Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Terriers on top in Coaches’ Poll; BU announces free, worldwide streaming of games--UPDATED



                                                          Photo: richimagesphotography.com 

At Hockey East’s Media Day at TD Garden, the conference’s coaches' preseason poll gave BU the top spot with ten out of a possible eleven first place-votes. Defending Hockey East champion Northeastern and lame duck Notre Dame tied for second, followed by Lowell, Providence and BC in the top six. Coach David Quinn told the media:

“We’re a little deeper up front than we have been and I really anticipate (Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson) taking his talent to the next level. But we have a lot of guys like Jordan Greenway and Bobo Carpenter. The guys understand we have competition on the blue line with eight players and there’s going to be two guys who won’t be playing every night. That will elevate the play in practice and the games.”

Assistant captain Nikolas Olsson, addressing the poll results, added:


“We want to hold ourselves to our own standard, so we don’t want to pay attention to what everyone else expects us to do. We tune everything out and when we’re all in the locker room, we have a saying of, ‘Close that up and everything that’s in here matters – this is what matters, whatever is outside doesn’t.’ If we can figure out our affairs in here, then we can do great things.”

►Conference Commissioner Joe Bertagna, whose contract was extended through 2019-20, announced that when Notre Dame leaves for the Big Ten, Hockey East will stay at 11 teams for the foreseeable future. In 2017-18, all eleven teams will make the conference playoffs with the top five earning a first-round bye.

►Hockey East also announced a 14-game NESN/ASN TV schedule, which will include three BU games: Jan. 16 at BC; Feb. 17 hosting New Hampshire; and Feb. 24 hosting Notre Dame. The last two games are 6 p.m. starts.
● HockeyEastOnline Coaches’ Preseason Poll , Composite Schedule and TV Schedule
GoTerriers.com report
● Boston Herald report
● USCHO report
Boston Hockey Blog report
● College Hockey News report on possible future expansion of Hockey East

New HD Streaming of Home Games
BU Athletic Director Drew Marrochello announced a new partnership with Campus Insiders to live-stream 32 men's and women's ice hockey home games. The high-definition broadcasts will be available online worldwide, free of charge and will be accessible as archives as well. All 17 women's home games and 15 men's home games will be live-streamed on the Campus Insiders network, which also streams many other BU varsity sports through the Patriot League partnership.
● GoTerriers.com report


Looking ahead
USHL.com featured 2017 recruit Brady Tkachuk's first-period power-play goal in Saturday's 5-3 win against Youngstown.

Looking back
Former Terrier Ken Rausch has been promoted to Director of Youth Hockey at USA Hockey. A forward--and emergency defenseman--on BU's 1995 national championship team, Rausch joined the USA Hockey staff in 2009. After playing on three Terrier Frozen Four squads, he joined Jack Parker's coaching staff and later was an assistant at Lowell, Babson and Niagara.

Matt Lane, who signed an AHL contract with Sabres' affiliate Rochester, talked with his hometown newspaper about his first pro training camp.
Democrat & Chronicle report

Women’s Team  
Hockey East announced that BU will host the 2017 Hockey East Championship Weekend. The semifinals and title game will be played at Walter Brown Arena on March 4 & 5.  BU last hosted championship weekend in 2011.
● HockeyEastOnline report
● GoTerriers.com report

Monday, September 26, 2016

Terriers ranked #4 in first USCHO poll; Women drop Providence, 5-2



Terriers have been ranked at #4 in the pre-season USCHO D-1 College Hockey Poll, leading a group of six Hockey East teams among the poll’s top 15. BU received five first-place votes, second only to top-ranked and defending national champion North Dakota, which garnered 43. Two first-semester out-of-conference opponents, Quinnipiac and Denver, were ranked #2 and #3 respectively.

The other ranked Hockey East schools are: BC #5; Lowell #8; Notre Dame #9, Providence #10 and Northeastern #15. Three other schools on the Terriers' out-of-conference schedule made the top 20: Michigan #11; Harvard:12; and Yale #18.

● USCHO.com pre-season poll

► Hockey East Media Day takes place tomorrow at TD Garden. THFB will post links to news announcements as well to comments from BU coaches and players.

Looking back
The Buffalo News reports that Evan Rodrigues worked with a power-skating instructor and a shooting coach during the off-season as he prepared for Sabres’ training camp. After a slow start last season at AHL Rochester, he produced 30 points, earning a late season call-up and picked up his first NHL goal and assist.

Women’s Team
Senior Samantha Sutherland’s hat trick powered the #10-ranked Terriers to a 5-2 win over Providence in their regular-season opener Sunday at Agganis Arena. BU carried a 2-1 lead into the final period and scored three times to salt away the win.

Photo by Richard T. Gagnon
Graduate student Mary Parker, who starred at Harvard for three seasons, got BU on the board first, converting a pass from junior Victoria Bach, and Sutherland doubled the lead late in the period with assists to sophomore Sammy Davis and freshman Abby Cook. The Friars narrowed the gap to one goal early in the second, but Sutherland responded with a power-play goal from Davis and junior transfer from Minnesota Nina Rodgers.

In the third period, PC scored early again, but a late power-play goal by senior  Maddie Elia and Sutherland’s empty-netter closed out the scoring. Senior goalie Victoria Hanson turned aside 34 of 36 shots to earn the win.


● GoTerriers.com recap and box score
Video highlights and post-game interviews (Sutherland and Coach Brian Durocher)
Daily Free Press recap

For their efforts against Providence, Sutherland was named Hockey East Player of the Week, while Hanson was named Defensive Player of the Week. Cook earned a spot on the weekly top performers list after picking up her first collegiate point.
● GoTerriers.com report
HockeyEastOnline report

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Terriers picked for first in Hockey East Media Poll



In the pre-season Hockey East Media Poll, Terriers received 22 out of 26 first-place votes and 301 points overall to claim the top spot. Sophomore defenseman Charlie McAvoy was named a first-team all-star.  Results of the Coaches' Poll will be announced this Tuesday during Hockey East’s Media Day at TD Garden.


Looking ahead

2017 recruit Brady Tkachuk (photo) scored his second goal of the season in the NTDP U18s' 5-3 win against Youngstown in their season opener. The 6’2”, 194 lb. power forward from St. Louis is tied for the team scoring lead with six points. Fellow recruit Logan Cockerill, who scored a goal in Thursday’s All-American Prospects Game, added an assist for the U18s.
● USA Hockey recap and box score

2018 recruit Matthew Quercia scored a shootout goal in the Sioux Falls Stampede’s 3-2 win over Tri-City. Last season, Quercia put up 50 points in 38 regular season games for the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs, adding seven more in nine playoff games.
USHL box score
● Argus Leader recap

Women’s Team
Senior Maddie Elia’s hat trick and a pair of goals by sophomore Sammy Davis powered BU past the Whitby Wolves in a 6-0 exhibition game win at Walter Brown Arena. Elia, who also had an assist, was sent in alone on goal by Rebecca Leslie to open the scoring just 90 seconds into the game. Elia and Davis would add power play goals for a 3-0 lead after one.   Davis added her second power-play goal in the second period, deflecting home a Savanah Newton shot.  Third period goals by Leslie and Elia closed out the scoring.

Three BU goalies, Victoria Hanson, Ashlyn Aiello and Erin O’Neil combined for the shutout.
Terriers are back on the WBA ice today to open the regular-season with a match-up against former Terrier Bob Deraney’s Providence Friars. Puck drop is at 3 p.m. and the game will be broadcast for free live on Terrier TV.
● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

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— BU Bands (@BUBand) September 24, 2016

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