BU Thoughts

For the first time since 2017, BC was swept by archival BU. The Terriers took game one on Friday by a 6-3 score and then claimed their first win at Conte Forum since that weekend six years ago with a 3-1 victory on Saturday night. 

On Friday, BU was just the better team. I thought BC got off to a fantastic start as they controlled the first 19:59 of the game. They were the faster team, the team that created more turnovers, and consistently applied pressure in the BU end. A solid shift from BC's third line drew a BU holding penalty and the Eagles were able to capitalize on their power-play thanks to a bounce off of Trevor Kuntar. BC's power-play, after a bit of a tough weekend versus Vermont, was very good this weekend. Even on Saturday, when they didn't score at a key juncture in the third period, they were getting quality chances all night long. BC got two opportunities to extend the lead shortly after the Kuntar goal- the best was a breakaway from Nikita Nesterenko, who was stonewalled by BU goaltender Drew Commesso. It felt like BC really needed to get out to a two-goal lead, because you knew BU was going to make a push at some point. BC had an offensive zone face-off with around 30 seconds left in the first, but they lost the draw (something they didn't do much of all night), got caught scrambling around their own zone and after a missed blocked shot, senior Jay O'Brien put home BU's first goal of the game. BC continues to have major problems with giving up goals at the end of periods. It happened against Notre Dame, Northeastern, the second Merrimack game, Brown and on Friday- something to keep an eye on as they hit the stretch run here. 

The second period on Friday was the worst period they've played all year. BU outshot them 17-6 in the frame and honestly, 6 shots for BC seems a bit liberal. The Terriers locked it down in their own end, didn't turn the puck over in the neutral zone, and forced BC to play at a speed where frankly, they cannot get to right now. Don't get me wrong, BC is quick and they can skate with a lot of teams, but right now, that BU squad just has too many high-end guys for BC to slow down when they're kicking things into high gear. The second BU goal was the result of a bad offensive blue line turnover from one of BC's defensemen. The Eagles had control of the puck and were looking to cycle it down low, before a BU forward picked it off and took it the other way. Mitch Benson made a nice save on the ensuing 2 on 1, but BU forward Quinn Hutson picked up his own rebound and found Jeremy Wilmer, who beat Benson to give BU the lead for good. The third BU goal was just the result of lazy defensive zone play from BC- there were four Eagles in the slot, all of whom had a chance to get the puck out of harm's way, but they were unable to do so and BU forward Dylan Peterson swatted one by Benson to give BU the two-goal edge. BC's guys were just standing around and got beat by a single BU forward- it did not look pretty at all. 

The third period was a bit crazy as the teams combined for five goals. BC had a golden opportunity to cut the lead to one early in the stanza, when Seamus Powell one-timed a pass in the slot, but Commesso was there to make an unbelievable save. BU came right back the other way and put the game out of reach thanks to another awful BC defensive effort. BU defenseman Ty Gallagher came streaking down from the blue line, but BC just refused to pick him up and he was able to deposit a Luke Tuch pass by Benson. Not good! 

I thought the game got a bit out of hand- thanks in part to BC being a bit too intent on hitting after the whistle and in part because of BU's antics after their later goals. Clearly, BU was feeding off of an electric Agganis crowd and by that point, the game was over.

There is no way around it- BU, as of now, is more talented than BC is. When the Eagles come out and play like they did on Friday night, especially in their own zone, they won't beat many teams, especially ones like BU. There were too many turnovers, too many blown assignments, and too much space for BU to do whatever they wanted in the offensive zone. It's bizarre because for almost the entirety of the first period, BC was the better team, but once BU got that tying goal, the momentum completely shifted in their direction. That was the first time BU has won back-to-back games at Agganis Arena against BC. 

On the flip side of the coin, I thought BC played really well on Saturday. The first period was a bit of a slog, compared to the other six periods of hockey we had seen in this series up to that point, but BC did have a great shorthanded opportunity on BU's opening power-play when Liam Izyk got denied by the post. It was the only scoreless period of the series to this point. 

BU got on the board early in the second period as Wilmer Skoog beat Benson on an odd man rush. This play all started after a neutral zone turnover from one of BC's freshman forwards. The Eagles were trying to advance the puck up the ice, but BU picked it off and their first line was off to the races. About halfway through the period, BC again got pinned down in their own zone before BU defenseman Lane Huston made a great pass to a wide-open Case McCarthy, who beat Benson with a bomb from inside the point. Outside of Commesso, Hutson was the most impressive Terrier this weekend. He is like a high-end point guard on the ice and I could not believe how much he played with Fensore out. It looked like BU had him on the ice almost every other shift. It was an impressive weekend of hockey from #20 in scarlet. 

