Month: February 2018

State of the Terriers’ offense after the regular season

Well folks, we made it through the regular season. With the news of sophomore forward Patrick Harper being ruled out for the rest of the season, Liam and I have seen a lot of concern the scoring depth. Here we have outlined the top five leaders in the offensive stats. If Harper is in the top five, we have included the person who finished sixth in the category

Points

1. Junior forward and assistant captain Bobo Carpenter takes the top spot with 30 points.

T2. Despite missing four games this season for the Olympics, junior forward and assistant captain Jordan Greenway finished tied for second with 27 points. Freshman forward Shane Bowers also picked up 27 points. Bowers finished second in the Hockey East among freshmen.

 T3. We have a tie between sophomore defenseman Dante Fabbro and freshman forward Brady Tkachuk. Both had 26 points in the regular season. Fabbro finished second in Hockey East among defensmen. Tkachuk finished third among freshmen.

Goals

1. Carpenter once again takes the top spot here, finding the back of the net 18 times. 

2. Bowers finds himself with 16 goals this season. Bowers finished third in the country among freshmen.

3. Greenway lit the lamp 10 times this season.

4. With nine goals, Fabbro finished tied for fourth in the country among blue liners and at the top of the conference.

5. Harper ended the season fifth on the team with eight tallies

*6. Despite not scoring a goal until the fourteenth goal of the season, Tkachuk finished the season with seven goals. He finished tied for tenth among freshmen nationally. 

 

 

Assists

1. Tkachuk takes the top spot with 19 helpers. He finished tied for eighth in the country among rookies and led the conference among freshmen

T2. Greenway finished the season second on the team tied with Fabbro with 17 assists. Fabbro finished tied for fourth in the conference among defensemen.

4.  Sophomore defenseman Chad Krys finished fourth on the Terriers with 16 assists. Which had him sixth in the conference among blue liners.

5. Harper finished with the season with 13 assists

*6.  Carpenter finished his strong junior season with 12 assists.

Power play goals

1. Carpenter finished fifth in the conference with seven power play goals.

T2. Fabbro led all Terrier defensemen with four goals on the power play, Harper also finished with four goals on the power play. 

T3. Greenway, Krys and Bowers all found the back of the net three times this season with the man advantage.

Short handed goals

1. Once again Carpenter led the way. He had two short handed goals this season and finished tied for third in the Hockey East

T2. Greenway and Tkachuk had a short handed goal this season.

Hat-Tricks

1. Carpenter finished tied for first in the conference with two three-goal games

2. Fabbro had one of two hat-tricks from the blue line in the conference.

Breakdown by class

1. Freshmen led the way with 109 points this season. They combined for 40 goals and 69 assists.

2. Sophomores combined for 81 points with 26 goals and 55 assists.

3. Despite having three players, the junior class of Carpenter, forward Ryan Cloonan and Greenway combined for 58 points with 28 goals and 30 assists.

4. In their final season at BU, the seniors had 38 points off 11 goals and 27 assists.

As a team, BU finished the season second in scoring offense with 3.09 goals per game and fifteenth nationally

Their power play also finished second converting on 22.6 percent of its chances. It also finished ninth in the nation with its power play.

 

Live Blog: BU vs Vermont

In the second to last game of the regular the season, the Boston University men’s hockey team takes on the Vermont Catamount check out Matt’s preview here.. Due UConn’s loss last night, the Terriers will either be the four or the five seed in the playoffs and have secured a bye into the Hockey East Quarterfinals.

In order to gain home ice, the BU needs to finish with one more point than the University of Maine this weekend. We will be providing updates from their games this weekend on our live blog.

Culver Academy’s Dominic Vidoli commits to BU

The Boston University men’s hockey team just added a stellar find to their 2018 recruiting class as Culver Military Academy Prep defenseman Dominic Vidoli announced his commitment to join the Terrier family.

Vidoli is a grinder in a 6’0”, 170-pound frame, a force when it comes to corralling loose pucks and a terror on the boards. The Strongsville, Ohio native is willing to put his body on the line to stop a puck from sailing towards the net and should be someone Terriers head coach David Quinn can rely on to make sound decisions in the defensive zone.

In his first full season with Culver Academy in 2016-17, Vidoli logged four goals and four assists while compiling a +16 plus-minus rating in his time on the ice.

