Game Day: Terriers host UMass

 

#8/8 Terriers return to Hockey East action tonight, facing UMass (9-8-3) in a 7 p.m. start at Agganis Arena. The game, which will live stream on ESPN, begins a five-game BU homestand, the longest of the season. 

For the first time in a month, Terriers are back in Agganis Arena where they are 13-4-2 in their last 19 games with three of the four losses coming in OT.

BU is currently tied for third place with Providence, while UMass is eighth, but has several games in hand against the standings leaders.

The 9-8-3 Minutemen won the Hockey East Tournament Championship last season, but after sweeping defending NCAA champion Denver in early October, their season has been up and down.  Since Nov. 1, they are 4-7-2, most recently beating Brown, 3-0, and dropping a 4-2 decision to BC at Frozen Fenway, a non-conference game.

Freshman Kenny Connors is UMass’ co-leader in goals (7) and points (18). He and sophomore defenseman Ryan Ufko (4-14) were on the bronze-medal U.S. World Junior Championship team with BU’s Lane Hutson. Defenseman Scott Morrow has 17 points while freshman Cole O’Hara and senior Reed Lebster each have 14. Sophomore goalie Luke Pavicich has made 16 starts, producing a 2.35 GAA and a .930 save percentage.

Terriers swept UMass in a home-and-home series, 7-2 at the Mullins Center and 5-1 at Agganis. In BU’s 7-2 win, freshmen Ryan Greene and Quinn Hutson each scored a pair of goals. The next night Greene scored again, joined by Jamie Armstrong, Case McCarthy, Nick Zabaneh and Jay O’Brien.

                                             Photo credit Robert Branning
For BU, Matt Brown is the goals leader (9) and points leader (25). Lane Hutson, Dom Fensore and Quinn Hutson each have seven goals, while Greene and recently-hot Wilmer Skoog each have six.

Lane Hutson leads all Hockey East defensemen in goals (7) and points (20) 

Jeremy Wilmer, who had four primary assists in the Desert Classic, now has 10 helpers and 13 total points. Drew Commesso gave up only four goals in the tournament games, lowering his GAA to 2.63. His save percentage is .910.

Coach Jay Pandolfo, in his weekly media call, confirmed that senior forward Armstrong, who suffered a foot injury in the win against Air Force, would be unavailable tonight and was not yet cleared to skate, so could miss Saturday’s tilt with Cornell.

Senior forward Ethan Phillips continues to be sidelined with a leg injury, according to Pandolfo.

He also indicated the freshman Lachlan Getz will start on the third defensive pair after strong efforts last weekend.

Commenting on the quick turnaround to a midweek game, Pandolfo said,  "I don't think we played our best hockey on Saturday, so sometimes it's good to get right back at it.

"We beat them twice, so they're probably looking forward to trying to beat us. We've got to get back to playing our game. That's the most important thing. I thought we got away from our game...even in the Air Force game. UMass is a good opponent, we're back in Hockey East and that's clearly a challenge."

TONIGHT’S BU LINE-UP

An extra skater is dressed for warmups, so someone will not be in the game line-up. 

Brown-Skoog-Kaplan

Tuch O’Brien-Peterson

Wilmer-Greene-Hutson

Zabaneh-Stevens-Amonte

Carrabes

Fensore-Gallagher

Hutson-McCarthy

Webber-Getz

Copeland

Commesso

Duplessis

 

●  GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, BU All-Access (audio), BU Men’s Hockey Twitter

●  Live Stream ESPN+,  International Stream

●  Pandolfo MediaCall

● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape

●  Boston Hockey Blog preview

Many Terrier Hockey alums are regulars at BU home games. Joining them tonight is Dave Tomlinson, currently the radio analyst for the Seattle Kraken, who tweeted that he’ll be at Agganis tonight, a day ahead of Seattle’s meeting with the Bruins. In a four-year Terrier career, “Sniper” Tomlinson fired 77 goals and totaled 179 points—seventh on the all-time Terrier scoring list. 

 

After five mostly AHL seasons that also included 42 NHL games, he began a long career in the German DEL that featured six years as a top scorer for Adler Manheim. In 2010 he became a broadcast analyst for Vancouver Canucks games and in 2021 took the same position with Seattle.

● Wikipedia Page   Dave Tomlinson - Wikipedia

 

 Looking back

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THAT'S how you start the final frame 💪 pic.twitter.com/KNbfRjAlbN

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 11, 2023

Matt Nieto’s eighth goal was the game-winner as the Sharks doubled up the Coyotes, 4-2. Nick Bonino added an assist for San Jose.   

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The man they call Otter should be the man they call #NHLAllStar.

🗳 https://t.co/Ez1UIspage 🦦🌟 pic.twitter.com/fr1ZTRDdXC

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) January 11, 2023

Dallas’ Jake Oettinger was on top of his game again, stopping 27 shots in regulation and overtime, then all three Islander  shootout attempts, as the Stars edged New York, 2-1.