Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Terriers rebound to beat Harvard; Central Scouting Midterm Rankings; Women host NU in Beanpot opener

 

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A pair of second-periods goals by freshmen Conrad Fondrk and Jonathan Morello—just 66 seconds apart—gave #20 BU a 2-1 lead over Harvard, en route to a 4-1 win at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center. Terriers would add a pair of empty-net goals by Ben Merrill and Sacha Boisvert to seal the victory, earning their third consecutive road win.

Sophomore Mikhail Yegorov came up big for BU, stopping 28 of 29 shots and bailing out his teammates when turnovers created some grade A chances for the Crimson. Yegorov, who shut out UMass Friday and then yielded one goal in Saturday's rematch—on his own miscue—turned aside 62 of 64 shots in the three games for an eye-popping .969 save percentage. 

Turning things around after a few forgettable efforts in November, the Devils' 2024 second round draft pick has allowed just 11 goals in his last seven starts.  

“It was a huge win for us," said a visibly pleased Coach Jay Pandolfo. "Playing three in four nights, we’re not used to doing that, but our guys responded very well.  I thought we got off to a little bit of a slow start, but the second half of the period, we started finding our game.

“The second period, I thought we were really good. Once we got the goal, there was a bit of a sigh of relief from our group who hadn’t scored in a while. Third period, we knew they were going to push but we hung in there. We blocked shots when we had to. Just a great overall team effort from the goaltender on out.”

He added, "I liked all four lines tonight. They complimented each other very well."

BU's fourth non-conference win—they're 4-3-1 outside of Hockey East—boosts the Terriers up to #20 in the NPI ranking. Terriers have defeated the Crimson nine times in the last 12 meetings (9-2-1).     

Note: the audio and video on the clips below are poorly synched and confusing. 

Early on in the opening period, BU struggled to get clean O-zone entries and to maintain possession there. Midway through the period, a stretch pass from Gavin McCarthy sprung Merrill on a breakaway that was defended. 

Harvard opened the scoring on the rush after foiling a Terrier entry attempt. Joe Miller skated in the BU zone and beat Yegorov with a hard wrister from the right circle.       

In the second period, BU used its speed to counter Harvard's forecheck, creating opportunities on the rush and off the cycle. At the 11:01 mark, the Terriers ended a 123-minute scoreless stretch that went back to the second period of Friday's game. 

Boisvert skated into the Harvard zone but lost control. Fondrk recovered the puck, skated across the high slot into the left circle and fired a shot over goalie Ben Charette's blocker for his third goal of the season. Sascha Boumedienne had the second assist. 

A minute later, Harvard disrupted a BU cycle in the Crimson zone, but Morello recovered the puck. It moved to Ryder Ritchie, then to McCarthy and to Cole Hutson who fired a shot from the left point. Morello who had driven to the net tipped the drive past Charette for his fourth goal of the season and a 2-1 lead 

BU dominated possession and zone time for the rest of the period, creating several good scoring chances. A penalty to Jack Murtagh that gave Harvard its only power play of the game was successfully killed.  Terriers put 15 shots on the Crimson goal in the period.

As expected, Harvard pressed for an equalizer in the third period, firing seven shots on goal in the first 11 minutes, but Yegorov was up to the task. BU tightened up on defense and allowed just four shots the rest of the way.

After Charette was pulled for an extra attacker, Kamil Bednarik blocked a shot and Morello flipped the puck into the Harvard zone. Merrill got to it first and fired into the empty net.  Harvard pulled the goalie again and this time it was Boisvert scoring the ENG with assists to Aiden Celebrini and Cole Eiserman. 

Along with his goal and assist, Morello won nine of 13 draws. In the past three games, the Bruins draft pick was 22 of 27 at the dot.

Improving on an issue that dogged BU earlier this season, the Terrier took just four penalties in the three games—one being a coincidental—and killed all three power plays.

Celebrini led BU with three blocked shots. 

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Post-game: Pandolfo, Fondrk, Celebrini 

● Boston Hockey Blog BU grinds out 4-1 victory over Harvard: Instant takeaways 

Looking ahead

Recap: Tigres Young Guns Hand ... 

NHL Central Scouting has issued its midterm rankings for the 2026 draft. Six Terrier recruits were ranked among North American skaters: #5 Caleb Malhotra, #7 Tynan Lawrence, #17 Egor Shilov (photo), #37 Luke Schairer, #50 Braidy Wassilyn and #90 Rian Chudzinski. 2027 recruit Brady Knowling is the top-rated North American goalie. 

The Athletic's Scott Wheeler commented: "Malhotra’s ranking (No. 5 in North America) aligns with what scouts have been saying about him for a while now: that he’s firmly in the top-five mix."

Looking back

AJ Greer scored a pair of goals, his seventh and eighth, in Florida's 4-3 win over Buffalo.  

Jake Oettinger stopped 24 of 25 shots as Dallas defeated the Kings, 3-1. 

Women's Team

Terriers host the #6/7 Northeastern in the opening round of the 47th Women's Beanpot. Game time at Walter Brown Arena is 7:30 p.m. Live streams are on NESN+ and ESPN+

BU will look to extend its three-game winning streak after defeating New Hampshire on Saturday, 2-1. 

● GoTerriers preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, BU All-Access (audio), BU Women's Hockey Twitter

● Boston Hockey Blog As it prepares for mighty Northeastern in Beanpot semi, BU women’s hockey feels it has ‘every reason to be confident’

  

 

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