Sunday, October 18, 2026

UPDATED Ritchie rides to the rescue

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With BU less than a minute from heading home from Vermont empty-handed, sophomore Ryder Ritchie scored an extra-attacker tally to tie the score and then delivered the 2-1 win in overtime on a breakaway. It was the first two-goal game as a Terrier for the 2025 Minnesota second-round draft pick.

Freshman Xavier Villeneuve, with his best performance thus far, had both primary assists, while Tynan Lawrence assisted on the tying goal to keep his point streak going. He has a point in all three games this year and going back to last season, recorded a point in the last six games and eight of the last nine.

Scroll down for defkit's Terrier Takeaway 

Mikhail Yegorov authored another strong effort, turning aside 24 shots, including a breakaway, and collected his second career assist on Ritchie’s game-winner.

Much as he'd done on Friday, Catamount goalie Jacob Oster frustrated the Terriers for 59 minutes, stopping the first 32 shots he faced...but not the last two. 

"Overall we played pretty hard and competed well," Coach Jay Pandolfo said, post-game. "It was nice to get this win, we needed it. It’s a building block for our team. Some of these games that are tight like this can help you later on.

"Ritchie was excellent all night," Pandolfo pointed out. "He was moving his feet, making plays. He was dangerous all night."

Both teams showed some nervousness in the opening minutes with turnovers leading to scoring chances that the two netminders stifled. Lawrence and Jack Murtagh had opportunities to give BU a lead.

Yegorov made the first of several big saves, stoning Colin Kessler on a clean breakaway. Oster responded by shutting down Nick Roukounakis from just outside the crease. BU had an edge in chances until a UVM flurry in the last minutes of the period.  

Terriers had two first-period power plays, but failed to generate any chances. 

Early in the second, Carter Amico skated across the blue line and deked past a defender to drive to the net only to be turned aside by Oster. A Ritchie shot from the slot was defended and then Jonathan Morello was unable to convert a juicy rebound of Jax Wismer's shot.   

BU's third power play was much better than the first two, but again, failed to convert.

"I thought the power play we had in the second period was really good, just didn’t put it in the back of the net," Pandolfo said. "We had some good puck movement, some good looks, some good chances. We’ve got to build off that one." 

Late in the period, Haoxi Wang made a strong move from the left point, stickhandling to the right circle to create a scoring chance. Moments later UVMs Mathias Loiselle tapped a puck past the rookie blueliner and sped by him to create a 2-on-1 break. Loiselle’s centering pass was redirected home by Jonah Aegerter just ahead of Kamil Bednarik’s attempt to backcheck. 

After dominating the middle period, BU found itself behind, 1-0, with no goals for four consecutive periods. Shots were 13-9, BU.

Terriers took it up a notch in the third, further dominating O-zone time and shots. Morello drove to the net, but was rebuffed. At 5:30 Wang rang a shot off iron, then an Amico blast was stopped and covered. 

BU kept pressing for an equalizer to no avail. Late in the period, the Catamounts got on an extended 0-zone cycle denying the Terriers fast-expiring time to attack.  

After Caleb Malhotra won a D-zone draw and headed up ice, Yegorov skated to the bench for an extra attacker. Lawrence controlled the puck in the Cats' zone and sent it cross-ice to Villeneuve, who slid a pass to Ritchie just inside the blue line. His 55-foot shot sailed past Oster who was screened by Roukounakis. The goal, with 0:56 ticks left, ended a 94-minute drought going back to the first period Friday night.  


In overtime, UVM controlled the draw and circled the puck in center ice and the d-zone several times before going on the attack. Kessler skated to the high slot, veered left and fired a shot that tested Yegorov. Villeneuve collected the rebound and immediately head-manned a pass to Ritchie racing through center ice on a breakaway. From the bottom of the right circle, he wristed the puck past Oster’s glove --wouldn't you know it, at 0:56 of OT--for a 2-1 win and the extra point for the standings.

After the game, Pandolfo added, "I want to give Vermont credit. They played well. They probably had close to 25 blocks tonight. That’s something we have to work on, too, finding ways to get shots to the net." BU had five blocks.

BU downs Vermont 2-1 in overtime thanks to two Ryder Ritchie goals 

                    Photo credit BU Athletics 

After being on the short end of the face off battle Friday, BU rebounded to win 27 of 46 draws with Bednarik, Malhotra and Morello all being +3 at the dot.

defkit's Terrier Takeaway 

- Overall, an ok weekend for the Terriers. They looked much better over the last two periods than the first four, even though the goals were hard to come by. While the freshman class is not large, there are some key guys that are getting a lot of minutes, which should pay dividends as the season progresses.

- Yegorov is off to a great start to the season, as we all hoped he would be. His numbers are excellent and the team defense in front of him is also helping.
- On defense, Wang continued to impress. He had a couple whifs on keep-ins at the blue line over the two games, but otherwise looked excellent. He has impressed the most of all the freshmen. Amico has also played better, though he similarly had a couple bad plays on the puck leading to opportunities. We need to remember he played very little at BU last season, so he is virtually still a freshman too.
- XV had a tough first half to the game, but finished strong. The Power Plays in the first period couldn't get anything going. And he seemed to be trying puck moves that just aren't going to fool players in D-1. But he seemed to find another gear over the second half of the game and picked up assists on both huge goals.
- At forward, it was good to see Ritchie rise to the occasion (Kudos to Roukinakis for the screen on the first goal). We've seen his skill in the past, if he can contribute more consistently, that will be a big lift for the team.
- Lawrence is clearly the best forward on the team at this point, not a surprise. Malhotra will get going after around 10 games in my opinion. You can see that he has the tools. But similar to Lawrence last season, most good players need an adjustment period. We've been spoiled with guys like Eichel, Celebrini, and Lane H. that just step in and look like the best players right away. But D-1 is a big step up. And while the ceiling may not be as high for guys like Aaram-Olsen and Norringer, I think we'll see them adjust as well.
- Merrill had a very uncharacteristically tough game Friday night. He looked more like himself last night.
- Credit to Vermont. I think they are a better team than expected. They played a great structure and blocked a ton of shots, which frustrated BU.
- Overall, taking 3 out of 4 on the road to start the season is a solid start, even if the caliber of the opponent was not expected to be strong going into the season.  

● GoTerriers.com recap and boxscore

● Pandolfo Postgame 

● Boston Hockey Blog BU downs Vermont 2-1 in overtime thanks to two Ryder Ritchie goals

● WCAX-TV Highlights 

Looking back

Macklin Celebrini scored his third goal and assisted on two others in the Sharks' 4-3 shootout loss to Detroit. 

Jack Eichel assisted on a pair of Vegas goals in a 5-2 win against the Penguins. Eichel is tied for second in the NHL in points (16) and assists (11). 

While Brady Tkachuk's hat trick streak came to an end (at 2), he recorded a pair of assists in the Panthers' 8-3 blowout of the Kraken.

Trevor Zegras scored his third goal in the Flyers' 3-1 win against Ottawa. 

Jake Oettinger stopped all19 Blackhawks shots in a 4-0 Dallas win. It was Otters' third shutout in the past five starts as he lowered his GAA to 1.00 and raised his save percentage to .952.

Women's Team

Terriers dropped a tough 1-0 game to #9 Colgate at Walter Brown Arena. BU was swept by the Red Raiders and held scoreless through the two games. 

Colgate went ahead midway through the opening period and that was all the scoring. 

Senior goalie Mari Pietersen made a career high 45 saves in net in the loss. 

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score 

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