After BU went up 2-0, I thought BC made perhaps their best push of the season. They cut the lead in half on a 5 on 3 power-play, when Andre Gasseau put home a Nikita Nesterenko pass right after the face-off. BC still had almost two full minutes of power-play time after they scored their first goal, but they did not create much offense on that man advantage. 

I'm still trying to get over the fact that BC did not score in the third period. It was perhaps their best 20 minutes of hockey in a long time- they generated a ton of chances, controlled the play, and kept BU from generating a ton on the rush. However, Commesso put the cherry on top of what was one of the best performances from a BU goalie against BC in recent memory. BC had a power-play six minutes into the final period and generated some quality chances, including a flurry of shots from Nesterenko, but Commesso stopped them all. Of course, the Terriers got some puck luck halfway through the period when a Quinn Hutson shot deflected off of Jeremy Wilmer and past Benson, putting the game out of reach for BC. It's tough because you see that BC was only able to score one 5 on 5 goal all weekend, but on Saturday, it wasn't for a lack of chances. They had a ton of grade A opportunities all night- they just ran into a hot goaltender. It reminded me of the third period in the second game against Arizona State- BC carried the play, but could not score. 

Anyways, that was obviously not the weekend anyone was looking for. Credit to BU- they cleaned things up in their own zone in the time between the first matchup between these teams to this point. On the positive side of things, if BC plays like they did on Saturday, they're going to win some games down the stretch. Their special teams were significantly better this weekend than they were a week ago- I thought their penalty kill did a very nice job against BU's potent power-play. Quite honestly, BC is going to need to play at a high level going forward because their schedule is absolutely brutal. Their "easiest" games are three against a Maine team that just swept Providence this weekend. After the game, Coach Brown was clearly pleased with how his team responded after Friday's disaster and it may be a blessing in disguise that BC gets to play again on Tuesday against a red-hot (and well rested) Northeastern team. At the end of the day, sometimes the team that has more horses is going to just out-talent you and win the game. BU has an ability to strike quickly and in bunches that is rare in college hockey right now. Don't get me wrong, BC has some high-end talent and starting next fall, they'll have more of it than almost any other team, but right now, they're just a smidge behind the Terriers when it comes to goal scorers. On top of that, when BC finally did start to look like the better team, the best player on the ice happened to be between the pipes for the scarlet and white. It happens! 

I am interested to see how this team responds going forward. Obviously, the Beanpot is coming up, but BC has two very important road games before they can even begin to think about Harvard. Outside of BU, no team in the league is hotter than Northeastern right now. They've catapulted themselves back into contention for the NCAA tournament and will be hungry to avenge their loss to BC earlier this season on Tuesday night. After that, BC will have to travel to Tsongas Arena on Friday night, a historical house of horrors for the Eagles. If they play like they did on Saturday, they can absolutely win those games. Let's see what they bring to the table in 48 hours. 

Vermont Thoughts

Well, I said last week that this team has been impressive this year because, unlike last season, they have yet to lay any eggs. That all changed this weekend, as Vermont came into Conte Forum and took five of six points from the Eagles, highlighted by a 3-2 comeback win on Saturday afternoon. The results dropped BC to 23rd in the pairwise rankings, seven spots lower than they were on Friday morning. Obviously, this was the most disappointing weekend of the year. I thought, for the most part, they were fine when it was five on five, which, frankly, should have been the case given that Vermont is an inferior team talent wise and missing their top goal scorer. As we will get into, special teams killed BC this weekend. They did not give up a five on five goal in either game, but their penalty kill continues to flounder, with at least one goal given up in the past seven games. What BC did this weekend can only be described as shooting themselves in the foot- with a bazooka. Their goals are still out in front of them, and if they have taught us anything all year, they will bounce back next weekend in the Battle of Commonwealth Avenue. However, if they miss the tournament by a spot or two in March, this will be the weekend that comes back to haunt them and that is a real shame. 

Friday night's contest was just a strange hockey game. BC got the first of two five minute major power-plays less than six minutes into the game, thanks to a Vermont cross-checking penalty in front of the BC bench. The Eagles were able to quickly capitalize, thanks to a Cutter Gauthier shot from at the top of the circle- it was twenty seconds into the five minute major. That was BC's best chance to put the nail in the coffin, but they took their foot of the gas for the remainder of the power-play. After the goal, the second unit came on and spent more time retrieving the puck than they did in the Vermont zone. The top line came out for the back-end of the power-play, but UVM clearly made an adjustment and forced anyone but Gauthier to beat them, and BC could not answer the call. Despite giving up the early goal, the rest of the kill clearly gave Vermont a ton of momentum, as I thought the end of the first period on Friday was the best they played five on five all weekend. The Catamounts tied the game with a power-play goal of their own with just under four minutes to go in the first when Isak Walther banged home a rebound. There really wasn't much to it other than BC losing the face-off and then just getting outnumbered in front of the net. It was a harbinger of things to come for the final 100 minutes of the series. 

