Sunday, December 05, 2021

Terriers sweep on Kaufman’s OT goal; Women sweep Merrimack

                                  Photo credit Camryn DiCostanzo

 
Terriers completed their first weekend sweep of the season, defeating New Hampshire, 2-1, on Max Kaufman’s overtime tally with just 13.9 seconds remaining in the extra session. Kaufman had scored his first goal of the season in Friday’s 3-1 victory. Matt Brown provided BU’s first goal.

Drew Commesso, who stopped 28 UNH shots, was forced to flash the glove on the first shot he faced early in the game.

After a scoreless opening period, a pair of UNH penalties gave BU a two-man-advantage midway through the second. Domenick Fensore set up Brown at the bottom of the right circle for a snap shot that went in off Mike Robinson’s pad. It was the junior transfer’s first tally since returning from injury. Case McCarthy also assisted on the play.

Penalties to Jamie Armstrong and Kaufman late in the period gave the Wildcats a 5-on-3, but thanks to three blocks by Logan Cockerill and Alex Vlasic, there were no shots on goal.

In the third period, UNH pressed for the equalizer and Commesso maintained BU's slim lead with a slick pad save on a redirection. However, a minute later Liam Devlin quickly re-routed a shot that had deflected off Cockerill’s, tying the game at 1-1.

Two more terrific saves by Commesso late in the third kept the score even at the end of regulation.

In overtime, the Cats forced Commesso to make a pair of big-time saves, while Robinson turned aside Vlasic’s backhander from the top of the crease.

As the clock ticked down, McCarthy took the puck away from a Wildcat along the left boards, skated to the top of the circle and slid a pass to Kaufman, alone in the slot. The graduate student controlled the puck on his forehand and quickly backhanded it high over Robinson’s glove.

"All in all, it was a great weekend for us. We've been looking for a way to get points and wins, and we found a way to play two pretty good hockey games," BU coach Albie O'Connell said. "The first two periods we controlled the play. ... In the third period, they had a lot more energy than we did. With the fatigue our minds went, and so we started to make some questionable plays. But I thought we competed our butts off, and ran out of gas. ... Overall our (defensive) leaders, Vlasic,  McCarthy, Fensore, were dynamite all weekend."

"We handled the front of the net really well, which allowed Drew to see the puck well. Even though he was tested quite a few times, he was able to see it, and control the rebounds," O'Connell added. “I thought we did a good job handling ourselves in a pretty tough environment."

BU, which held an edge in the face off circle, was outshot 29-22. Terrier penalty killers were a perfect eight of eight in the two-game series.

Terriers have won 12 of the last 14 meetings (12-0-2) with the Wildcats and have dominated UNH through much of the 2000s with a 21-6-2 record in the past 29 match-ups.

 ● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Post-game comments O'Connell

● WTBU Sports recap

● Boston Hockey Blog recap

 Looking ahead

2022 recruit Ryan Greene scored a goal and added an assist in Green Bay’s 4-3 overtime win against Youngstown.

2022 recruit Devin Kaplan scored an unassisted goal in the NTDP U18s’ 7-5 win against Madison. The 6’3” power forward from Bridgewater, N.J., has 14 points in 22 games. Fellow recruit and Kaplan's former teammate with North Jersey Avalanche 16U Lane Hutson closed out the scoring with an empty-netter.

2023 recruit Anton Castro stopped 15 shots in Fargo’s 4-3 win against Des Moines. The Mendota Heights, Minnesota native gained his third win while lowering his GAA to 3.49.

Looking Back

Brady Tkachuk, the youngest captain in Senators’ history, scored early in the first period and then, on a breakaway a minute into overtime, fired the game-winner as Ottawa edged Colorado, 6-5. He also added an assist.

Jordan Greenway scored late in the first period of Minnesota’s 4-3 overtime win against Toronto.

Charlie Coyle scored his seventh goal in the Bruins 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay. Matt Grzelcyk assisted on the other Boston goal.

Women’sTeam

Terriers completed a weekend sweep of Merrimack with a 4-1 win at Walter Brown Arena. BU led throughout after scoring twice in a span of less than two minutes early in the opening period and outshot the Warriors, 39-19. Terriers improved their record to 9-5-3.  BU goal scorers were Alex Allan, Parker Mackenna, Courtney Correia and Haylee Blinkhorn. Correia, with goals in both weekend games, leads BU with 10 goals and 18 points.

With the two wins against Merrimack, BU sits in second place in the Hockey East standings.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Video Highlights

● Post-game comments.

● WTBU Sports recap

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