Sunday, January 30, 2022

Terriers upend Friars, 5-2, for six-point week

 

Behind two goals by junior Wilmer Skoog and a 36 save performance by sophomore Drew Commisso, Terriers defeated #17 Providence, 5-2. Carrying a 2-1 lead into the final period, BU quickly expanded the lead with two early goals and added an empty net tally to close out Providence. It was the Terrier’s first win against Friars on home ice since Nov. 3 2017 (a 2-0 Jake Oettinger shutout).

After defeating #9 UMass, 6-4, earlier in the week, BU takes six conference points for the two wins and now sits in third place in the Hockey East race.  The team improved to 9-1-1 in its last 11 games with the victory and has gained at least one point in the last 12 conference games.

Commesso, who departed after the game for U.S. Olympic team camp in Los Angeles, stopped 27 of 28 shots over the final two periods, yielding only a power-play goal.

Skoog got BU on the board just 1:29 into the game. Tristan Amonte, filling in for Matt Brown on the second line, sent the Swedish center away on a 2-on-1 rush with Robert Mastrosimone. Dipping his shoulder to fake a pass, he ripped a shot from the right circle past Jaxon Stauber, low to the short-side.


At the 13 minute mark, junior Ethan Phillips pilfered a Friar breakout pass attempt and quickly sniped it past Stauber for his fourth goal in three games and 2-0 BU lead.

Providence, which began the second period on a power play, dominated the middle stanza, outshooting BU 16-6.But the Friars didn’t get on the board until 14:24. The visitors controlled the puck in the BU zone for an extended period and set up a one-timer from the high slot by Patrick Moynihan that flew past a screened Commesso on the stick side.

The Terriers, who have struggled at time to close out games, changed the script in this third period, extending the lead with two tallies coming just over a minute apart. At 5:42 with the face off to the right of Stauber, Skoog shot the puck off the draw through the goalie’s five-hole to restore the two-goal advantage.

A PC tripping penalty put the Terriers on their third power play and this time they made it count—in just three seconds. Jay O’Brien won the draw cleanly back to Domenick Fensore inside the blue line. He closed to the top of the right circle and, just as Robert Mastrosimone skated across the slot, wristed a shot that went past Stauber’s glove for a 4-1 lead.

A penalty for too many men put Providence on the power play and at 9:44, the Friars cashed in. Brett Berard’s pass from the top of the right circle was redirected home by Nick Poisson to Commesso’s stick side.

Over the final 10 minutes, BU kept the Friars’ grade A chances to a minimum, With just under two minutes remaining, O’Brien, who had skated for Providence as a freshman, lost a defensive zone draw, but wrestled the puck from a Friar defender and broke in alone to deposit the puck in the empty net.

Skoog, who has five points in the last four games, jumps into a tie with Fensore atop the BU scoring chart with 19. O’Brien, since returning to the lineup for the Brown game has 12 points in seven games for a total of 15 points in 15 games. He took seven of BU's 25 shots on goal.

Comparing Skoog's two games this week, Coach Albie O’Connell said, “He was fighting the puck the other night, and he didn’t quite have his edge. He was physical tonight, and he had his hands."

He added, “When Skoog plays well, normally we have a pretty good opportunity to win. He’s a big factor when he can give us, not only offense, but play with that edge. … He can really be a difference maker, and when he’s on, he’s as good as anyone.”

Addressing the second period that had BU back on its heels, O’Connell pointed out that “Providence is a good hockey team, one of the better teams we’ve faced all year, and we knew that they were going to make a push. I thought we got a little sloppy with the puck, and they did a very good job of transitioning in that second period and hemming us in. I thought what saved us was obviously the goalie made some saves, but we also had some key blocked shots.

After blocking 16 shots against UMass, BU defenders blocked 18 against Providence, led by Alex Vlasic’s three. In the past eight games, the Terriers have blocked 105 shots.

“I thought [the third period] was a big moment for us, you know to have to try to close a team out, win a hockey game, and do it in the right fashion,” O’Connell said. “The bench was good. The leadership was good, and we closed the game.”

Jack Page, who was added to the roster earlier in the week, dressed as the seventh defenseman and took his first shifts as a Terrier.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

Video Highlights and Post-Game comments Skoog

● WTBU Sports recap and photo gallery

● Boston Hockey Blog recap

Looking ahead

2023 recruit Shane Lachance assisted on two goals for Youngstown in the Phantoms’ 6-3 win against the NTDP U17s. 2023 recruit Ryan Fine had a helper for Team USA.

 

Looking back

Jake Oettinger stopped 23 shots to lead Dallas past the Bruins, 6-1, for his 10th win in 14 decisions and lowered his GAA to 2.53.

