Friday, February 09, 2024

UPDATED Game Day: Terriers host Merrimack; Cole Hutson milestone and interview

                              

Game day graphic featuring posed photo of Sam Stevens. BU vs. Merrimack, Feb. 9, 7 PM on ESPN+ and NESN

                                  Assistant captain Sam Stevens

In the annual game between Beanpot Mondays—frequently called “a trap game”—#3 Terriers will host Merrimack tonight in the teams’ third meeting of the season. Game time is 7 p.m. for the contest that will air on NESN and be live streamed on ESPN+ and internationally. BU All-American Colby Cohen will join Tyler Murray on the play-by-play.

BU swept the two prior meetings in early December, 4-1 in North Andover and 5-2 at Agganis Arena. You might recall the first of those games featured more than 100 penalty minutes and a pulled fire alarm that emptied the arena, delaying the game for more than 20 minutes.

Assessing tonight’s opponent, Coach Jay Pandolfo said, “They compete very hard. They always play very well against us. We had a hard time with them the previous year, we’ve had two tough match-ups this year. We expect them to give us a tough game, and we have to make sure we’re ready for it.”

Pandolfo expressed confidence his team’s focus is on Merrimack and not Monday’s final. “I thought our guys have responded well in games preceding – every game is a big game, don’t get me wrong – but preceding the Beanpot is a big deal. Our guys understand that. We just try to go day-by-day.” 

To say it’s been a struggle this season for the Warriors, who a year ago finished second in Hockey East and lost in overtime to BU in the conference title game, is an understatement. Since January 1, they are 2-7-0 and have dropped their last six contests.

Beset by injuries, Merrimack is 10-16-1 overall and 3-13-1 in Hockey East. Star forward Alex Jeffries, a New York Islanders draft pick, has missed 11 games but still has 19 points in 16 games. Dangerous forward Matt Copponi tops the Merrimack scorers with 30 points, followed by defenseman Zach Bookman (25), Jeffries, and freshman Ty Daneault (11 goals and 17 points). Eight of Daneault’s goals have come in the last 11 games. Grad transfer from New Hampshire Chase Stevenson has been limited to nine games.

Once again the ‘Mack’s goaltending has been split between senior Zach Borgiel (2.99, .896) and junior Hugo Ollas (2.89, .905). When Merrimack plays twice a weekend (they host UNH tomorrow), Borgiel usually starts on Friday.

Tristan Amonte skates next to a Merrimack player

                                     Photo credit Jon Ratner

While freshman Macklin Celebrini (21 goals, 39 points) and sophomore Lane Hutson (10 goals, 33 points) are the primary drivers of BU’s offense, the Terriers are getting strong contributions throughout the line-up. Ryan Greene, whose ninth goal was the game-winner Monday vs. BC, has 26 points, while Jeremy Wilmer has 23 followed by Quinn Hutson (10 goals, 24 points, Luke Tuch (7 goals, 23 points) and Shane Lachance (9 goals, 16 points).

Junior transfer Mathieu Caron, who made 34 saves in the Beanpot opener, has been in goal for all 26 games and has fashioned a 2.50 GAA and a .912 save percentage. Since Dec. 1, BU has allowed 2.3 goals per game, tied for fewest in Hockey East.

The five-bell saves Caron made when BC had a power play just 30 seconds in on Monday showed Pandolfo that he was locked in. “He was excellent right from the start. It was a confidence boost for him playing in a pressure situation like that."

Pandolfo continued, “From the start of the year, he has a lot more composure in the net. He’s much more calm. He’s an athletic goalie so he’s going to make his athletic saves. His rebound control is much better.”

When asked about players handling pressure on breakouts and clear outs on penalty kills, Pandolfo explained, “There’s always more work to do about [puck management]. Our guys have to be mindful of making plays under pressure…That’s a big part of managing the game and that’s still a work in progress. We talk about it a lot. It’s about playing winning hockey.”

TONIGHT'S TERRIER LINEUP 

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

● Live Streams ESPN+, International Stream

● Pandolfo Media Call

● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape

● Boston Hockey Blog Terriers focusing on Merrimack ahead of Beanpot Championship

 

  

►On this week’s Terrier Hockey Talk podcast, the Boston Hockey Blog crew breaks down BU’s Beanpot semifinal win, previews Friday’s Merrimack game and discusses the women’s team’s split with BC.

Looking ahead

With big contributions from three future Terriers, the NTDP U18s have won their first two games of the FiveNations tournament at their home rink in Plymouth, Michigan.

In the opening game, a 7-1 rout of Switzerland, Kamil Bednarik, Cole Eiserman and Cole Hutson each found the net.  Bednarik opened the scoring with his 18th goal late in the first period. In the middle period, Eiserman scored his team-leading 35th goal and then Hutson added his 10th tally (same as both brothers Lane and Quinn have for BU) late in the period, as the US cruised to the win.

On Wednesday night, Finland provided a stiffer challenge, but fell to Team USA, 5-2, led by Hutson’s four assists. The first one set up Eiserman’s power-play tally on a play that was a spot-on impression of Lane and Mack Celebrini’s power-play goal in Monday’s Beanpot win.

The left-shot defenseman flashed some slick moves to set up the U18s’s fourth goal.


Prior to the Finland game, Hutson spoke with FloHockey.TV’s Chris Peters about competitiveness, watching Monday’s Beanpot game and modeling his game after Adam Fox.

● FloHockey.TV.Hutson interview

Peters also noted some milestones for Hutson and Eiserman. With the four assists, Hutson became the third NTDP defenseman to hit 100 career points. He has 102 points in 100 games and trails only Cam York’s 103 and JD Forrest’s 111 (Forrest played three NTDP seasons).

The U17s are in Czechia for their own Five Nations Tournament and defeated Finland, 8-4, in the opening game. 2025 recruit Conrad Fondrk scored his 12th goal, while fellow recruit Jack Murtagh assisted on two goals and 2026 recruit Carter Amico had one helper.

 

Looking back

Clayton Keller scored his 21st goal for Arizona, but Vegas edged the Coyotes, 3-2.

Women’s Team

Coming off a 3-0 win at Boston College, BU hosts Maine in a 6 p.m. game at Walter Brown Arena. The contest will be live streamed on ESPN+ and internationally.

Terriers won two previous meetings, both at Maine (Oct. 27 and Jan. 8) and both by a 4-3 score.

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

● Live Streams ESPN+, International Stream

● Boston Hockey Blog preview

 

 

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