goals from three guys who have not scored as often as they and BU fans would like was huge: Copponi, Hughes, and Harvey.

- I actually thought the effort was there in the first period, they were just struggling to figure out how to adjust to OSU's game plan. The team was still skating hard, unlike in the UConn game where they just didn't seem to care. The two penalties were part of the reason the shot differential was so large in the first.
 
- The team took too many penalties, but I didn't love some of the calls, especially the calls against Lachance and Svoboda. However, I thought the penalty by Kaplan was just a poor decision by him, especially given that BU had all the momentum at that point in the game. His 2+10 near the end of the game wasn't smart either, even though the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt.
 
- Yegorov has looked a bit more average the past two games, with the two blocker side goals not being ideal to give up. But he did make several nice saves in the first period when we really needed them.
 
- Defensive depth has been the Achilles heel all season, and today was no exception. While Celebrini had a huge goal, the reality is that from a defensive perspective, after Willander and to some extent Boumedienne, there are not strong options. Losing Engum really hurts in this respect. Hutson, for all of his points and offensive skill, still has his challenges defensively. McCarthy has been on the ice for a lot of goals over the past couple games, and seemed to get limited ice time in the third period until the outcome was secured. Celebrini is ok but again, not someone you want to have out there in key situations.
 
- In my opinion, today's win solidified this season as a successful one, regardless of how the team does against Cornell. Given the skill (Lane Hutson, Macklin Celebrini) and leadership/dependability/experience (Stevens, Tuch, McCarthy, Webber, Peterson) lost from a year ago, I thought this team would take a sizable step back. But winning the Beanpot, making it to the TD Garden, and now winning an NCAA game has exceeded my expectations.   
►As a player and head coach, Pandolfo is now 9-0 in NCAA regional contests. He won four times as a player as BU reached the Frozen Four in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996. Pandolfo's teams won two regional games in each of his first two seasons behind the Terrier bench as BU reached the Frozen Four both seasons.
 
►This wasn't BU's first win against Ohio State in the NCAA Regionals. Terriers also won by an 8-3 score in the opening round of the 2009 Manchester Regional. Jason Lawrence and Zach Cohen led the way with two goals apiece. It was the only one of the four NCAA tournament wins that year that wasn't by one goal. 

► BU and Cornell met in the 2023 Manchester Regional with the Terriers claiming a 2-1 win. Terriers also defeated the Big Red in the 2018 Regional in Worcester, 3-1.
 
● GoTerriers.com recap and box score
● BU Hockey Stats: Game Review: H-O-T-T-O-L-E-DO
 
Looking ahead
 
2025 recruit Callum Hughes scored his ninth goal in Erie's 8-3 win against Saginaw.
 
Looking back
 
Lane Hutson assisted on a pair of goals (50th and 51st) in the Canadians' 6-4 loss to Philadelphia.  His 56 points leads all rookies.
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