After a relatively even second period, BC was gifted another five minute power-play in the third, when a UVM player grabbed a BC defenseman's face-mask. Unfortunately, this five minute power-play was worse than the first one as BC didn't generate any notable chances. Their power-play has been so good for them all year and on Friday, they just could not get the job done. Vermont goalie Gabe Carriere made some nice saves in both games, but it never felt like BC was really threatening, even when on those two five minute majors. Once again, Vermont took a boneheaded penalty, this time with 1:30 left in the final frame, but that golden opportunity was negated when Trevor Kuntar took a stupid cross-checking penalty with 18 seconds left in the period. There was a scrum behind the UVM net and to be honest, I thought the whistle should have been blown, but it looked to me like Kuntar just wound up and smoked the guy. Not only did he get a penalty, but he got himself suspended for game two of the series. To me, one of the main takeaways this weekend was that BC kept letting Vermont back into the games with ridiculous penalties. The Kuntar cross-check on Friday night was probably the foremost example- not only did it screw the team on Friday night, it left them shorthanded on Saturday. 

Despite BC jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the shootout on Friday, Vermont rallied with 5 straight goals to take the extra point. I've kind of become agnostic to shootouts- sometimes you win them, sometimes you lose them. I don't think it's worth getting all worked up over a shootout loss (or win), no matter the opponent. Obviously, when you're up 2-0, you feel like you should get that extra point, but it is what it is. 

Given where they were in the pairwise standings entering Saturday, I felt like game two was a must win game for this team. To make matters worse, they had to do so without Aidan Hreschuk, who got hurt on Friday. They couldn't go into next weekend without a regulation win against Vermont, but that is exactly what happened as the Catamounts again came back from deficits, this time of 1-0 and 2-1, to take five points back to Burlington. BC got off to a tremendous start as Nikita Nesterenko put home a power-play goal less than a minute and a half into the game, but like yesterday, BC was unable to get out to a two goal lead and it came back to haunt them. Against a team like Vermont, who, frankly, cannot score five on five, you have to try to get up a couple of goals and force them to play a freewheeling game- BC could not do that. 

The theme on Saturday was once again the dumb penalties. At the end of the first period, one of BC's freshmen defensemen came flying into a scrum and hit a Vermont player, after the period had ended. Can't do that! Of course, that gave Vermont the momentum they needed as they tied the game thanks to a goal that Benson probably would like back. BC took back the lead when Nesterenko found a streaking Colby Ambrosio, who put home a breakaway opportunity. On Friday night, the staff moved Ambrosio to the fourth line during the third period, but I thought he responded with a solid game on Saturday. After BC took the lead, they put together a couple of really good shifts, and came inches away from making it 3-1, as Cam Burke just missed a chance on the doorstep, but another dumb penalty from one of BC's freshmen defensemen led to a Vermont power-play and eventual goal. It was basically the same sequence as before, as Benson got beat by a shot from the outside- one that should have been blocked by a BC forward. Vermont took the lead for good with six minutes to go in the period, on another power-play goal, on yes, you guessed it, another penalty from one of BC's freshmen defensemen. This penalty I thought was a bit more borderline, but still, you can't put the referee in a position to make that call. It was a brutal night all around for some of BC's youngsters as some of their costly mistakes basically handed Vermont the game. Now, all that said, BC has to be able to kill off a penalty there. It seemed to me like BC was giving them way too much space at the top of the face-off dots, hoping that Benson would fend off any chances from the outside, but that didn't happen. I am sure Benson would probably be the first to say that a couple of those goals were ones he probably should have had, but he has been great for BC all year and I don't think it is fair to pin that game on him. 

