Friday, April 11, 2025

ARCH MADNESS**: Frozen Four Leftovers and More Recognition for Cole Hutson

** Stolen, with no shame, from our friend BU Hockey Stats

Cole Hutson Tim Taylor National Rookie of the Year graphic Image

Cole Hutson, who previously was the Toledo Regional Most Outstanding Player,  MVP of the Beanpot and the top scorer at the 2025 World Junior Championships--among others, added two more honors on Friday. He was named Tim Taylor National Rookie of the Year and a first-team CCM/AHCA All-American.

Terriers have won the top rookie award back-to-back as Macklin Celebrini claimed it a year ago. BU has had five top national rookies in the past 11 seasons. The other three were Jack Eichel (2015), Clayton Keller (2017) and Joel Farabee (2019). Kieran Millan won the award in 2009 when he backstopped the Terriers to the 2009 national championship. Lane Hutson was the runner-up in 2023.

“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, coaches and family. It’s a lot of hard work,” Hutson said at the NCAA awards ceremony. “It means a lot to not only me, but I know my family was super proud, too.”

“Not really too focused on the individual awards. I think it’s obviously a team game, and we’re going to need everybody to pull some weight to win,” he explained. 

Hutson joins a long list of BU defensemen who have earned first-team All-American honors, including Lane Hutson (2023, 2024), David Farrance (2020, 2021), Charlie McAvoy (2017), Matt Grzelcyk (2015, 2016), Matt Gilroy (2008,2009) Tom Poti (1998) and Jack O'Callahan (1979).

● GoTerriers.com Hutson Named National Rookie of the Year, First Team All-American

● HockeyEastOnline Eight Hockey East Players Named CCM/AHCA All-Americans

● Boston Hockey Blog BU’s Cole Hutson wins National Rookie of the Year

● USCHO Hutson brings home a second straight Tim Taylor Award for BU rookies


Frozen Four Leftovers  

►With his assist on Cole Eiserman's tally against Penn State, Hutson has 47 points, one behind Denver's Zeev Biuim for the national lead among defensemen. Hutson owns the best points-per-game mark for blueliners with 1.24. 

►BU-Penn Stat advanced stats from @BUHockeyStats


►Frozen Four interviews (YouTube) with Sascha Boumedienne, Brandon Svoboda, and Cole Eiserman. 

►The Boston Hockey Blog crew at the Frozen Four have a new edition of their Terrier Hockey Talk podcast, recapping the semifinal win and looking ahead to Saturday's title game. 

Jack Hughes has a new career high with 25 points, including a 4-4-8 line in the last seven games.

►College Hockey News' BU Frozen Four Notebook looks at the Terriers' paw sticker tradition, Coach Jay Pandolfo winning a national championship as a player 30 years ago, defeating Maine in 1995, and Big Mike's Omaha billet family joining him in St. Louis. 

►Saturday night's championship game will feature two freshman goalies: BU's Mikhail Yegorov and WMU's Hampton Slukynsky. The last freshman goalie to win a Frozen Four final was Kieran Millan in 2009. 

►Which Terrier is wielding the hottest stick since March 1?  Hockey East All-Rookie Cole Eiserman has 8 of his 24 goals in his last 7 games, 4 of which have been away from Agganis.

►Thursday's 3-1 win over Penn State was BU's 50th NCAA tournament victory in 89 games for a .561 winning percentage. BU has appeared in 40 national tournaments with the first coming in 1950 when the Terriers were national runner-up.  

 

Saturday's Pre-Game Gathering and Watch Parties

St. Louis Gathering:

Wheelhouse Downtown

1000 Spruce Street

St. Louis, MO 63102

RSVP

 

 

Boston Watch Party:

The Causeway

65 Causeway Street

 Boston, MA 02114

RSVP

 

Chicago Watch Party

Piece Brewery and Pizzeria

1927 W North Avenue
Chicago, IL 60622

RSVP 

 

New York Watch Party:

The Three Monkeys

832 8th Avenue

New York, NY 10019

RSVP

 

Washington D.C. Watch Party:  

Penn Quarter Sports Tavern

639 Indiana Avenue North West

Washington, D.C. 20004

RSVP



Looking back

Matt Grzelcyk collected his 36th and 37th assists as the Penguins doubled up the Devils, 4-2. In his first season in Pittsburgh, the former Terrier captain has set a new career mark in points with 38.

