Saturday, January 17, 2026

River Hawks upend BU in overtime

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Mark this one down as yet another game the Terriers should have won. Instead, Lowell comes away with a 4-3 overtime road win in the opener of a home-and-home series.  BU let a 2-0 lead slip away and turn into a 3-2 deficit in the last six minutes of the second period.  

Terriers managed to tie the score in the third period on Jack Harvey's second goal of the game and he almost scored again late in the period. The River Hawks scored the overtime winner on a wrap-around. 

"That's embarrassing," said Coach Jay Pandolfo. "We just beat ourselves. I'm not taking anything away from what [Lowell] did. But its embarrassing the way we played in the second period to give them life." 

"We let them back into the hockey game," he continued. "To give up two goals in under two minutes in the second period...you're gonna have a hard time winning games when you do that." 

BU was on its game for the first 27 minutes, but it was downhill from there. The Terriers not only lost the game; they lost top line center, Sacha Boisvert, for tomorrow's rematch after he and a Lowell player were ejected for fighting.

BU fully dominated the opening period with crisp breakouts and numerous scoring chances. Three minutes in, Cole Hutson fed Nick Roukounakis at the goalmouth but he was denied by Lowell's Samuel Richard. Then after a Boisvert shot from the right circle was defended, Harvey's followup was stopped by Richard. 

BU finally broke the ice at 15:53. Ryder Ritchie skated across the top of the circles and found Jonathan Morello along the goal line extended. His centering attempt was blocked, but the puck came right back to him and he flipped it over the fallen goalie for his fifth tally of the season. Sascha Boumedienne had the other assiss.    

Terriers held a 17-5 shot advantage that reflected their dominance; however of Lowell's five shots, Mikhail Yegorov had to make big-time stops due to BU turnovers.

BU doubled the lead with a pretty passing play on their first power play early in the second period. Conrad Fondrk, at the left point, slid the puck to Ritchie along the goal line extended. The freshman quickly dished to Harvey at the left dot for a one-time laser high over Richard's glove. It was his seventh tally of the season.  

Terriers nearly added another eight minutes into the period when Hutson took a centering pass and rang a shot off the post.  

At 12:31, Lowell was called for another penalty and that's when things began to come apart for BU. With 30 seconds left in the man-advantage, a bad BU bad change sent the River Hawks racing into the BU zone, 2-on-1, and Sean Kilcullen whipped a shot past Yegorov from the left circle.

Late in the period, a Harvey shot was blocked and skipped past the BU defense. Connor Eddy collected the puck, skated in alone and beat Yegorov to tie the game at two apiece. Lowell wasn't done; a penalty to Aiden Celebrini gave them a chance to grab the lead, which they promptly did.  Yegorov stopped a shot from the left point, but Jak Vaarwek got beind the BU defense and knocked home the rebound with four seconds left in the period. 

Second period shots favored the visitors 16-7. 

 Note: Video of the three Lowell goals can be seen in the highlights reel linked below 

Pandolfo replaced Yegorov with Max Lacroix to begin the third period, presumably to send a message and give the team a spark. 

Another Terrier penalty put Lowell back on the power play at 6:33 of the period, but this time it was BU who would score short-handed.  Charlie Trethewey intercepted a pass along the boards and lofted the puck toward the Lowell defensive zone. It landed just over the blue line and when the River Hawk defender fanned on it, Kamil Bednarik quickly passed to Harvey who ripped another one-timer past Richard for the equalizer. It was his eighth goal.

Boisvert and Eddy were both sent off for roughing at 9:10. When they returned to the ice, they immediately dropped the gloves and engaged in an NHL-style fight, earning both players 10-minute majors and game disqualifications. 

BU's best chances to take the lead in the third period came on a Boumedienne blast that just missed the net and a power play opportunity for Harvey, who was unable to lift a backhander over Richard from the blue paint. 

Seconds into overtime, Hutson was called for hooking, which appeared to be marginal at best. On the ensuing face off--with Lowell on a 4-on-3, Jay Ahearn was called for goalie interfence and 3-on-3 skating resumed. Harvey had another scoring chance but was crunched into the goal post. As Lowell headed up ice, Nate Misskey took a pass at the BU blueline, circled the cage and scored on a wrap-around that just trickled under Lacroix's skate. 

Final shots were BU 34, Lowell 29. 

The teams meet again Saturday at Tsongas Arena with puck drop at 6 p.m. ET. 

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Highlights and Coach Pandolfo postgame 

● Boston Hockey Blog BU men’s hockey suffers costly 4-3 overtime loss to UMass Lowell 


Looking ahead

2026 recruit Viktor Norringer's eighth goal--with less than a minute left in regulation-- was the game-winner as Muskegon defeated Youngstown, 3-1. Carter Amico, in his Lumberjacks debut was in the starting lineup and had two shots.  

2026 recruit Caleb Malhotra assisted on a pair of goals in Brantford's 4-3 win over Peterborough. Malhotra has 55 points in 40 games, third best in the OHL. 

2026 recruit Egor Shilov had three primary assists for Victoriaville, but the Tigers dropped a 9-5 decision to Drummondville. Shilov has 54 points in 39 games and leads all QMJHL rookies. 

2027 recruit Freddy Meyer was +2 and earned the second star in Quebec's 3-0 win over Baie-Comeau. 

2027 recruit Jamie Glance, who had a strong showing, in the Chipotle All-American Game, was featured in a USA Hockey article prior to that game.  

Now playing for the U.S. National Development Program Under-18 Team, Glance is already close to surpassing his point total from last season. He has 26 points in 33 games, a trio of game-winning goals and is already closing in on 100 shots on goal for the season. 

“He’s had a big jump from last year to this year, he was very inconsistent last year, it took him a while to figure out how hard it was at this level and how to compete on a daily basis,” Under-18 coach Nick Fohr said. “He might be the most improved player from year to year for us.”

 

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