Tuesday, January 02, 2024

UPDATED Still #2; Friday leftovers; US and Sweden reach WJC semifinals; the making of Macklin

 

Poll story

Terriers remain #2 in the USCHO Weekly Division 1 Poll behind #1 BC. BU received nine first-place votes while the Eagles collected 34. With Maine at #7 and Providence at #9, Hockey East has four teams in the top 10 and six in the top 17.

The USA Hockey/The Rink Live Poll has not yet been updated.

The Everything College Hockey ranking also has the Terriers in the #2 spot.

BU is now #2 in both the Pairwise Rankings and Strength of Schedule factor, replaced at the top by Maine, despite the win at Yale. It has more to do with #55 Army defeating Terrier opponent #13 New Hampshire.

► Four Terriers were named to Hockey East's Weekly Top Performers list: Shane Lachance and Dylan Peterson, who each scored twice against Yale; Devin Kaplan, who assisted on three goals; and Matthieu Caron, who turned aside 23 shots in the 6-1 victory.

►No Hockey East monthly awards for Terriers, but Caron, with a 1.33 GAA in three games was runner-up for goalie of the month.

World Junior Championships—Quarterfinal Day

A goal by Czechia in the final seconds of regulation eliminated Canada and Macklin Celebrini, 3-2. Canada had rallied from a 2-0 deficit. Celebrini led Canada in both goals (4) and points (8) and was named one of the top three Canadian players in the tournament. He is eligible to play in next year’s WJCs. 

Lane Hutson recorded his sixth assist in Team USA's 7-2 win over Latvia, which sends them to the semifinals on Thursday. Hutson had a team-high 24:00 TOI and is +6 for the tournament. 

Sweden edged Switzerland in overtime, 3-2, to advance to the semifinals. Tom Willander had 21:22 of TOI. Thus far, he is Sweden's co-leader in plus-minus with +8 and has not been on the ice for any of the six goals Sweden has yielded. 

In Thursday's semifinals, host Sweden faces Czechkia at 9:00 a.m. ET and the U.S. opposes Finland at 1:30 p.m. ET. Both games will air on NHL Network.

● NHL.com Semifinal preview

FloHockey.TV spoke with Hutson about the semifinal game ahead and about checking in with Celebrini after Canada was eliminated.

 

 

►A TSN video examines how Macklin’s and Aiden Celelbrini’s dad, Rick, instilled a work ethic and goal of excellence in the two Terriers and their younger siblings.

 

 

FNL (Friday Night Leftovers)

▪ Dylan Peterson marked the milestone with a pair of goals, earning the player of the game jacket. Cade Webber once again led BU in blocks with four for a total of 46, tied for third in D1.

From The Boston Hockey Blog twitter feed:

Senior forward Dylan Peterson on his two-goal night: "Playing with Jeremy Wilmer, he just makes everybody better around him. He had the primary [assists] on both of those."

Peterson on BU's tough schedule in the new year: "It's trophy season now. Every practice, every shift, everything matters now. That first half was good, we had a bit of a slow start, but there's really no room for error. We know what we're doing now."

Pandolfo on Lacroix's addition cont'd: "Maybe we'll get to see him in the net on Friday against Simon Fraser ... We felt like we need to add depth in our goaltender position more than anything else."

▪ Following the 6-1 win at Yale, the Terriers have scored five or more goals six times this season and have allowed two or fewer goals in 12 of 17 games.

▪ BU is sixth nationally in team scoring with 3.94 goals per game, slightly better than last season’s 3.84 GPG. In the Terriers’ last 14 games (11-2-1) they’ve outscored opponents 59-31 (4.2  vs.2.2)

▪ After yielding three power play goals in seven attempts against Maine, BU has killed 18 of the last 20 penalties (90%) and one of the two goals allowed came on a 5-on-3 for Merrimack. Prior to the Maine series BU had stifled 23 of 26 man-advantages, beginning with the second Notre Dame game. The PK should continue to improve, especially with the return to health of Dylan Peterson.

▪ With two defensemen at the WJCs, freshman Mick Frechette took a regular shift, paired with Ty Gallagher. He saw 12:02 TOI, including two minutes on penalty kills, collected his first point, assisting on Peterson’s first tally, and delivered the hit of the game.

Looking ahead

2024 recruit Cole Eiserman scored his team-leading 29th goal for the NTDP U18s, cutting Minnesota’s lead to one, but the Gophers held on for a 3-2 win. Fellow recruit Kamil Bednarik’s assist on the U18s’ first tally gives him 20 helpers and 35 points in 30 games.

Looking back

Kevin Shattenkirk's fifth goal (video), in the Bruins' 4-1 win against Columbus, was another all Terrier tally with Charlie Coyle and Matt Grzelcyk assisting. 

Women’s Team

Former Terrier netminder Corrine Schroeder pitched a 29 save shutout as New York defeated in the first PWHL game, 4-0, over Toronto.

The Hockey News' look at “under the radar” PWHL players includes former Terrier assistant captain and First Team All Hockey East defenseman Kaleigh Fratkin.

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