 

Women’s Team

BU’s scheduled game against BC was postponed due to issues at Walter Brown Arena related to Saturday’s blizzard.

Game Day: Terriers host Providence; Women edge Holy Cross UPDATED

                           

Terriers are back home at Agganis Arena for a Sunday matinee against #17 Providence, the first meeting between the teams this season. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. for the game that will air on NESN and live stream for those outside New England.

Providence (17-9-2, 8-7-1) currently sits in third place in Hockey East, one point ahead of BU with a game in hand. After dropping a pair of one-goal decisions to Merrimack, the Friars beat BC, 7-0, then tied the Eagles 1-1, winning the shootout. Friday night, they edged UMass in Amherst, 2-1. They are 5-2-2 in their last nine games.

While Providence has the highest goals per game of any Hockey East team in all games (3.36), their in-conference number (2.56 gpg) is similar to the Terriers’ (2.53).

The Friars have four forwards with more than 20 points. Sophomores Brett Berard and Nick Poisson each have 28 points while juniors Patrick Moynihan and Parker Ford each have 21. Berard (13) and Ford (12) are the top goal scorers. Junior goalie Jaxon Stauber has a 1.98 GAA and has pitched four shutouts this season.

“They pose a lot of problems for teams in how they defend, but also they have a dangerous power play,” said Coach Albie O’Connell on a media call Saturday. “They’re very thorough in all three zones, special team, [and] the face off dot. They’re gonna be a tough opponent.”

O’Connell also indicated that sophomore goalie Drew Commesso would be available before departing for Olympic team practice in Los Angeles. Over his last nine games, Commesso is 7-1-1 with a .945 save percentage and a 1.63 goals-against average.

TODAY’S BU LINEUP

Tuch-O’Brien-Phillips

Mastrosimone-Skoog-Tr. Amonte

Cockerill-Ty Amonte-Kaufman

Armstrong-Stevens-Boguslavsky

Vlasic-Copeland

Fensore-Gallagher

Webber-Campolieto

Page

Commesso

Duplessis

Abel

 

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

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

Coach Albie O’Connell media call

Boston Hockey Blog preview 

College Hockey News Tale of the Tape

 

Looking ahead

2022 recruit Quinn Hutson scored his 19th and 20th goals and assisted on another in Muskegon’s 5-4 win against Green Bay on Friday.

In Saturday’s re-match, 2022 recruit Ryan Greene scored a pair of goals, including the overtime game-winner, and assisted on two tallies as the Gamblers edged the Lumberjacks, 5-4.  Quinn Hutson had an assist for Muskegon and now, with 47 points, is tied for fourth in USHL scoring with fellow recruit Jeremy Wilmer. Hutson and Wilmer had been line mates for the 2018-19 North Jersey Avalanche U16s along with another 2022 recruit, NTDP forward Devin Kaplan.

2022 recruit Charles-Alexis Legault scored a goal and assisted on two others as West Kelowna routed Trail, 10-5.

2022 recruit Jack Gorton assisted on three tallies in Victoria's 8-2 win against Powell River.

2023 recruit Jack Harvey scored his 11th and 12th goals in Chicago’s 3-2 shootout win against Cedar Rapids.

2024 recruit Jack Pridham scored his 11th goal in St. Andrew’s College’s 4-0 win over Upper Canada College.

Looking back

Charlie McAvoy’s seventh goal, a power-play tally, was the game-winner in the Bruins’ 2-1 win against Arizona. Clayton Keller had an assist on the Coyotes’ goal.

Matt Nieto scored his fourth goal, assisted by Nick Bonino, in San Jose’s 5-4 overtime loss to Florida.

 

Women’s Team

Behind a pair of goals and an assist from freshman Kylie Roberts, BU took a 4-0 lead against Holy Cross and then withstood a Crusader rally for a 4-3 win in Worcester.

After sophomore Julia Shaunessy’s goal midway through the first period gave the Terriers a 1-0 lead, Roberts scored early in the second to make it 2-0.

In the third period another freshman, Christina Vote, made it 3-0 before Roberts’ second tally, at 10:03, expanded the lead to four goals. Four minutes later, Holy Cross got on the board, followed quickly by a power-play goal. One more man-advantage goal in the final minute cut the margin to one goal.

Kate Stuart had 23 saves to pick up the win.

Next up for the Terriers is a Sunday matinee against BC at Walter Brown Arena with puck drop set for 1 p.m. Game links.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

Former Terrier standout Sammy Davis will be inducted into the Women’s Beanpot Hall of Fame on Feb. 8 at Matthews Arena. Davis’ overtime goal in the 2019 championship game gave BU its first Beanpot title as a varsity team, while earning MVP honors for her. She had a 3-6-9 line in eight Beanpot games.

● GoTerriers.com report

 

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