BC didn't really make much of a push in the third period. The strange part is that BC had the puck basically for the entirety of the weekend, but they did not generate more than ten good scoring chances over the course of 125 minutes. Vermont did a nice job clogging up the middle of the ice in their own zone, preventing BC from getting anything in the slot. BC was down a goal in the third, but spent more than half of the period on the penalty kill- you aren't going to score many goals that way! Seamus Powell was called for a five minute major for contact to the head- I thought this was a bit of a bad call because the Vermont forward was already falling down before Powell made contact. It looked like an inadvertent play to me, but given that they had already given BC a couple of five minute power-plays all weekend, I wasn't shocked that the Catamounts got one to. In my opinion, the more concerning call was Cutter Gauthier's misconduct with three minutes left in the contest. As good a Gauthier was one Friday night, game two on Saturday was probably one of his worst of the season as he was not really a factor at any point in the contest. This penalty was more of a clear cut contact to the head call and as much as I hate to say this, I would not be surprised if he is suspended for game one at BU on Saturday. BC did have one great chance to tie it up late in the game, when Nesterenko forced a turnover behind the Vermont net, but it was to no avail. 

In conclusion, the optimist in me would like to think that this is the wake up call they needed before heading into the toughest part of their schedule- two vs BU, at NU, at Lowell, and Harvard. While their pairwise hopes are not totally up in flames, they'll need to probably win at least three of those games to keep their heads above water, which is a tall task given how those teams are playing. Like I said, at even strength, I thought they were fine this weekend. They still turn the puck over way too often, but they didn't spend much time running around their zone chasing UVM forwards. Obviously, their penalty kill is a major concern right now. Now, give them credit, they killed off that five minute major in the third period on Saturday, and I figured that would give them the momentum they needed to come back, but that did not happen. 

Obviously, you have to hope that Gauthier does not get suspended for the game at Agganis on Friday night. No matter how good (or bad) BC and BU are, that is always the most entertaining regular season game of the season and for him not to be able to play would put a real dent in the excitement for the game and obviously, BC's chances of winning it. There was no disqualification issued on the play, so if he does get suspended, it will be because the league reviewed the hit. 

I still believe that this team can compete with the best in Hockey East- if they clean up their penalty kill and cut down on the ridiculous penalties, they can absolutely steal a game from BU next weekend. Let's face it, the Terriers are playing extremely well right now and will be fired up after losing the first game in December. Yes, this was BC's worst weekend of the year, but I expect them to come back next weekend and play their two best games of the season because if you can't get up for those games, well, then what the heck are we doing here?

Go Eagles

Fenway Thoughts

Alright, we are back again. I did not have a post about the Arizona State series, but I will say that I thought BC played well all weekend. They thoroughly outplayed ASU in game one, leading to a 5-2 victory. On Saturday, I thought they played a solid game, but they just ran into a brick wall in ASU goalie (and ex- NU Husky) TJ Semptimphelter. BC outshot the Sun Devils 17-1 in the third period, but ASU's one shot found twine while all of BC's were stonewalled. Sometimes those type of games just happen- BC deserved better but at the end of the day, I think they would have taken a split going into the weekend. Obviously, the second game hurts them a bit in the pairwise rankings which is part of the reason why I wish BC would just forego playing games during the World Juniors. What are they going to do next Christmas break with all the guys they'll have gone? They may need Baldwin to suit up for them, but that is a long ways off. 

Last night, for the fourth time in five tries, BC got a win at Fenway Park, this time coming at the expense of rival UMass by a score of 4-2. Even though the game did not count for the Hockey East standings, this was a major win for the Eagles as they moved up to 20 in the pairwise rankings- up four sports from 24. Had they lost that game, they would likely have dropped dangerously close to 30. BC is now 6-2-3 in in its last eleven games with three very winnable contests coming up against Sacred Heart and Vermont before the big weekend on January 27th and 28th. 

I thought BC came out flying in the first period. BC got on the board early, just under three minutes into the game, thanks to Cutter Gauthier, who picked up the puck in the defensive zone, went the length of the ice, and fired a nasty shot by UMass goalie Luke Pavicich. They reviewed the goal for a potential high stick in the BC zone, but decided against it. I thought Gauthier was one of the best players on the ice last night even though he had to be absolutely exhausted given all of the hockey he has played over the past two weeks. You can count on BC trying to set up Gauthier for a one time bomb at least two times on every power-play- it reminds me of what they did with Cam Atkinson when he was playing here. On one of BC's power-plays in the second period, I thought Gauthier made a nice play when he basically shot the puck real low with the intention of creating a juicy rebound- which came to fruition, but one of BC's net front forwards was unable to bang it home. When #19 has the puck, he is a threat to score every time and it makes this BC team significantly better, obviously. 

