Monday, October 27, 2025

UPDATED AGAIN: Eiserman Update; Eichel's Birthday Blitz; Willander to the Show; Poll Story; SNL; NESN Schedule; Overtime heroics and goalies who shine

UPDATED 

 BHB also reported these lines at Wednesday's practice.

Fondrk — Bednarik — Ritchie 

McLaughlin — Boisvert — Harvey 

Murtagh — Svoboda — Merrill 

Frechette — Morello — McNelis

 

Jack Eichel scored the game-winning goal with five minutes left in the third period, then added another two minutes later to power Vegas to a 6-3 win over Carolina. Eichel, who was celebrating his 29th birthday (how is that possible?), added an assist to boost his league-leading points total to 19 (8G,11A). 

 

Top: Tom Willander on ice in a Vancouver Canucks uniform with a blue background behind him. Bottom: Text reading "Welcome to the NHL Tom Willander. 2023 11th overall pick. 2024-25 season with Boston University (NCAA) 39 games, 2 goals, 22 assists, 24 points" 

Tom Willander, the Canucks' first-round draft pick in 2023, was added to the Vancouver roster and made his NHL debut against the New York Rangers Tuesday night.  

Willander is the 101st Terrier to play in the NHL and will join three BU teammates from last season who have reached the NHL: Ryan Greene, Quinn Hutson, and Devin Kaplan.

In five AHL games at Abbotsford, Willander had a goal and an assist. As a mainstay on the BU blueline the past two seasons, the Stockholm native generated six goals and 49 points.  He was a second team Hockey East All-Star both seasons and also won a silver medal for Sweden at the 2024 World Junior Championships.

“Just play. He’s a smart player. He’s got good skill, he’s got good feet. Just keep guys in front of you and extend your coverage and make hard plays,” Canucks head coach Adam Foote said of what he expects from Willander tonight. 

● SportsNet.ca Canucks call up Tom Willander for NHL debut against Rangers

UPDATE: Willander logged 12 minutes of ice time, even +/-, 2 shots, no giveaways in a 2-0 Vancouver loss to the Rangers. 

Poll Story  

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Following their weekend split with Connecticut, Terriers dropped one slot to #5 in the USCHO D1 Men's Poll. Michigan State remains #1, followed by Michigan and Western Michigan--who split a series--and Penn State. Right behind BU is Denver, who thumped BC and then was blanked by Northeastern. Other ranked Hockey East schools: #9 UConn, #11 BC, #12 Maine, #13 Massachusetts and #16 Providence.

The USA Hockey D1 Poll has the same top five with Penn State leap-frogging the Terriers. It has some differences in the next six, but also has six Hockey East schools in the top 16.

John Buccigross is an outlier with BU at #3 in his ranking, behind Michigan State and Michigan. Terriers also slot in at #5 in the Everything College Hockey ranking. 

The first NCAA Percentage Index (NPI, which has replaced PairWise) rating has BU at #18, while the CHN Power Ranking has the Terriers at #14.

►Our friend BU Hockey Stats provides recaps and advanced stats from both the men's games and the women's win. 

 

►A trio of Terriers were named to Hockey East's weekly Top Performers list: 

Owen McLaughlin, BU (Sr., F; Spring City, Pa.) Posted four points (3g, 1a) in a weekend split with No. 11 UConn. McLaughlin scored his first two goals as a Terrier in Friday night’s contest. On Saturday night, his goal was a power-play strike that would prove to be the game-winner of a 3-1 victory. He also assisted on Harvey’s second goal, an insurance goal in the second period. His back-to-back multi-point performances are his first since Jan. 6 & Jan. 12, 2024.

Jack Murtagh, BU (Fr., F; East Greenbush, N.Y.) Recorded two points (1g, 1a) in a weekend split with No. 11 UConn. Murtagh notched a goal in Friday night’s contest and assisted on the first goal of Saturday’s 3-1 win on the power play. He finished plus-two for the weekend, tied for the best of any Terrier.

Cole Hutson, BU (So., D; Chicago, Ill.) Dished out two assists in a split with No. 11 UConn, handing out one helper in each game including a set up on the game-winning goal in Saturday’s 3-1 road win.   

