Sunday, January 12, 2025

Eiserman hat trick powers BU sweep; Women’s winning streak ends

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#15/13 Terriers continued to flex their offensive muscle, piling up seven goals to complete the series sweep of Vermont with a 7-4 victory at Agganis Arena before a crowd of 5,597. BU’s second line racked up five goals and five assists, led by Cole Eiserman’s hat trick and an assist. Quinn Hutson and Jack Hughes each had a goal and two assists. Jack Harvey and Ryan Greene also scored.

The win improves BU to 11-7-1 overall and 7-3-1 in Hockey East. They remain in second place, a point behind Maine.  Terriers also have climbed to #8 in the Pairwise rankings--up five slots since Friday morning. 

In an evenly played opening period, BU nearly took the lead when Harvey was sent in alone, but fired the puck over the UVM cage. Terriers would score a pair of power-play goals later in the game, but two first-period man-advantages failed to produce a grade A opportunity.

At 15:15 Massimo Lombardi drove past Cole Hutson for an attempt that Matthieu Caron saved, lunging to his right. The rebound went the other way, just eluding Tom Willander before Will Zapernick buried it into the half-open cage.

BU matched that tally when Quinn Hutson freed a puck from Catamount defender along the right board and slid it to Eiserman. The freshman sniper closed to the bottom of the right circle and beat goalie Axel Mangbo just inside the far post. It was his 10th of the season. Cole Hutson had the second assist.

As they did Friday night, the Terriers scored in the opening minutes of the middle period. Hughes stripped a UVM defender along the boards and sent the puck to Eiserman, who quickly found Quinn Hutson alone at the goalmouth for a quick finish. It was the junior’s 10th goal of the season and his sixth in the last three games against UVM.

Dogged puck retrieval and quick passing produced the third BU goal six minutes into the period. Hughes recovered the puck behind the UVM goal line and sent it to Quinn Hutson in the slot. He froze the goalie, then passed to Eiserman below the right circle for a quick snap shot into the open side.

Just as it seemed BU would break the game open, the visitors pulled within one. A poor clearing attempt led to a shot through traffic that hit Caron and fell to an unmarked Lombardi who slid puck home. 3-2 BU after two. 

Lombardi’s penalty early in the third sent BU to the power play and this time they converted quickly on the rush. Willander dropped a pass to Harvey skating through the neutral zone. He sent the puck to Hughes who sped through two defenders before beating Mangbo with a backhander close in. It was his second of the season and second of the series.  

Terriers went back on the man-advantage—this time a 4-on-3— minutes later and needed just five seconds to convert. Shane Lachance won the draw back to Gavin McCarthy who took a stride, then passed to Eiserman at the top of the circle for a one-timed bullet that found the net low to the glove side. Eiserman’s third goal of the game gives him a national-best rookie total of 12 and stretched the lead to 5-2. 

Forty-four seconds later, Harvey got in on the goal-scoring. Controlling the puck in the right circle, he dangled through the slot, then shot back against the grain to beat Mangbo on the glove side. With his second tally of the series, he has five for the season. Cole Hutson and McCarthy assisted.

The 6-2 deficit didn’t slow down the Catamounts who kept working while perhaps the Terriers took their foot off the gas. UVM scored twice in two-and-half minutes—the first by one-time BU recruit Michael Lastarza—cutting the margin in half. 

They would get no closer, even with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker. Kamil Bednarik got the puck out of the BU zone to Greene who found the empty net for his eighth goal. Brehdan Engum had the second assist. 

Final shots were BU 34 and Vermont 30. It was a better night for BU at the face off dot, winning 36 of 64. Hughes won 11 of 15 and Brandon Svoboda 9 of 12.
BU has now defeated the Catamounts nine times in a row and averaged six goals in the last six meetings. 

Special teams played a major role in the series sweep with BU converting on four of nine power plays, while killing off all six penalties. 

Fourth Liner's Terrier Takeaway  

A lot of good and a few struggles for the Terriers tonight against the Catamounts:

- A weekend sweep, three more huge Hockey East points, and a bump up in the pairwise rankings for the Terriers.  Just what the doctor ordered.

- Although by no means a perfect game, the Terriers had good jump and effort for most of the game tonight against a Vermont team that played hard, physical and fast. The team’s confidence seems to be growing.

- The story of the game was a four-point performance and hat trick by Cole Eiserman.  He was a going concern all night, drawing at least one penalty and creating a number of quality chances.  His NHL-caliber shot and skill was on full display.  Hands down, the best game of the year so far for Cole.

- It was also great to see Cole Hutson, Quinn Hutson, Jack Hughes, Jack Harvey and Ryan Greene find the scoresheet.  The offensive momentum this group found Friday night clearly continued tonight.    

- In terms of areas for improvement, BU had five minor penalties (at least two of which were in the offensive zone), gave up a number of odd man rushes (especially early in the game) and needs to continue work on tightening up its team defense and defensive coverage.  And giving up two goals in the second half of the third period will likely be a point of emphasis this week for the coaching staff.  

- Onward to a home and home series against UNH, with six more Hockey East points and Pairwise implications on the line.  

  

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score
● Highlights and post-game Pandolfo/Eiserman/Hughes  

● Boston Hockey Blog

Looking ahead

2025 recruit Jack Pridham scored his 12th and 13th goals in Kitchener's 4-1 win against Barrie. The 6'2" right wing has 25 points in 21 games since joining the Rangers.

2025 recruit Jack Murtagh assisted on a pair of goals in the NTDP U18s 7-5 win over TriCity. The 6'1" left wing has an 11-15-26 scoring line in 25 games.

2025 recruit Jonathan Morello assisted on a pair of goals--including the overtime game-winner in Dubuque's 4-3 win over Sioux City.

Looking back

Jake Oettinger turned aside 30 of 31 shots in the Stars' 2-1 shootout win over Montreal. Lane Hutson assisted on the Canadians' goal, his 29th helper.

Evan Rodrigues scored his eighth goal in Florida's 4-3 overtime loss to Boston. Charlie McAvoy collected his 15th assist for the Bruins.

Women's Team

The #13 Terriers saw their -game conference winning streak end as they were edged by Vermont, 3-2.

BU held a 2-1 lead after one period on goals by Sydney Healey and Maggie Hanzel. The Catamounts tied the score in the middle period and scored the game-winner early in the third.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Coach Tara Watchorn post-game 

● Boston Hockey Blog At Vermont, BU women’s hockey finally falters as a long forgotten problem returns

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