In yet another matchup with a college hockey heavyweight, #5 Terriers will host #3 Quinnipiac, the defending national champion, in a late afternoon start at Agganis Arena. Puck drop is at 5:00 p.m. for the contest that will be live streamed on ESPN+.
Beyond the national polls, right now the
Bobcats are #1 in the PairWise rankings with BU right behind them at #2.
The last time BU was involved in a top-5
matchup was last season’s Frozen Four semifinal loss to Minnesota, whom the Bobcats
defeated in the final. The last times the Terriers faced the defending champion
were three tilts against UMass in 2021-22 with BU winning twice and tying once.
“Another big test for us tomorrow night,”
Coach Jay Pandolfo said in Tuesday’s Media Call. Clearly the schedule doesn’t
get any easier for us which is a good thing. It’s good for our team to have
these challenges. [Quinnipiac is] right at the top again.”
In last Saturday’s post-game, he noted
that “They’re a very structured team, very hard to play against. So it’s
another measuring stick game for our team.”
The Bobcats dropped three games in
overtime in October to Hockey East teams: BC, New Hampshire and Maine. Since
then they are 6-0-1 and are coming off emphatic victories over Cornell and
Colgate.
Quinninpiac’s offense is led by juniors
Jacob Quillan (19 points) and Collin Graf (16), who was a first-team All-American
last season with 59 points. Sophomore Sam Lipkin, who had 43 as a rookie has 14,
while junior Mason Marcellus and freshman Andon Cerbone each have 13.
The Bobcats veteran D-corps features
three seniors and two grad students, led by fifth-year Jayden Lee with 14
points.
The familiar face behind the goalie mask
is former Terrier Vinny Duplessis who has taken over for departed Yaniv Perets.
“Our guys have a lot of respect for Vinny
and clearly he never got a full opportunity here. He was playing behind Drew
[Commesso] and he wanted to go somewhere and have an opportunity to play every
night,” Pandolfo said.
“I think it’s fun for our guys to play
against him. I think they’re all happy for Vinny. He’s a great teammate.”
BU, like Quinnipiac, is riding a hot
streak with a 7-1-1 mark in its last nine, including five wins over four ranked
teams.
Pandolfo will go with the same line-up as
in Saturday’s 5-4 win. Mick Frechette will again be the seventh defenseman.
BU’s Pallindrome Line (71-11-17) of
Macklin Celebrini, Luke Tuch and Quinn Hutson has been especially effective in
recent games, combining for eight goals and 24 points in the last two series.
Offensive support up front comes from Jeremy Wilmer (12 assists), Ryan Greene
(4-7-11), Devin Kaplan (3-6-9) and Shane Lachance (3-5-8).
Lane Hutson leads all defensemen
nationally with eight goals and five power-play goals. Always strong on the
back end, Tom Willander sparked three key transition goals in the last three
games with long pin-point passes and fired the game-winner in Friday’s 3-2 win.
Mathieu Caron turned in two strong
performances in the Maine series, stopping 68 shots including 39 on Saturday.
Pandolfo cautioned that “We’re not used
to playing midweek games, so we’ve got to make sure we’re ready for that. It’s
going to be a 5 o’clock game the night before Thanksgiving, so we have to make
sure we have good focus.”
Tonight's BU Lineup
Tuch-M. Celebrini-Q. Hutson
Wilmer-Greene-Kaplan
Zabaneh-Hughes-Peterson
Lachance-Stevens-Grimes
L. Hutson-C. McCarthy
Webber-Willander
G. McCarthy-Gallagher
Frechette
Caron
Graham
Howard
Logan Gatto - Team Impact
● GoTerriers.com
preview,
Game
Notes, Live
Stats, BU All-Access (audio)
BU Men’s Hockey Twitter
● College
Hockey News Tale
of the Tape
● Boston Hockey Blog In top-five matchup with Quinnipiac, BU looks to ‘be ready for the challenge’
On this week's episode of Inside BU Hockey, Bernie Corbett chats with senior Luke Tuch and Sasha Abrams has a conversation with senior Catherine Foulem.
tw-align-centerWe’re thankful for Episode 3 of Inside BU Hockey!
— BU Athletics (@BUAthletics) November 21, 2023
This week, Bernie Corbett chats with senior Luke Tuch and Sasha Abrams has a conversation with senior Catherine Foulem.
Spotify: https://t.co/EB6wnOFwRe
GoTerriers: https://t.co/LuyqhKtTIN pic.twitter.com/MjVg6JPBrw
► Q.Hutson, Willander and Caron were named to Hockey East’s list of top performers this past weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment