Friday, January 09, 2026

UPDATED: Game Day: Terriers visit UMass; Tynan's Draft Diary; Eight Terriers Milan-Bound; Good times in Belfast;

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#19 Terriers kick off the second half with a home-and-home series with conference rival UMass. Game time for the contest at the Mullins Center in Amherst is 7 p.m. ET. ESPN+ will provide the live-stream. Saturday’s rematch at Agganis Arena is a 6 p.m. ET start. With a road game at Harvard set for Monday, BU will play three games in four days.

Currently in third place in Hockey East, five points behind UConn and four behind BC, BU will seek to build on its four-wins-in-five-games finish to first semester. 

The Terriers are 10-1-2 over the last 13 games against UMass. Last season, the teams split a home-and-home series. Then, BU edged the Minutemen in overtime in the conference quarterfinal on a Cole Eiserman laser. 

With the return of five skaters from holiday tournaments and the return to health of several others, BU finally will have all hands available—and then some—for the first time since early in the season. Sacha Boisvert and Conrad Fondrk showed that they’re 100% with two-goal and four-assist efforts respectively in the exhibition game last Saturday. Freshman Ben Merrill, out with an injury since the Nov. 29 Cornell game, has returned and will be in the lineup, according to Coach Jay Pandolfo.

MIH Standing for National Anthem   

                    Photo credit Eliza Nuestro  

Kamil Bednarik, Cole Eiserman, Cole Hutson and gold-medal winner Sascha Boumedienne are back from the WJCs as is Captain Gavin McCarthy who won silver at the Davos Cup in Switzerland. Pandolfo will be looking for a “post-tournament bump” and stepped-up performances from all five.


Newly-rostered Tynan Lawrence skated in practice Thursday and his availability for tonight’s game will be determined following a morning skate. If the 6’0”, 185 lb., left-shot from Fredericton, New Brunswick, is in the lineup, he most likely will slot in as #2 center behind Boisvert. (For more on Lawrence, see Monday’s and Wednesday’s blogposts)

Hutson is BU’s points leader with 20 (7G,13A), while Eiserman is the top goal-scorer with eight. Owen McLaughlin has produced 14 points while Ryder Ritchie and Boisvert each have 11. McCarthy checks in with 10 points. 

UMass, who has played the fewest conference games thus far, sits in last place with a 2-6-0 record that includes an overtime win and an OT loss. The Minutemen got off to a fast start in October, winning six of eight games—all non-conferences wins, including a 2-1 victory over Cornell. Since then, they are 3-7-0, most recently splitting series with Maine and Providence, being swept by BC and losing to Army. Like the Terriers, UMass played an exhibition game against Simon Fraser last weekend, winning 7-0.

Junior Jack Musa is the Minutemen’s top scorer with 21 points, while 6’6” freshman Václav Nestrašil, who played for Czechia against Sweden in the WJC gold-medal game, is the top goal scorer with 10 to go with 10 assists. They’re supported by freshman Jack Galanek (13 points), junior Nick VanTassell (10) and sophomore Daniel Jencko (10).

Sophomore Francesco Dell’Elce (13), a Hockey East All-Rookie last season, anchors the defense along with sophomore Larry Keenan and senior Lucas Olvestad.

Back for his third season is 6’7” Czech goalie Michale Hrabel, another WJC veteran, who has a 3.00 GAA and .897 save percentage in 11 games. Fellow junior Jackson Irving has made seven starts and brings a 2.75 GAA and .934 save percentage.

 

 

            Graphic courtesy of BU Hockey Stats 

 

CHECK BACK FOR TONIGHT’S BU LINEUP

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

● Live stream ESPN+

● Pandolfo Media Call

● GoTerriers.com Three Keys Can Unlock Second-Half Success for Terriers

● BU Hockey Stats Back in the Swing of Things (Week 13 Preview)

● Boston Hockey Blog BU men’s hockey returns from break recharged, reinforced and ready for a second-half push 

 

 ►► As a top prospect for the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, Lawrence has been writing a Draft Diary for NHL.com (as Macklin Celebrini did while at BU). He found time before this weekend's games to write an entry about his departure from Muskegon and his arrival on Comm. Ave.

  

Episode 12 of Inside BU Hockey features Bernie Corbett's interviews with Coach Pandolfo and Conrad Fondrk. The freshman from White Bear Lake, Minn., who assisted on four goals in the exhibition game last weekend, says he's now fully recovered from a leg injured suffered last season.  Kat Cornetta talks with Coach Tara Watchorn about the Belfast trip and with Lilli Welcke, recently named to Germany's Olympic team. (Links to be added soon)

Looking ahead

2026 recruit Haoxi Wang assisted on a pair of goals and was +3 as Oshawa doubled up Sudbury, 6-3. The 6'5" blueliner has a 2-11-13 scoring line in 28 games for the Generals.  

2026 Winter Olympics 

The six men headed to the Cortina Milano Winter Olympics ties the record for Terrier men in a single Olympiad set in both 1980 and 1992. In 1980, along with the gold-medal Terrier Four--Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione, Jack O'Callahan and David Silk--Herb Wakabayashi skated for Japan and Dick Decloe for Netherlands. The 1992 group was all USA: Clark Donatelli, Scott Lachance, Shawn McEachern, Joe Sacco, Keith Tkachuk and Scott Young. David Quinn skated for the '92 team in pre-Olympic exhibitions but was cut before the Games began. 

Looking back

Jack Eichel's 13th goal was the game-winner in the Golden Knights' 4-2 win over Columbus. He also added his 32nd assist. 

Brady Tkachuk scored his eighth goal in the Senators' 8-2 loss to the Avalanche.

1980 Olympic captain Mike Eruzione recently joined University President Melissa Gilliam on her Leaders Among Us Conversations podcast. 

Then, this week, Eruzione guested with Brady Tkachuk and his brother, Matthew, on their “Wingmen” podcast, revealing the untold story of the Miracle on Ice.

        

Women's Team

Terriers resume Hockey East play Saturday at New Hampshire. Check out this video chronicling their trip to Belfast and a pair of victories in the Friendship Series to claim the Belpot Trophy.

 

 

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