Friday, November 29, 2024

Game Day: BU vs. Merrimack in Belfast

 BU men's ice hockey players and staff pose in front of the Belfast Peace Wall  

#13 Terriers and Merrimack face off this morning for the second game of their trans-Atlantic series in the opening game of Friendship Four 2024 at SSE Arena in Belfast. At stake are three points in the Hockey East standings and a spot in the tournament championship game. Puck drop is at 9 a.m. ET and the game will air on ESPN+.

The other tournament semifinal matches Harvard and Notre Dame. BU played in the Friendship Four in 2018, defeating UConn, then losing to Union in the title game.

A week ago, BU rallied twice to tie the score and went on to defeat the Warriors, 6-3, behind two goals each from Brandon Svoboda, Cole Eiserman and Matt Copponi.

Eiserman and Shane Lachance share the BU scoring lead with 13 points each, followed by Copponi, Ryan Greene, and Quinn Hutson with 10 points apiece. Eiserman is tied for second in Hockey East with nine goals.

For the Warriors, forward Ethan Bono and defenseman Zach Bookman both have five points, Forwards Caelan Fitzpatrick and Antonio Venuto both have found the net three times, as has Bono.

Merrimack’s roster has eight transfers including four on its rebuilt defense.

CHECK BACK FOR TODAY'S TERRIER LINEUP

● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Lives Stats, BU All-Access (audio); BU Men's Hockey Twitter

● Live stream ESPN+

● Photo Gallery

● Inside BU Hockey

● Boston Hockey Blog For first time since 2018, BU men’s hockey will play for the Belpot in the Friendship Four

● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape

The Boston Hockey Blog is on hand in Belfast, too.  

About the Friendship Four

The Friendship Four is an annual mid-season college ice hockey tournament that has been held since 2015 at SSE Arena Belfast in Belfast. Four NCAA Division 1 teams compete for the Belpot Trophy. It is currently the only college ice hockey tournament to take place outside of the United States.

Steve Thornton, MVP of BU's 1995 National Champions, was the driving force that created the the Friendship Four-- building on the Sister City agreement between Belfast and Boston--while serving as Director of Hockey Operations for the Belfast Giants. He's currently Group Head of Commercial and Hockey at The Odyssey Trust.

Looking ahead

►In game 2 of the CHL-USA Top Prospects Challenge, 2025 recruit Jack Murtagh tied the game 2-2 midway through the third period before a late CHL goal won the game. Murtagh’s power-play one-timer was a virtual duplicate of the goal he scored in game 1. The 6’1” left-shot now has 10 goals in 15 games including tallies against BC, Michigan State and Sweden.

►After dominating the New England 18U with the Boston Junior Eagles this fall, 2026 recruit Rian Chudzinski is off to a hot start for Dan Donato’s Dexter Southfield prep team. He scored with two goals in an exhibition game win over Islanders Hocke Club and then scored twice in a 7-0 win over Williston. Earlier this season, Chudzinski suited up with NTDP U18s for local games against Harvard and BC.

There’s more than offense to Chudzinski’s game. He is skating on Dexter's top line, but, as Donato told New England Hockey Journal, “He brings an element of physicality and he loves to be physical on the puck. All that stuff that we really need.”

 ● Elite Prospects Page

 

Looking back

Macklin Celebrini scored his seventh goal in San Jose’s 4-3 loss to Ottawa. He has 11 points in 14 games. Brady Tkachuk recorded his 13th and 14th assists, with the latter coming on the game-winner.

Lane Hutson’s 12th assist set up Nick Suzuki’s overtime game-winner as Montreal edged Columbus, 4-3.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Site Meter