The Boston University men’s hockey team faced off in the 275th and 276th editions of the Battle of Comm. Ave. on Friday and Saturday night respectively. The Terriers emerged with a split after both teams found success on the other’s home ice.
On Friday, BU found itself in an early 2-0 deficit after the Eagles scored two goals minutes into the contest. However, the Terriers came back with three goals in the first period, including a short-handed bid by freshman forward Brady Tkachuk. BU didn’t stop there as it netted four more goals to cap the 7-4 win.
Saturday night started similarly with BC getting on the board twice without response from the Terriers. Freshman forward Shane Bowers scored BU’s lone tally of the night, but the Eagles found the back of the net once again to put the Terriers in another two-goal deficit, one they would not come back from in the eventual 4-1 loss.
BU will finish off 2017 with a home-and-home series against the No. 18 University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Read our articles from the weekend below:
Friday’s Articles
Recap – “BU emerges with seven goals to beat BC at Conte Forum 7-4”
Sider on the Terriers’ successful comeback – “Men’s hockey making a habit of recovering from early deficits”
Saturday’s Articles
Recap – “Men’s hockey splits series with Boston College after 4-1 home loss”
Sider on BU’s lacking power play – “Men’s hockey power play falls short against No. 15 BC on Saturday night”
Here are some Twitter posts, highlights and post-game press conferences from the weekend:
Final score tonight: 7-4 BU. Game two of the series will continue tomorrow night down the street at Agganis Arena. pic.twitter.com/1EGjClg02Y
— Boston Hockey Blog (@BOShockeyblog) December 2, 2017
BATTLE OF COMMONWEALTH AVENUE!@TerrierHockey with the 7-4 victory tonight against Boston College. pic.twitter.com/OkMwiyLb6C
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) December 2, 2017
BU played BC four times last season and emerged with three wins, only falling in the @hockey_east semifinals. Photos by @MaddieMalhotra. pic.twitter.com/CvUnkhxCwp
— Boston Hockey Blog (@BOShockeyblog) December 1, 2017
This is frustrating but I will continue to be positive. One thing is for sure BU can play with any team in the country. I see previous threads blaming defense coach or goalie. This game is more complicated then that. BU will be ok here’s why . we have the best goalie in the country. Yes his numbers are down but 3/4 of his goals allowed are from turnovers or 2nd or 3rd rebounds. I think the D who are great will only get better. Fabro and Krys have been awesome all year and hickey played great Friday . Where we are struggling when our opponents have the puck in our zone we tend to reach to much then one guy overcommits and the open guy always seems to get it. I’m sure coach is probably tired of talking about this and I’m sure he works on it in practice a lot. Eventually we will get better we are too good not to get better. Also when our D has the puck below face off dots they have no outlet to pass too we are crisscrossing all over the place often with our backs to the puck carrier. If we don’t turn it over we throw it up to a forward who is sitting on half wall and everyone in the rink even the guy in the parking lot can see where the puck is going. This will get better. I like our neutral zone play the last few games north south with our speed is our best bet early on we would try crazy cute passes in neutral zone I’m glad we have gotten away from that. I’m concerned curry did not play this weekend could have used his tenacious play. We also need to get higher quality scoring chances our d needs to walk the puck in more get the other team to overcomit. This team is getting better bottom line is we need to play smarter. Go bu?
Four points:
First: With many of the d-zone possessions on Friday night, it seemed we worked hard to regain control of the puck, had ample time and space to move it out and transition, then somehow the puck never got cleared. Very annoying and frustrating to see. Although we lost on Saturday, I saw less of that.
Second: Cockerill is definitely becoming a legit top-six forward. Excellent speed, very elusive and gets to the right spots for goals. I’ve seen his creativity improve a great deal over these two months.
Third: Was it my laptop or was the audio on Terrier TV (Saturday’s game) constantly breaking up? That was awful!
Fourth: This BHB site seems to be having tech problems. Many times I try to load an article and it takes forever and then I get “database error” appearing at the top of my screen. Has anyone else experienced this?
Hi everyone! Just replying to Glenn because he mentioned this directly, but this goes out to everyone. Firstly, thank you for all of your support over the past semester. We really appreciate your thoughts and feedback.
Secondly, we sincerely apologize for all of the blog’s technical difficulties. Boston Hockey Blog is connected to The Daily Free Press, and FreeP’s website has been on/off for quite some time so that’s why things have been slow or not loading. Everything next semester should up and running as normal. Thanks for being patient and hanging in there with the blog.
Thanks Nikki!
