Saturday, January 11, 2025

Terriers flex offensive muscle and fly past UVM; Women edge Catamounts

 

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Assessing the Terriers’ first half struggles in some games, Coach Jay Pandolfo lamented on Thursday’s media call that “We haven’t possessed the puck in the offensive zone as much as we need to. We haven’t created second and third opportunities for ourselves like we need to.”

BU certainly got the message in a 6-1 win over Vermont at Agganis Arena. All night, the Terriers had long possessions in the Catamounts’ end, creating those second and third chances through aggressive fore-checking and puck retrieval.

Terriers have scored five goals or more in six games this season and stand at #3 in D1 team scoring at 3.7 GPG.

Juniors Ryan Greene (G, 3A) and Quinn Hutson (2G) and sophomore Jack Harvey (G,2A) led the way on offense as BU scored three in the first period and was never headed. Mathieu Caron was sharp and confident in goal stopping everything he saw (27 of 28) including a pair of UVM breakaways.

After the game, Greene told the media, “We played probably our most consistent game of the year I would think, just played the right way, and we need to play that brand of hockey more often.”

Pandolfo was pleased with "a really solid effort from our team, from Chewy on out." 

He explained, "I thought the D played well overall and we utilized all our forwards and I thought they did a good job.I thought we had good energy. We made some mistakes and when we did, I thought Caron was excellent tonight."

Terriers opened the scoring at 7:05 when Greene’s centering pass attempt from behind the UVM goal line glanced off goalie Axel Mangbo’s pad and trickled into the net. The co-captain’s seventh goal was assisted by Harvey and Matt Copponi. 

BU almost immediately went on a power play, but it was Vermont that created the best scoring chance. Joel Maatti grabbed a loose puck at center ice, motored in on the BU cage and was stoned by Caron. 

Just as that man-advantage was ending, Greene plucked the puck from a defender’s skates in front of the Vermont goal. He glided to the left circle and dished to Quinn Hutson, who toe-dragged into the slot and whipped the puck past Mangbo high to the stick side. It was the eighth of the season of the season for Hutson who has scored in three straight games—four if you count the U18 exhibition.

Terriers were back on the power play in the final minutes of the period and with 10 seconds left on the advantage, Hutson scored again, taking Tom Willander’s pass in the right circle and wiring a shot home, this time high to the glove side. Greene had the second assist. The oldest of the Hutson brothers now has five goals in that three-game streak. 3-0 BU after one with the goals coming on just eight shots.

If any of the BU tallies was an ESPN Top 10 candidate, it was Harvey’s just 26 seconds into the middle period. This one came on the rush with Copponi head-manning the puck to Greene skating into the zone. He backhanded a pass to Harvey in the left circle and, with his back to the cage, the Minnesota native whipped a backhander into the far top corner for his fourth goal and a 4-0 lead.  

Meanwhile, Caron was keeping his cage clean and stopping a second UVM breakaway, this one by Colin Kessler.

BU continued to pepper the Vermont net with 15 second-period shots. Goal #5 came at 15:32 following an offensive zone draw won by Kamil Bednarik. Shane Lachance tipped the puck to Devin Kaplan at the top of the circle for a one-timer that flew past Mangbo on the stick side. It was the fourth of the season for #21 on his 21st birthday. 

Terriers returned to the man-advantage in the opening minute of the third and connected for their second power-play goal. Cole Hutson danced across the top of the left circle, then found Jack Hughes at the right post for a redirect past Connor McKenzie, who had relieved Mangbo. It was the first goal in a regular-season game for Hughes who had scored in both exhibition games. Harvey had the secondary helper.

The visitors stymied hopes for a shutout at 7:49 when Jax Wismer fired a shot from the left circle past a screened Caron.

With the win BU improves to 10-7-1 overall and 6-3-1 in Hockey East, and now is alone in second place in the conference following BC’s loss to Merrimack and Lowell’s loss to UConn. Terriers trail Maine by one point. 

BU also moved up to #11 in the Pairwise Rankings. Following Merrimack's 5-2 win against BC, all 11 Hockey East teams are within the top 29 in Pairwise.

BU's last 6-1 win prior to last night was last year's regular-season finale, also against the Catamounts. Same goalie. Quinn Hutson had a hat trick and Harvey scored, too.

The teams conclude the series on Saturday with puck drop set for 5 p.m. ET.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score
● Highlights and post-game Pandolfo/Greene/Hutson
● Boston Hockey Blog BU opens new year with a 6-1 win over Vermont

Looking ahead

2025 recruit Mikhail Yegorov stopped 30 of 31 shots in Omaha's 2-1 shootout loss to Waterloo. 

2025 recruit Conrad Fondrk scored his seventh goal, unassisted, in the NTDP U18s' 4-2 win over Tri-City. Charlie Trethewey recorded his eighth assist.

Looking back

Lane Hutson recorded his 28th assist on the overtime game-winner as Montreal edged Washington, 3-2. Hutson has 20 assists in the past 20 games.

 

Women's Team 

Women's Ice Hockey Celebrates Win at Vermont

#13 Terriers began a weekend series in Vermont, defeating the Catamounts, 2-1, for their fourth straight conference win. 

Junior Lilli Welcke got BU off to a fast start, scoring her third goal just a minute into the contest. Twin sister Luisa Welcke provided the eventual game-winner, a short-hander for his fourth of the season.

Callie Shanahan stopped 21 shots, yielding UVM’s only goal late in the third period.
With the win, BU retakes first place in Hockey East, jumping over idle BC. Terriers have a two-point edge on the Eagles with two games in hand.

Saturday's series finale begins at 6 p.m. with ESPN+ providing the live stream.

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score
● Post game Coach Tara Watchorn/Shanahan

● Boston Hockey Blog BU defeats Vermont 2-1 in a gritty, physical game


 
 

 

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