Monday, March 02, 2026

Hockey East honors for Yegorov, Hutson; defkit's Terrier Takeaway; SNL

                                                                                                                     


Mikhail Yegorov has been named co-Goaltender of the Week while Cole Hutson claimed Defender of the Week honors after they led BU to its first weekend sweep of BC in three years. 

Yegorov, who was Hockey East Goalie of the Month for March 2025, stopped 52 of 54 shots over the two games for a 1.00 GAA and a .963 save percentage. On Saturday, he kept BU in the game when BC unloaded 13 shots in the opening period, yielding just one goal.

Hutson recorded three assists in the series including highlight reel passes to set up the game-winning goal both nights--Friday's goal by Cole Eiserman and Saturday's by Gavin McCarthy.  The sophomore earned Defender of the Week twice last season, along with Hockey East and National Rookie of the Year and All-American honors.

● GoTerriers.com Hutson, Yegorov earn Hockey East Weekly Awards 

More notes on Yegorov and Hutson in  the Takeaway and SNL below 

Hockey East Playoff Race

Terriers have clinched sixth place in the conference standings and home ice for an opening round game against the 11th seed, which is currently Vermont. BU could move up to fifth and avoid the opening round if it defeats Lowell on Saturday while Maine loses to the Catamounts.   

 

defkit's Terrier Takeaway

▪ The team looked much improved overall over the weekend. Most notable to me was how quickly they pushed the puck up ice once they took possession. Coach mentioned they had been working on transition play, and I thought it showed. In the first period on Friday night, they were very successful getting their sticks into passing lanes. If they were able to steal the puck, they were immediately turning up ice with it, rather than sending it back behind their own net to regroup. I think this helped with the overall flow and also worked well with the aggressive forecheck they had working over both games.

▪ Big Mike was outstanding all weekend and I suspect he will get some sort of weekly accolades. BC did miss the net a good bit on Saturday, but that was after he had already showed that they were going to have to pick corners to beat him.

▪ Ben Merrill has developed into such a great player fo this team. A player with his size, speed, shot, physical play and puck protection has to be a coach's dream. While his linemates (Morello, Rouk) have similar styles, I think he has the best blend of all the attributes. His second goal on Saturday was a perfectly placed shot.

▪ McCarthy’s second-period game-winner came on a well-designed, left-circle face off play. Lawrence won the draw back to Hutson who skated toward the right point. McCarthy, instead of switching to the left point, made a beeline to the left circle and was unmarked when he received Hutson’s pass. (video). BU tried a variation of the play on the rush later on the period. This time McCarthy’s shot went high.

▪ The team was not perfect on Saturday. Eiserman struggled with turnovers (including one that led to the lone BC goal). Boisvert had one particularly tough shift where he seemed to be trying to do too much. But the difference from earlier in the season is that those two performances were noticeable because the rest of the team played well. 

▪ Hutson also looked like he was feeling it. He came inches from having another potential Hockey East goal of the year. 

▪ The one area this team is still struggling with is the Power Play. I legitimately worry now about the momentum killing aspect of how poor it is and would actually give some serious consideration to the old adage about declining the penalty. Perhaps it is the slowing down of play combined with the bang-bang passing plays with the two trailing players that sometimes lead to mishandling of the puck.

▪ This team has known for a few weeks that the only avenue to the NCAA's is to win the HE tournament. This weekend provided me more confidence that they could actually pull that off. It won't be easy, but I think they have to be in the conversation of teams that have a shot at it, along with PC, BC, UMass, UConn, and Maine.

SNL (Saturday Night Leftovers, and Friday's, too) 

●  Extended game highlights from YouTube 

Key to Saturday’s win was BU not just stopping the Eagles’ power play and limiting them to just five shots on three man-advantages, but also scoring two shorthanders. The Terriers have a conference best nine SHGs—tied for second nationally— with Jack Harvey authoring three of them.

● Boston Hockey Blog Not at its best, BU finds a way to beat and sweep BC

BC’s power play unit entered Saturday ranked sixth in the country, converting at 27.9 percent, so killing it off, let alone generating on it, is no easy task, but BU’s penalty kill is aggressive. In past matchups against the Eagles this season, it has plagued the Terriers, but for every risk, there’s a reward. 

“We just got back to doing the things that have made us successful as a penalty kill — going to our spots, being aggressive at the right time, and reading off each other,” Pandolfo said. 

Harvey's 12 goals are a new career-high and includes four power play goals. 

The sweep, along last week's 5-3 victory against New Hampshire, gave BU its second three-game win streak of the season. Both Harvey and Cole Eiserman scored in each of the three games. 

With his pair of assists, Cole Hutson has a team high 30 points (9G,21A) and is tied for most points by a defenseman in Hockey East. Minutes after setting up Gavin McCarthy's game-winner, Hutson nearly pulled off a highlight-reel goal, stickhandling through BC defense before his shot just missed an open side. (At 0:50 of this video) 

Three of Yegorov's best saves were off shots by James Hagens: two on second-period breakaways and one on a two-on-one break in the third.

With the weekend sweep, the all time Green Line series stands at BU 143, BC 138 with 21 ties. 

Looking ahead

2026 recruit Viktor Norringer scored twice--including the game-winner--and added an assist to lead Muskegon past Omaha, 5-2. It was the second consecutive two-goal game for the Swedish wing who now has a 21-21-42 scoring line in 41 games.   

RecScouting's Gabe Foley's Spring Draft Rankings have Tynan Lawrence at #6, Caleb Malhotra at #9, Egor Shilov #24 and Brady Knowling at #60. 

Looking back    

Deviin Kaplan scored his fifth goal in Lehigh Valley's 5-4 shootout loss to Hartford. 

Dylan Peterson scored his eighth goal in Springfield’s 5-1 win over Charlotte

 

 

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