 

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UPDATED On to the final--BU dispatches Penn State, 3-1

 

  

           Note: This will be a short post with more added Friday. Stay tuned.

#8 Terriers, after failing to get past the Frozen Four semifinal the past two seasons, exorcised that demon with a 3-1 win over #12 Penn State at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. BU will face Western Michigan, a 3-2 double overtime winner over defending champion Denver, in Saturday's national title game. Terriers will be seeking their sixth NCAA championship and the first since 2009.

Terriers received second period goals from Jack Hughes and Cole Eiserman and an empty-netter by Jack Harvey after the Nittany Lions cut the lead in half early in the third.  Goalie Mikhail Yegorov came up big once again, stopping 32 shots including a short-handed breakaway and a number of grade A chances in the final period with Penn State pressing for an equalizer.

"We found a way this year to win this game, so this is a step in the right direction," said BU coach Jay Pandolfo. "The first two periods we played real well. We didn't give up a whole lot. They had a few chances in transition but we did a good job."

BU dominated the opening period, outshooting Penn State, 11-7, and easily bringing the puck out of the defensive zone, but only had a handful of good scoring chances.

Early in the second period, Matt Copponi forced a turnover just outside the PSU blueline,  raced into the zone and fired a shot on goal. Goalie Arsenii Sergeev stopped the shot under his leg pad but didn't secure the puck. When he lifted the pad, Hughes was there to poke the puck home for a 1-0 lead. It was his seventh goal.  

Midway through the period, the "Cole train" doubled the lead. Devin Kaplan sent Cole Hutson and Cole Eiserman into the PSU zone on a two-on-one. Hutson held the puck until the defender committed and slid it to Eiserman who quickly roofed a shot over Sergeev. It was his 24th of the season. 

Minutes later with BU on a power play, Yegorov made his biggest save foiling Dane Dowiak's breakaway bid for a short-handed goal.   

BU held a 24-15 shot advantage after two periods. That changed in the final period. Two minutes in, Yegorov stopped an initial shot but Nicholas DeGraves got to the rebound first and fired it home cutting the lead in half. 

Penn State poured another 17 shots on the BU goal, but Yegorov turned them all aside. With Sergeev pulled for an extra skater, BU fended off several scoring chances before Tom Willander pulled a contested puck off the side boards and pushed it ahead to Harvey. The sophomore from Minnesota fired it home from the neutral zone to put the game in BU's win column. It was his 11th goal.

"They funnel everything to the net, which is how they ended up with their goal," Pandolfo said. "Our guys stuck with it. If you're going to win a championship you have to find a way to win those tight games. We've been in a number of them this year."

"We all come here for a reason," Hughes said. "We want to win a national championship. So just thinking about having the opportunity to do that in a couple of days is exciting. Almost doesn't really feel quite real."  

● GoTerriers.com recap and boxscore

● Photo Gallery

● Post-game press conference

●  Highlghts

● Boston Hockey Blog With a Mistake-free Performance, BU downs Penn State in Frozen Four Semifinal

● College Hockey News Third Time Is The Charm For BU At The Frozen Four ; Semifinals recap

● USCHO BU holds off Penn State in Frozen Four  semifinal

  BU Today Frozen Four Victory! BU to Play for College Hockey Championship Saturday

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Thursday, April 10, 2025

Game Day: BU vs. Penn State in the Frozen Four Semifinal; Wednesday Press Conference; Celebrini hat trick

     


Entering their third consecutive Frozen Four, the #8 Terriers are in St. Louis—528 miles from and 38 games removed from last year’s national semifinal in St. Paul—with unfinished business at hand.


BU faces off with #12 Penn State, winner of the Allentown Regional, at the Enterprise Center, home of the Blues, for an opportunity to play for a national championship. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. CT/8:30 p.m. ET for the game that will air on ESPN2 and be live-streamed on ESPN+.
 
Terriers will be gunning for a sixth NCAA title and their first since 2009. The Nittany Lions are in the Frozen Four for the first time.  BU is making its 40th NCAA tournament appearance, including 25 in last 35 tournaments. Only Minnesota (42 ) and Michigan (41) have more.   

It will be the third—and likely last—chance to claim the title for juniors Ryan Greene, Quinn Hutson and Devin Kaplan and senior Tristan Amonte after last year’s 2-1 OT loss to Denver and a 6-2 loss to Minnesota in the 2022-23 semifinal.
 