UMass tied the game around the ten minute mark of the first period on a breakaway goal (during a power-play) from Michael Cameron. Like I said in my tweet, I thought BC had a good penalty kill going, preventing UMass from generating a ton of great looks, but then one of their forwards just turned it over in the neutral zone when he probably should have just iced the puck and it led directly to the UMass goal. This same play happened against BU a few weeks ago- a BC forward had the puck towards the tail end of the kill, but they got too fancy with it, turned it over, and it ended up in the back of the net. One thing I noticed was that both Nikita Nesterenko and Colby Ambrosio were benched for the first ten minutes of the game- I am not going to speculate as to what happened there as I have no idea. 

BC took the 2-1 lead shortly after UMass tied it thanks a power-play goal from Cam Burke, his first as an Eagle. BC's power-play was coming to an end, but Lukas Gustafsson made a really nice play, finding Burke in the slot for a redirection. BC's power-play has been great all year (it is now #13 in the country), but the majority of that success has been because of the top unit. It was great to see their #2 unit put a big goal on the board. Furthermore, I'll add that I thought the line of O'Neill-Burke-Jellvik was probably BC's best last night. They generated some high quality chances and were solid in their own end. 

BC's best period was the middle stanza- they controlled the play and outshot the Minutemen 16-8 during the frame. They were finally able to capitalize on one of their chances, when Oskar Jellvik took advantage of a fortuitous bounce off of the official and found Burke in the slot, who potted home his second goal of the game and of the season. Like I said earlier in the year, this may not be the most skilled third line BC has ever had (the combinations have shifted a bit, but Burke and O'Neill have been together all season), but when they're playing like that, it adds a different dimension to this team. I thought it was certainly their best game of the season. 

Now, the third period was not exactly a lesson in how to close out a hockey game. If we are being honest, they were a bit lucky that neither of those huge hits were called in the last two minutes of the game. The referees were probably a bit hesitant to call another penalty on BC given that the Eagles had already taken three in the first eighteen minutes of the period. BC had a power-play at the end of the second that bled into the start of the third, which was their prime opportunity to put the game on ice and even though they got two nice chances, UMass was able to escape scratch free. Shortly after BC's power-play expired at the start of the third, UMass got a power-play of their own when Eamon Powell went off for what I thought was an extremely weak tripping call. As they did for seemingly every face-off in the third period, UMass won it, worked it around the point for a few seconds, and then star defenseman Ryan Ufko fired one past Mitch Benson to make it a one goal game. I originally thought the puck deflected off of a BC defenseman, but I think it just beat Benson clean- he could not see the puck. I was very impressed with Ufko, who also starred at the World Jr Championships. I thought he was the best player for the Minutemen last night. 

After that goal, BC just started to unravel by taking stupid penalties. The majority of the period was played in BC's end (the shots were only close because of BC's power-play at the end of the period) and they just decided to take some dumb penalties that would have allowed UMass to tie it up if it wasn't for some really good penalty killing from the Eagles. Benson also made two or three huge saves late in the period- he continues to give BC a chance in almost every game he plays in. 

As I said in the previous paragraph, there were two huge hits late in the third, a major collision at center ice involving Ufko and another in the BC end that, I believe, was the hit Greg Carvel asked to be reviewed for a major. It was a gamble by the UMass coach- you win the challenge, you get a 6 on 4 with a minute left and all the momentum. You lose it, which he did, BC gets a power-play and can just run out the clock. To be honest, I did not think the hit UMass wanted to review was a penalty, but the hit at center ice involving Ufko was definitely a closer call. Either way, BC needs to stop taking ridiculous penalties that just allow teams to crawl back into games. Don't get me wrong, they take fewer penalties this year than they did a season ago, but it's the costly ones in the third period that are going to come back to haunt them if they don't cut it out. The Eagles added an empty netter, courtesy of Eamon Powell, to seal the deal. 

I mean, if you asked me if I would take #20 in the pairwise rankings on January 8th, I'd sign up for it right away. This team plays hard night in and night out and they're starting to really gel as a unit- all four lines are playing high level hockey. Look at BC's fourth line for example- guys like Joyce and Posma are their most consistent penalty killers along with Kuntar. Some players, like Andre Gasseau and Marshall Warren, are playing much better at the moment than they were earlier in the season. Think about how many duds BC had a year ago- losses to Bentley, Colorado College, UNH (a couple times), Maine (a couple times), and Vermont were not sights the behold! Now, they could very well struggle coming down the stretch, but outside of the second Merrimack game, this team has brought it each night and they deserve a lot of credit for that, as does the coaching staff. They have three games coming up now that they frankly should win, although Sacred Heart is going to be flying around next Saturday with the opening of their beautiful new rink. If BC can continue to build up momentum for BU weekend in a couple weeks, they're going to put themselves in a good position to make a run at the NCAAs, which is not something I thought would happen in October. 

Go Eagles