Saturday, November 25, 2023

Red Hot Hockey renewed: BU takes on Cornell; Recruits shine; Women defeat Robert Morris

 

                                   

#3 Terriers are in New York City to meet #16/17 Cornell in the ninth edition of Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden, as BU continues its gauntlet of games against ranked opponents.. Puck drop is at 8 p.m. for the contest that will stream on ESPN+

The teams will be competing for the ninth time for the Kelley-Harkness Trophy, which was named following BU’s win in the inaugural game in 2007. The teams have each won three times with two ties. The Big Red have won the last three, including a 6-4 win in 2021.

Last season, the teams met twice with the Terriers coming out on top in both: a 4-3 win at Agganis in January, and a 2-1 Terrier victory in the NCAA Regional in Manchester.

“We had two great games against them last year,” Coach Jay Pandolfo said. “We know they’re very difficult to play against, so it’s gonna be another tough matchup for us.”

“It’s been a date circled on all of our calendars,” added freshman Macklin Celebrini.

The Big Red (4-3-1) began their season with dominating wins against Minnesota-Duluth (twice), Yale and Brown. But since then, they’ve tied Dartmouth, were edged by Harvard, doubled-up (8-4) by Quinnipiac and defeated in OT by Princeton.

Senior Gabe Segar is Cornell’s leader in goals (6) and points (10). Freshman defenseman Ben Robertson has eight points, all on assists.  Sophomore Dalton Bancroft also has eight while senior Kyle Penney has seven.

Aided by Cornell’s stingy defense, junior goalie Ian Shane has fashioned a 1.77 GAA and a .908 save percentage.

While putting together an 8-1-1 mark in their last 10 games, the Terriers have been getting scoring from throughout the lineup:  Celebrini leads with nine goals, followed by Lane Hutson with eight, Quinn Hutson with seven, Wednesday’s hero, Ryan Greene, with six and Luke Tuch with five. The fourth line with Sam Steven between Shane Lachance and Doug Grimes has embraced its identity of clamping down on opponents’ top lines.

Goalie Mathieu Caron, playing his best hockey of the season with a .928 save percentage during BU’s current five-game winning streak, is getting strong support from Hockey East’s co-leaders in blocks, Captain Case McCarthy and Cade Webber with 31 apiece.

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

A. Celebrini

Caron

Graham

Howard

Team Impact--Logan Gatto

 

● 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

● Boston Hockey Blog Terriers prep for Red Hot Hockey showdown with Cornell at MSG

● BU Today Red Hot Hockey: Renewing their Rivalry, BU and Cornell Set to Face Off

 

►Prior to today’s game, Terriers will again renew their RHH morning practice tradition with Ice Hockey in Harlem at Chelsea Piers. That event will be followed by a BU-Cornell alumni game. Here’s a look at the practice nine year ago.

And here's a link to today's skate.

 

 

BU Oldtimer has provided a few takeaways from Wednesday’s 3-2 win against Quinnipiac.

1. This observer has finally realized that he's been overly critical of BU's performance, particularly in their own end of the ice. The caliber of the opposition has been very strong, especially recently. It's easy to point out that BU has been hemmed in the d-zone for long stretches, has lost more one-on-one puck battles than you'd expect, and has had difficulty creating extended possessions in the o-zone. However, given that the schedule has offered few pushovers, the other guys will make plays and prevent you from doing the same.

2. Doug Grimes has become, at least, a semi-regular on the PK.

3. The fourth line of Stevens between Lachance and Grimes has had a far greater impact than its predecessors of recent seasons.

4. On Greene's tying goal, four Quinnipiac players were unable to grab the rebound of Kaplan's shot from the circle. Kaplan snagged the loose puck, and flipped it to Greene for the goal.

5. BU forwards have become adept at finding soft spots in the opposition defense, Quinn Hutson's first goal in the second Maine game, and Greene's game-winner, being two examples.

6. One man's opinion - Peterson is BU's best defensive forward. He works hard and uses his body.

7.Who was the last BU freshman defenseman to establish himself as a very effective play-ender to the extent Tom Willander has?

 

Looking ahead

2024 recruits Cole Eiserman and Cole Hutson each scored a goal in the NTDP U18s’ 5-2 win over Stevenson University. Eiserman assisted on two tallies, including Hutsons, while Kamil Bednarik had the primary assist on linemate Eiserman’s goal. Eiserman now has 25 goals and 40 points in 19 games. 

2025 recruit Jack Murtagh gave the NTDP U17s an early lead with his eighth goal and a Conrad Fondrk tally—his ninth—later pulled them to within one, but Youngstown held on for a 5-4 win. Murtagh also contributed an assist.

2025 recruit John McNelis scored his fourth goal on a power play in Sioux Falls’ 7-3 loss to Lincoln.

2025 recruit Cal Hughes scored a pair of goals, including the overtime game-winner as West Kelowna edged Merritt, 4-3. In the extra session, Hughes knocked down and redirected home a centering pass from fellow recruit Jack Pridham. Hughes has seven goals for the Warriors.


►PuckPreps has posted its rankings and thumbnails for the top North American players at the recent World U17 Challenge. Here’s what they wrote about four BU 2025 recruits:

9. Charlie Trethewey | Forward | USA

Trethewey had a real coming out party this week, leading all defenseman in scoring by a wide margin with 10 points over 7 games. He really dictates the pace with the puck on his sticks, waiting for the right play to arise, using his size and skating to his advantage. He was able to find a lot of space to step down off the right point and get his hard wrister on goal. His big performances came against Finland on day 3 netting 5-point game in an 8-3 win but undoubtedly his shining moment came in the gold medal game tying it at 1 in the third period against Canada White to send the game to overtime.

12. Conrad Fondrk | Forward | USA

Fondrk had a very successful tournament for the Americans and a lot of that can be attributed to how efficient he is with the puck. His vision stands among the top of this tournament, able to snap passes on the tape through high traffic areas. The compete level he plays with, he’s always in your face puck hounding and forcing turnovers. He has a dominant showing against the Czechs in round robin, notching a goal and 3 assists in a 10-2 win.

25. Jack Murtagh | Forward | USA

When Murtagh is consistent and all of his skills are going, he always has potential to be one of USAs top guys. His unpredictability along the walls and crashing the net are so dangerous. If he has the puck on the half wall, you really don’t know if he will use his strength and cut to the middle to get a shot away or he will keep going to the wall and attacking the goal from a sharp angle.

29. Zach Morin | Forward | Canada Red

Morin had to play more of a physical role in order to stay relevant in a deeply skilled Canada Red lineup but he took the opportunity and ran with it. Morin was crashing and banging all week long forcing turnovers with big body checks along the boards or open ice. He did a good job along the wall as well puck protecting and bullying his way in the middle of the ice in order to get shots through on goal.

 

Women’s Team

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Terriers scored three times in the opening period en route to a 3-1 win over Robert Morris in the opening game of the Smashville Showcase in Nashville. Ella Huntley opened the scoring with her first collegiate goal, followed by a tally by Christina Vote and a shorthander from Catherine Foulem.

Alexa Matses stopped 27 of 28 shots to gain the win.

BU is back at the Ford Ice Center Sunday at 1 p.m. to face Michigan State.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Post-game: Coach Tara Watchorn

 

 

 

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1 comment:

Sean Pickett said...

The Kelley-Harkness Cup was named and first presented after BU's 2013 win. BU retained it in 2015 in a shootout. Cornell has now won it the last four times.

2:51 PM

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