First, they will need to overcome a surging Penn State team that is 15-4-4 since the New Year after beginning the season at 7-9-0 with no Big 10 wins. Since March 1, the Nittany Lions are 4-2-0 including a sweep of Michigan, a blowout win over Maine in the Regional and their overtime win against UConn in the Allentown final.

After defeating a rugged, defensively-structured, grinding team in Cornell, BU will face a squad more similar to BC, UConn and even the Terriers themselves with a focus on speed and transition.

“[Penn State] has been the hottest team in the country,” Coach Jay Pandolfo said. “It’s a really tough matchup for us. They’re fast, I’ll tell you that. They are a little like UConn in that they can skate and transition really fast. I’ve seen that in Penn State watching their games. They transition with a lot of speed. Their first and second line especially. They’re going to be a handful for us.”

Penn State has the #7 scoring offense in Division 1 at 3.54 GPG, just a few slots behind #4 BU with 3.82 GPG. Their power play stands at 23.9% vs. the Terriers’ 28.4.  

While neither team finds itself in the top half of the D1 scoring defense ranking—BU is a 2.95 GPG, Penn State at 3.00—both teams are playing to much better numbers of late—led by goalies Mikhail Yegorov and his countryman, Arsenii Sergeev.

Hobey Baker Award finalist Aiden Fink leads PSU in both goals (23) and points (53). His 1.36 PPG is just a shade behind Quinn Hutson’s 1.39, which is second in D1. Fink skates on the top line with speedy Danny Dzhaniyev (31 points) and Reese Laubach (30).  The second, which was dangerous and productive in the regional, features two freshmen Charlie Cerrato (42) and J.J. Wiebusch (33) and sophomore Matt DiMarsico (32) who scored the overtime game-winner against UConn.

Senior Simon Mack, who anchors the defense, has had a productive year with a 3-26-29 scoring line. He’s supported by veteran Ds Jimmy Dowd, Jr. (10 points) and Jared Crespo (7) and freshman Cade Christenson (9). Like BU who saw Brehdan Engum go down late in the season, the Nittany Lions recently lost four-year defenseman Carter Schade to a season-ending injury. 
 
Penn State-UConn highlights 
   
 
Terriers Meet the Media

► Pandolfo, co-captains Ryan Greene and Shane Lachance and assistant captain Quinn Hutson met with the Frozen Four Media on Wednesday. (Video)    
 
Asked if after the Dec. 29 loss to Yale he thought BU would reach the Frozen Four, Pandolfo said:
 
"I think I would have said that I still have plenty of belief in this group, because of the players we have here. Sometimes its good for a team to go through the adversity we went through this year…as long as you learn from it. And I think we have, in a lot of different moments. Right after that game, if you asked me, I’d have said something different, but knowing these players, we’ll find a way.
For tonight’s Terrier lineup, check @BUHockeyStats
 
● Watch: ESPN2; Livestreams: ESPN+  and TSN+
● Inside BU Hockey (Pandolfo, Eiserman, Keith Tkachuk)
● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape;
● BU Hockey Stats preview
 
 
The Boston Globe reports on how BU’s two leading scorers, Quinn Hutson and Cole Hutson, are also competing with each other.
“It’s even more competitive right now,” said Quinn. “I’m not really a big fan of Cole right now. We were going at it on the ice.”

“To be honest, me and Quinn were going at it today on the ice,” [Cole weighs in without any prompting. “I’m kind of really not happy with him right now, so he better hope he’s on my team in practice tomorrow.”  


 

 

►College Puck NXT’s All Frosh first team features four Hockey East skaters including Cole Eiserman and Cole Hutson. The second team includes Mikhail Yegorov and new commit from the portal Sascha Boisvert.
 
Rhett The Terrier (@RhettBU) / X

►A pre-game party for Terrier fans is set for 5:30 p.m. CT at Wheelhouse, a ten-minute walk from Enterprise Arena. Click here for details and registration.

►Watch parties are set for Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and New York. Click here for details.
 
Looking back
 
Macklin Celebrini netted his first NHL hat trick and added two assists in the Sharks' 8-7 overtime loss to Minnesota. With a 24-38-62 scoring line, he's just two points behind Lane Hutson, the leader in the rookie scoring race.

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