Yea, Glenn, that “Terrier TV ” is awful. I can pick up almost anything on my computer but this Terrier TV is awful. And also on getting the blog. I think this is one of the reasons so few are on the live blog as they can not get it. BU Hockey down as far as interest and College Hockey in general. One reason is that there is very little exposure on broadcast TV. Another is th fact that so many stars leave and go to NHL, Jr.’s, and AHL. Losing JFK to the AHL really hurt. The quality of play has suffered for sure. I say this as someone who, I am sure, is the oldest by far BU hockey fan here. When I was in the area I saw almost all home and many away games. Too far away now to get to games. Blog and “Radio”, “Terrier TV” only way to follow games. Really appreciate the line charts provide by BHB. Thanx Guys. AS to the “radio” broadcast that too has constantly gone off especially when it is delayed broadcast at home with the TV behind it. Bernie must be upset but as a BU employee he can not say anything. To Colin above, Love all BU fans but our goalie is average or sub average and out D has not played well at all considering their talent and experience. Why not put Fabbro up front as we have plenty of good D men but need more talent up front.???
We should not put in my opinion a all American defenseman at forward son of Cesar what for. I stated above how good he is at defense. it bothers me to no end when people knock jake I’m telling you and anyone else if I’m putting together a college team and I can pick any goalie in the country he’s my guy. ?
Colin, how many more games would we have won if Woll was in goal for us. Let’s be honest. He lets in too many goals on his glove side and is not very athletic about the net.
SoCC, I agree about Jake having some problems with goals allowed high and to his glove side. Having said that, since both Woll and Oettinger began playing for their respective schools last season, Oettinger has clearly outplayed him in all the BU versus BC games … with the exception of Saturday evening.
In response son of Cesar I don’t think we would have one any more. Joe is a great goalie but jakes my guy. His only weakness is our mental lapses in our net. We are playing better now we will be ok?
Sorry about last thread I was multitasking and messed it up in response I don’t think we would have won any more games if joe was in net. We make mental lapses in our D zone which leads to pucks in the back of our net. I don’t blame jake for them as these guys are wide open and often score on rebounds. As I said we are playing better I will remain positive. Go.bu?
Colin – with all due respect, you are the biggest jake oettinger apologist…I think SOCC is way too harsh calling him average, but he makes legitimate points about jake’s shortcomings…I like jake, I think he’s one of the better goalies we’ve ever had, but the timing of some of the goals he’s given up this year has deflated the team…he may not have lost some of the games, but he hasn’t really won any like he did last year…he’s a top notch talent but it’s time to admit he hasn’t lived up to expectations…this is a knock on jake, he’s not even 20 for crying out loud, BUT he’s must improve or this season will end way too soon…this team will only go as far as jake and Harper takes them…when Harper gets shut down, we can’t score
Jakes numbers will improve because the team will improve. I really do believe that. I’m his biggest supporter because I believe in him and this team. ?
colin
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
take the shades off and look at reality
Vinnie BU hockey is my reality ever since I was a little boy I eat sleep breathe BU hockey. Why not be optimistic this team has a great make up. They are coached by a great group. I love going to the rink watching them. If and when BU turns it around won’t you feel funny trying to climb back on board the ship. I would rather go down with the ship then give up on them. This team will make a run?
depends on what you mean by a run. what kind of run? a beanpole run? a top 4 hockey east finish run? a hockey east title run? a qualify for the ncaa’s run? a frozen four run? an ncaa title run? what kind of run are you talking about, Colin? you have been talking a run for awhile and i am still waiting. name the run, colin, cuz if you are talking about some 3 game win streak, then that is what i call futile optimism
i love BU too, but to this point, this first half of the season has been a yawner. but i am not going to be drooling over them just because they are my team. not a big fan of rose colored glasses analysis
and finally, i can not stand this world junior hype. six of our guys won a gold medal last, but the BU team won no trophies. bellows played like a world beater, but for us he was an offensive zone penalty waiting to happen. some might say the exposure is good for recruiting. i say BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. show me the money for the scarlet and white. they DON’T come back as better players because they are playing against kids their age. yes they beat canada but they also got swept by merrimack. i care about beating merrimack, not gold medals.
where is larry when we need him? 🙂
Vinnie,
I am trying to remain fair and balanced. I will comment after the next two games during the semester break . However , I agree with all your thoughts.( 1000%)
It is a result oriented business. The team record speaks for itself. ( Only two more victories then B.U. players participating in this years , junior tournament. )
FYI, Keiffer Bellows was statistically averaging over a point a game the last time I looked and is on the team.
Vinnie I’m confused of why we are talking about last year. And the lack of winning enough trophies. Last years team was successful they were one ot away from a frozen four. I get it they had the talent to win it all, but let’s be realistic every team in the tournament has the talant to win. It’s not like we lost to Perkins school for the blind. And as to this year yes I am optimistic and hopeful we can turn it around why not be this team has shown me they can be a good team. No one is happy with the way things are going but that does not mean throw up the white flag. We are in the thick of things in hockey east. To answer one of your questions yes I would be thrilled with a little win streak. Winning is a habit produced from confidence that is exactly what this team needs. I will say this our forwards are looking much better in the offensive zone I have really liked melanson game. Go get em terriers ?