Tonight, the #9
Terriers finally play their 2023-24 home opener, taking on #19 UMass in the
front-end of a home-and-home series. Puck drop for the contest, which will be
preceded by the raising of the Hockey East Regular Season and Hockey East
Tournament championship banners, is set for 7:00 p.m. It will be live streamed on ESPN+.
tw-align-centerHockey Halloween is THIS FRIDAY! Don't miss out on trick-or-treating on the concourse and an in-game costume contest! #GoBU
— Agganis Arena (@AgganisArena) October 25, 2023
🎟️ https://t.co/CGFvBMwX4v pic.twitter.com/M6EIDiBLSX
The 4-1-0 Minutemen are coming off a road sweep of Minnesota State that included a 1-0 shutout by freshman goalie Michael Hrabal. Previously, UMass defeated local rival AIC and split a home series with Michigan.
The sweep of MM earned UMass Team of the Week honors from College Hockey News. CHN describes how Coach Greg Carvel has made "a couple changes in approach that have helped the Minutemen." That includes more one-on-one time with his players.
UMass returns its top five goal-scorers from a year ago, but its offensive is currently led by freshman Jack Musa with eight points. Right behind him are standout blueliners Scott Morrow (7) and Ryan Ufko (6). Forwards Lucas Mercuri and Aaron Bohlinger each have four points with Ryan Lautebach leads the team in goals with three.
Seven of the Minutemen's 20 goals have been on the power play which has been clicking at a nearly 30% success rate. Hrabel, 6'7" from Czechia, was a second round 2023 draft pick by Arizona.
Coach Jay Pandolfo’s Terriers will look to continue to the “more direct” game with more pace that enabled a rebound from last Friday’s loss at Notre Dame with a thorough 8-2 win the next night. He pointed out that BU “got our forecheck going, we protected pucks well, we got to the net very well. Defensively we protected the slot. First two periods on Saturday, I don’t think we gave up a chance in the slot. And we transitioned to offense.”
Pandolfo reported that Lane Hutson, injured Friday, and Cade Webber, who missed both games, had practiced Thursday and that “both have a pretty good chance of playing this weekend.”
The Boston Hockey Blog’s game preview features comments from Aiden Celebrini and Quinn Hutson, as well as Pandolfo, about the Terriers’ turnaround and the home opener.
TONIGHT’S BU LINE-UP
Tuch-M. Celebrini-Kaplan
Hughes-Greene-Q. Hutson
Wilmer-Zabaneh-Peterson
Lachance-Stevens-Grimes
L.Hutson-G.McCarthy
Webber-C. McCarthy
A. Celebrini-Willander
Gallagher
Caron
Graham
● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, BU All-Access (audio), BU Men's Hockey Twitter
● Live Stream ESPN+
● College Hockey News: Tale of the Tape
● HockeyEastOnline Friday Game Day links
Episode 2 of Inside BU features Bernie Corbett’s talks with head coaches Pandolfo and Tara Watchorn, along with conversations with freshman Shane Lachance and John McCarthy, co-captain of the 2009 national champions and now head coach of the AHL San Jose Barracuda.
For this week’s Terrier Hockey Talk podcast, sophomore Devin Kaplan opens up to the Boston Hockey Blog writers. Listen on Spotify.
Looking ahead
tw-align-centerNHL Central Scouting has released its Preliminary Players to Watch List for the 2024 #NHLDraft (players listed alphabetically by rating). Available here: https://t.co/TCSUJR4Udx
— NHL Central Scouting (@NHLCentralScout) October 25, 2023
NHL Central Scouting has issued its players to watch for the 2024 draft with one current Terrier and six future ones making the list. C Macklin Celebrini and LW Cole Eiserman received A grades, indicating a first-round selection. C Kamil Bednarik, LD Cole Hutson and RW Jack Pridham all received B grades, while LD Owen Keefe and LW Cal Hughes received C grades.
Addressing the two former linemates at Shattuck Prep, NHL Central Scouting director David Gregory said "They're both hitting on all cylinders right away, and the similar thing about them is they're competitors. You can tell how much these guys want to win and how much they're willing to do to make sure their team wins."
"I see Macklin as a playmaker first," Gregory said. "He can shoot the puck and he can finish, but he's going to create a lot of opportunities, draw attention to himself, and find his teammates in a good position to be the finishers. But when it's time for him to finish, he'll finish as well.
"Cole is a finisher," Gregory said. "He's locked and loaded almost all the time, ready to shoot, and he gets himself into that soft spot. His teammates know to get him the puck because it's going in the net, which is pretty much guaranteed because if you get it enough times it's going to happen. You can look at the numbers he's put up already and the pace he's on. It's really incredible."
● NHL.com report and links
Looking back
Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie Coyle each scored their first goal of the season but Anaheim rallied late to tie the score and win, 4-3 in overtime. Charlie McAvoy assisted on all three Bruins goals.
Women’s Team
Following a tie and a win in a series with Syracuse at Walter Brown Arena, BU (1-2-1) returns to Hockey East action against.Maine (3-4-0) in Orono. However Friday's scheduled game has been postponed. Saturday’s contest starts at 5 p.m., and will stream on ESPN+.
Sophomore Sydney Healey leads the Terriers with five points, followed by classmate Clara Yuhn and grad student/co-captain Nadia Mattivi, Hockey East’s Defender of the Week, each with four points.
● GoTerriers.com preview, Live Stats, BU Women’s Hockey Twitter
● Live stream: ESPN+, International stream
● Boston Hockey Blog game preview
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