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In an exhibition matchup against the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 team, the No. 6 Boston University men’s hockey team got a chance to discover some of its shortcomings.
The 7-4 final in favor of Team USA doesn’t count in BU’s standings, luckily for the Terriers, but BU head coach David Quinn said he planned to mix and match his lineups throughout the game.
“It’s definitely going to take some time to figure out who’s going to play with who and what the line combinations will be,” Quinn said.
BU gets another swing on Saturday night, with a regular-season matchup against the University of Wisconsin, but for now, here’s some of what we didn’t like, and some of what we thought was promising:
Minuses
Defensive downfalls
Sophomore defenseman Brandon Fortunato, in his first game back after being benched last weekend, was an astounding minus-4 on the evening, while his classmate and defensive partner from last season, Brandon Hickey, was a minus-2. Junior defenseman Doyle Somerby and sophomore defenseman John MacLeod were both minus-1 on the night.
On top of that, BU allowed Team USA to score seven goals on just 22 shots. For what was one of the team’s strengths last year, the defense has looked shaky thus far. Senior forward Ahti Oksanen said following the game that BU spent too much time puckwatching and focused on offense instead of being defense-minded.
That was evident in BU’s plethora of turnovers, missed coverages and sloppy puckhandling. It was even more evident in the final goal total.
Third period
We wrote an exhausting number of articles last season about how BU is a “third-period team” and plays its best hockey in the final frame. Well, so far, the Terriers’ third-period fate appears to be the opposite.
Obviously, it’s a small sample size, so it’s hard to judge too much. But so far, BU has looked pretty lost in its past two games in the final period. Against Union College last Saturday, BU allowed three goals (including an empty-netter) in the third; Friday night, against Team USA, the Terriers gave up three goals as well.
Again, much of that goes back to what Oksanen said about the defensive lapses.
Immaturity
Quinn referred to the Terriers’ play as “immature” and “high-risk” following the game. You can read more about that in Andrew’s sidebar.
Pluses
The future is bright
The U-18 team starred four BU recruits: forwards and linemates Kieffer Bellows and Clayton Keller, defenseman Chad Krys and goaltender Jake Oettinger. All four certainly had a heavy impact in Friday’s game.
Bellows had two goals and an assist on the night, while Keller added three helpers. Krys had an assist on the night. Oettinger impressed in net, swatting away all but four of BU’s 45 attempts.
Quinn cannot comment directly on the BU commits, but praised the talent of the team as a whole.
“Yeah, that’s a good team over there,” Quinn said. “They’re gonna have some guys that were impactful I think will be good college players.”
First line
Of BU’s four goals on the evening, the first line was responsible for three of them. Oksanen had two goals, senior assistant captain Danny O’Regan had a goal and two assists and freshman left wing Jordan Greenway had two assists.
The line combined for 18 of BU’s 45 shots – Oksanen led the way with seven total shots, while Greenway had six shots and O’Regan had five. Oksanen had four shots in the third period and Greenway also had four shots reach goal in the second period alone.
So far, Oksanen said, he’s enjoyed how the line has meshed.
“I really enjoy playing with Danny and Greenway,” Oksanen said. “And we know we’re gonna be really good. All three of us know we can be the best line in college hockey.
“But the thing is, we’re not that right now. We still have a lot to work on.”