Gameday: Men open year 100 at UConn; Women host Northeastern

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Chapter 💯 begins tomorrow.

We’re ready. pic.twitter.com/mJgSEgzRrn

— BU Men's Hockey (@TerrierHockey) October 7, 2021

The 100^th season of Terrier Hockey begins tonight with #10/10 BU visiting Connecticut in the front end of a home-and-home series. Puck drop at the XL Center in Hartford is set for 7:05 p.m. with College Sports Live providing a free live-stream.

 

In the Covid-shortened 2020-21 season, BU and UConn met only once, a Terrier 3-2 overtime victory at Storrs, Connecticut with Luke Tuch scoring the game-winner 44 seconds into the extra session. The other planned meeting, at Agganis, was cancelled. The teams’ last meeting at the XL Center, in February 2020, was a 4-3 UConn win in overtime.

 

The Huskies opened their season last weekend defeating Sacred Heart, 6-3, breaking open a tie game with three goals in the third period. UConn’s attack is led by seniors Jonny Evans (14 goals, 29 points in 23 games last season), Jachym Kondelik (22) and Carter Turnbull (13) and junior Vladislav Firstov (12). Goalie Darion Hanson,a graduate transfer from Union, faced BU two years ago in the season opener, a 7-3 road win.

 

In his Thursday media call, Coach Albie O’Connell previewed tonight’s opponent noting, “It’s very hard to play in that building. They have a veteran team, so it’ll be a tough task to go on the road and beat that club.”

 

He added, “Their face off game is really good. They’re big, they’re fast, they’re aggressive and they play an up-tempo style. In the D zone, similar to Lowell, you’ll face some challenges. We're going to have to navigate that and find a way to win pucks.”

 

The Terriers, also a veteran team with 19 skaters and three goalies returning, received goals from five different players in last week’s exhibition game win against Holy Cross. O’Connell reported that the team’s focus this week included conditioning to allow playing at a high pace, power plays, face offs and structure.

 

 TONIGHT’S BU LINE-UP

Cockerill-Brown-Mastrosimone

Phillips-Skoog-Boucher

Tuch-O’Brien-Peterson

Kaufman-Stevens-Carrabes

Tristan Amonte

 

Vlasic-Gallagher

Fensore-McCarthy

Campolieto-Webber

 

Commesso

Duplessis

● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, Terrier Sports Radio Network

● Live Stream: College Sports Live, CBS Sports App

● Coach O’Connell’s Thursday Media Call

● HockeyEastOnline Friday Gameday information

 

● GoTerriers.com 2021-22 Team Prospectus (added to LINKS in sidebar)

 

● College Hockey News Hockey East preview

 

► In this week’s episode of Inside Hockey East, Bernie Corbett speaks with Commissioner Steve Metcalf.

 

Women’s Team

 

After opening the season with a sweep of New Hampshire, the Terriers will face a stiffer challenge hosting #2 and defending Hockey East champion Northeastern.

The Huskies, who reached the 2021 national championship game, opened their season with a pair of shutout wins against Holy Cross. Northeastern is led by senior forward Chloe Aurard and senior goaltender Aerin Frankel.

 

In the sweep of UNH, the BU offense was led by seniors Mackenna Parker (4 pts) Courtney Correia (3 pts) and junior Julia Nearis (4 pts). Freshman goalie Callie Shanahan earned Hockey East Rookie of the Week honors after yielding just two goals in the two wins.

 

BU will be without junior defenseman Nadia Mattivi this weekend as she’ll be skating with the Italian National Team in a pre-qualification tournament for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, Terrier Sports Radio Network

● Live Stream: College Sports Live

● GoTerriers.com Mattivi to skate for Italy at Olympic Pre-Qualification Tournament