SNL (and some from Friday).

Saturday Night was more than “just all right” for BU goalies past and present, but let's start with the current resident in the Terrier net.  (More in Looking Back)

►Mikhail Yegorov's 24-save performance, good for a .960 save percentage, earned him the player of the game helmet.  Analysis from BU Hockey Stats shows that "UConn recorded 5 high danger shots (1.25 xG)—4 of which were saved by Yegorov."

►In Saturday's win, Jack Harvey recorded his first multiple-goal game since February 9th, 2024, the night of his first goal as a Terrier.

►The always-physical Huskies put 32 hits on BU on Saturday, close to their average prior to the weekend of 34.5.  Two came against Cole Eiserman and both should have resulted in penalties. The second one forced him from the game with a lower-body injury.

 

On Friday, their preferred target appeared to be Cole Hutson. A cross-check to the face mask led to a major penalty to Alex Blais, right after BU scored its second goal. 

► Speaking of hits, versatile Mick Frechette, who played wing on the fourth line on Friday, moved back to defense on Saturday and doled out a good number of heavy checks in the defensive zone while receiving more time on ice than usual.

Malte Vass, whom Frechette replaced on the BU blueline in Storrs, registered his first two collegiate points in Friday's game. He assisted on Owen McLaughlin's second tally of the game and sent Jack Murtagh up ice for his breakaway and blast. 

Looking ahead

There will be five future Terriers skating in this fall's CHL-USA Prospects Challenge, set for Nov. 25 & 26. Two 2026 recruits, Caleb Malhotra and Egor Shilov were named to Canada's roster this week. Both are among their leagues' top scorers. The NTDP U18s has three BU recruits: 2026 recruit Luke Schairer, 2026 or 2027 Jamie Glance and 2027 Brady Knowling. 

Another 2026 recruit, forward Braidy Wassilyn, who was traded Tuesday from Niagara to London, is a candidate to be a replacement for Team Canada. 

FloHockey's Chris Peters analyzed the Canadian roster. 

Three current Terriers skated in last season's Prospects games: forwards Jack Murtagh and Conrad Fondrk and defenseman Charlie Trethewey. 

● NHL.com Malhotra among 22 CHL players selected for CHL-USA Challenge

 

Looking back

Macklin Celebrini’s breakaway goal in overtime delivered a 6-5 win over Minnesota for San Jose. Along with his sixth goal, Celebrini assisted on two other scores and now has a team-high 15 points, with nine coming in the past three games.

Through Tuesday night's NHL games, BU's Hobey Baker Award winners were at the top of the league's scoring leaders. UPDATED 

With five goals and five assists for the week, he's the NHL's #1 star.

Young man with light brown hair wearing a teal San Jose Sharks hockey jersey with number 71 on the front and back holds a hockey stick in his right hand and poses confidently with a slight smile. The jersey features white and black accents and the NHL logo on the sleeve. A white starburst graphic overlays the bottom with teal text reading Macklin Celebrini 1st Star of the Week. The background is a teal gradient with a faint shadow of the player. 


But Celebrini wasn't the only Terrier performing overtime heroics this past weekend.  Dom Fensore turned the lights out in Manitoba with an OT-game winner--his second tally of the game--in AHL Chicago's 4-3 win.  Shift, shoot, celly!  

The two goals (here's his first) give the former Terrier captain a 3-4-7 line in four games for the Wolves. And yet, it wasn't enough to earn the AHL #1 star of the weekend.

That honor went to Fensore's Terrier teammate Drew Commesso who pitched his seventh career shutout in a 4-0 win over Colorado.

As previously reported, Jake Oettinger spent his Saturday night stopping 26 of 28 shots in the Stars' 3-2 win against Carolina. On Tuesday night, he registered his first shutout of the season, stopping all 24 shots to blank the Capitals, 1-0.  

Mathieu Caron is playing Anglet in France's Ligue Magnus. Making 11 of his team's 12 starts, Caron has a  3.12 GAA and a .929 save percentage.

Women's Team  

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