Game Day: Battle of Commonwealth Ave renewed; Grizzy wins it

Terriers close out regular season games for first semester hosting rival BC at Agganis Arena tonight. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. for the contest that will air live on NESN and will be live streamed on College Sports Live for those outside of New England.

BU will host the NTDP U18s in a Saturday afternoon exhibition game starting at 3 p.m.

In major milestones of the program’s 100^th season celebration, BU will honor legendary Coach Jack Kelley prior to the game, while the back-to-back national championship teams from 1970-71 and 1971-72 will be honored during the first intermission. Those teams will be represented by:Larry Abbott, Ron Anderson, Dan Brady, Don “Toot” Cahoon, Jake Danby, Steve Dolloff, Paul Giandomenico, Bob Gryp, Peter Yetten, Assistant Coach Jack Parker and Team Manager Chris Henes.

[For more information, see yesterday's post]

Following last weekend’s sweep of New Hampshire, BU (6-9-2, 5-5-2) will try to go over .500 in conference games for the first time since the season opening win against UConn. Currently, BU sits in sixth place in Hockey East, a point behind the Eagles.

Last season, the teams split a pair of games with BC taking a 4-3 overtime decision followed by a 3-1 BU victory. In both games, wins came on home ice.

The Eagles, who defeated Brown on Tuesday following an 18-day layoff, are led by senior power forward Jack McBain with 20 points (9G,11A), classmate Marc McLaughlin (11G,4A) and grad transfer Brandon Kruse (2G,12A). Grad student Eric Dop, who along with Kruse had previously played at Bowling Green, has handled the bulk of the goaltending and has a 2.51 GAA.

Discussing the challenge ahead, Coach Albie O’Connell explained that BC is pretty dangerous from a transition stand point: “Puck management is going to be important… They do a good job of driving the net. They do a good job of pushing the pace. They don’t lug the puck end-to-end; they transition the puck really well. The net front is going to be really important, making sure they don’t get second chances. We’ve been prepping for games like this all year.”

He added that the Terriers have been working on their rush game with emphasis on staying in lanes and avoiding offsides.

For BU, sophomore Drew Commesso combined for 57 saves (on 59 shots) in the sweep of UNH and has allowed just one 5-on-5 goal in each of his last four league starts. On Sunday, he heads to US Junior National Team camp in Plymouth, Michigan, along with classmate Dylan Peterson. With six goals, Peterson is tied with Wilmer Skoog for the team lead. His 12 points are just one behind leaders Skoog and Domenick Fensore. Juniors Robert Mastrosimone and Case McCarthy—last week’s Defender of the Week—each have 11 points (5G,6A). 

TONIGHT'S BU LINEUP 

Cockerill-Ty Amonte- Kaufman

Tuch-Skoog- Mastrosimone

Brown-Zabaneh-Peterson

Carrabes-Stevens-Boucher

Vlasic-McCarthy

Fensore-Gallagher

Webber-Copeland

Campolieto

Commesso

 

● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, Terrier Sports Radio Network, BU Men’s Hockey Twitter

● Live Stream College Sports Live (outside New England only)

● O’Connell Media Call

● Boston Hockey Blog preview

● WTBU Sports preview

● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape

Commesso spoke with New England Hockey Journal (subscription) about his second chance to represent the U.S. in the World Junior Championships after Covid protocols denied him the opportunity last year.

 “It was really disappointing, no doubt. You work the whole year and the years before leading up to it. It’s been a goal of mine to make that team ever since I was a kid watching the U.S. in the medal games with my dad and that big shootout game,” said Commesso, referring to the 2017 game in which Troy Terry’s heroics paced the U.S. to a gold-medal win over Canada.

He added that he's looking forward to reuniting with some of his NTDP teammates, who, like Peterson, will be competing at the camp: "We’re all really excited to kind of get the band back together. Obviously my great teammates at the NTDP, there’s a lot of them vying for spots on the team and hopefully will make it.’’ 

 

►For BU Today, Brady Gardner traces the path that made brothers Ty Amonte and Tristan Amonte teammates at BU where their dad, Tony Amonte, starred three decades earlier.

 ● BU.edu  Like Father,Like Sons

 

Looking back

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GRZELCYK HITS THE GAME-WINNER! pic.twitter.com/pXlh3H12R2

— NESN (@NESN) December 10, 2021

Matt Grzelcyk’s first goal of the season at 17:27 of the third period proved to be the game-winner in the Bruins’ 3-2 win against Edmonton. Charlie Coyle screened the goalie on the two-time All-American’s rip from the top of the right circle.

● NESN: How Matt Grzelcyk Showed There Was Life in Second Line

Trevor Zegras scored a shootout goal in the Ducks’ 2-1 win against Columbus