Sunday, January 18, 2026

Terriers blank River Hawks; Carter Meyer dazzles; Goalie recruit on the move; Women fall to Holy Cross

 

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#20 Terriers rebounded from Friday's overtime loss to Lowell by shutting out the River Hawks, 3-0, at Tsongas Arena. Mikhail Yegorov stopped all 23 shots he faced to earn his second shutout in the past five games.

With the win, BU remains in third place in the Hockey East standings and has moved up to #17 in the NPI Rankings.    

Cole Hutson paced the offense, scoring BU's first tally and then setting up Nick Roukounakis to double the lead. Hutson was +3 for the game. Ben Merrill put the icing on the cake with an empty-net goal, his second in three games.

Hutson's goal came with seconds left in the middle period, ending nearly 40 minutes of scoreless hockey. Roukounakis' tally came midway through the third. 

"I thought it was a solid effort overall; good response after last night," said Coach Jay Pandolfo. "Early on they were coming pretty hard and trying to get after us on the forecheck. The first ten minutes, we weathered the storm, which you have to do sometimes on the road.

"I thought our group found our legs, especially in the second period. We started pushing and getting chances. There weren’t many chances either way with tight checking and guys selling out to block shots on both ends... I thought we did a real good job protecting the lead.”   

Shots were hard to come by all night and especially in the opening period with Lowell having a 6-4 edge. BU went on a power play late in the period, but after a minute, a penalty to Hutson negated it.

Early in the second period, Yegorov came up big stopping back-to-back shots, with a kick save to foil a rebound attempt and keep Lowell off the board. Then right after Lowell goalie Austin Elliott stuffed an Owen McLaughlin jam-in try, Big Mike robbed Diego Buttazzoni and Dillan Bentley on consecutive point-blank attempts.

Moments later Cole Eiserman had a breakway but fired the puck over the cage. Hutson's goal would come on an offensive zone face off with seconds left in the period. McLaughlin won the draw cleanly to Gavin McCarthy at the left point. He slid it to Hutson at center point for a one-timer that whizzed past Elliott with Kamil Bednarik providing a partial screen. It was the eighth goal for Hutson and would prove to be his fourth game-winner.

After the game, Hutson said, "I kind of knew the puck was gonna come to me. No one in their right mind would leave Cole Eiserman wide open. Just trying to hammer it, and it went in."

BU began the third period on a power play because Lowell's Josh Mori had leveled Hutson seconds after his goal. The Terriers failed to capitalize; however, midway through the period, they doubled the lead. The sequence began in just inside the BU blueline with Roukounakis delivering a big hit to separate Libor Nemec from the puck.

Hutson collected the puck, raced up the ice and angled to the right side, drawing a crowd. He quickly found Roukounakis alone 10 feet out for a quick shot, but Elliott stretched out a leg pad to deny him. Hutson recovered the puck and whipped it to Roukounakis in the right circle for a one-timer past Elliott.   

Lowell would pull Elliott for an extra attacker with three minutes left, but Merrill forced a turnover at the BU blueline. He skated in and scored his fourth goal.

Mikhail Yegorov and Cole Hutson fist bumping  

                Photo credit Matt Woolverton 

Yegorov stopped 12 shots in the final period to keep his shutout intact. Terriers helped Big Mike by blocking 21 River Hawk shots with Tynan Lawrence (4) and Bednarik (3) leading the way.

Jonathan Morello had another strong night at the face off dot, winning nine of 15 draws. Lawrence won four of five and Brandon Svoboda won four of seven.  

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Boston Hockey Blog BU men’s hockey squeaks out 3-0 victory at UMass Lowell

Looking ahead 

2027 recruit Carter Meyer scored unassisted late in the third period to tie the game, then won it with an overtime goal to push the NTDP U17s past Green Bay, 6-5. Meyer, who leads the U17s in scoring with a 15-20-35 scoring line in 35 games, also assisted on two goals. Sam Pandolfo also had a helper.

● NTDP Hockey Carter Meyer Delivers in the Clutch as Team USA Knocks Off Green Bay, 6–5

2026 recruit Caleb Malhotra scored his 21st goal and added an assist in Brantford's 5-2 win against Kingston. Malhotra, recently ranked #5 among North Americans for the 2026 NHL draft by Central Scouting, has 57 points to lead all OHL rookies and is tied for second in scoring overall.    

2027 recruit Andrei Nikolaev, recently acquired by Des Moines from NAHL New Jersey, stopped 17 of 18 shots in a 34-minute relief effort for the Bucs who dropped a 4-1 decision to Dubuque. Prior to the trade, he had a 2.53 GAA and .914 save percentage in 22 games for the Titans, while earning  NAHL Goaltender of the Month honors for November.

2027 recruit Brady Knowling heads The Daily Faceoff's Top 10 Goalies for the 2026 draft.  He also was ranked #1 among North American netminders by NHL Central Scouting.    

1. Brady Knowling (USNTDP)

Knowling has been a blast to watch this year. Between his outstanding Hlinka Gretzky performance and his 42-save effort in the CHL USA Prospects Challenge, Knowling has been lights out whenever the spotlight has been on him. His numbers with the USNTDP are nothing to get excited about, but he almost gives his team a chance to win every single night. You can’t complain about his 6-foot-5 frame, either. Lots of scouts have different picks for the top goaltender, but I like Knowling the most right now.

Looking back 

Charlie Coyle scored the shootout winner as Columbus edged Pittsburgh, 4-3.   

AJ Greer notched his 10th goal and added an assist as Florida defeated the Capitals, 5-2. 

Charlie McAvoy scored his third goal in the Bruins 5-2 win over Chicago. Ryan Greene's power play goal had given the Blackhawks an early lead.    

Women's Team

Terriers droppped a 4-2 decision to Holy Cross, ending a four-game winning streak.Neely Nicholson and Luisa Welcke had the goals for BU, who will play Harvard on Tuesday in the Beanpot Championship game.    

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score 

 

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