Vidoli improved his puck-handling and passing skills over the summer, and it has showed in the first 26 games of this season. The left-hander has poured in nine goals and 25 assists, becoming a staple of the Culver offensive attack.

With the likes of defenseman Brien Diffley and John MacLeod graduating, expect Vidoli to get a chance at filling in the minutes that these two will void. Should he impress over the summer and gel with his fellow defenseman, Vidoli could become a common member of the defensive third line in 2018-19.

 

 

Features published while the Blog was down

Although the blog was down for most of the season, that didn’t stop us from publishing articles on The Daily Free Press’ main website. In this post you can find Matt’s feature on junior forward and assistant captain Bobo Carpenter  and his 20 questions with freshman forward Brady Tkachuk.

Don’t forget to check out Liam’s article on freshman defenseman Kasper Kotkansalo as well as Liam’s most recent artcie on the BU Pep Band.

We also have one more for you readers. Before she became the Sports Editor for the FreeP, Nikki wrote a feature on sophomore defensemen Chad Krys and Dante Fabbro.

Please be advised while reading these articles that the records and stats are accurate at the time of being published which could be different as of today.

Liam and I do have some more cool stories that we are currently working and they will be published soon.

An apology to our readers

Liam and I would like to personally apologize for the frustrations that you, our readers, had this year while attempting to access our blog. During the fall semester, while I was acting as the sports editor for The Daily Free Press, the website for the newspaper started experiencing issues which made it almost impossible to access the FreeP’s website. Due to the Boston Hockey Blog being an extension of the FreeP, our website also had issues. Being the sports editor, I sat in on meetings with the rest of the editorial board and we all shared the same frustrations about the website.

 

Over the course of the season, both Liam and I know that a large amount of readers became frustrated with their inability to go onto our website and follow the team. Personally, I made it a point to reach out to every person who shared their frustration with us via a direct message either through Facebook or Twitter. During those interactions with the readers, I felt awful that people were could not follow the team the way they have done for years. If any regular readers of our blog lost faith in us due to the issues with the website and ultimately decided not to log onto our website anymore, both Liam and I feel truly awful.

 

However, we would personally like to thank all the readers who stuck with us during our issues — those who were persistent in trying to log on even when they had the message “error establishing database connection.” You are all the reason we do this. You are all why both Liam and I love covering the team so much. Yes, we are both avid sports fans, but having such a loyal base of readers makes covering the Boston University men’s hockey team so extra special. Although there are only a few games left this season, Liam and I promise to cover the team the way you came to expect the blog to do so.

 

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to reach out to Matt at [email protected].

Live Blog: BU vs Merrimack

After dropping last night’s game to UConn, the No.20 Boston University men’s hockey team travels to North Andover looking to sweep the season series against Merrimack College.

Live Blog Live Blog: BU vs Merrimack
 

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Live Blog: BU vs UMass

Coming off a thrilling double overtime win in the Beanpot opening round Monday, the Boston University men’s hockey team takes on UMass in a rematch of last Friday. 

Live Blog Live Blog: BU vs UMass
 

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Last year Terriers: Where are they now?

The first round of the annual Beanpot tournament is over, which means that there are only a few weeks left of the Boston University men’s hockey regular season. Looking forward, BU will take on No. 11 Northeastern University Monday night in the Beanpot Championship. After, the Terriers will only have conference matchups during the regular season.

As this blog has done in the past, Liam and Matt thought it would be a good idea to update the Boston Hockey Blog faithful on what the members of last year’s team, who do not wear the scarlet and white, are up to.

Oskar Andrén – Ferris State University
Andrén transferred to Ferris State University and has not appeared in a game for the team this season.

Kieffer Bellows – Portland Winterhawks

The former first round pick left BU to play junior hockey for the Portland Winterhawks in the Western Hockey League. His 52 points (26g and 26a) have him third on the Winterhawks this season.

Bellows is known for his shot and it was on full display at the World Junior Championship, where he had nine goals over the seven games. He also secured a spot on the IIHF All-Star Team.

He signed an entry-level contract with the New York Islanders back in September.

Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson – Providence Bruins

The Terriers’ former assistant captain is currently skating for the Providence Bruins. He is currently tied for second with 13 goals and his 28 points are good for fourth.

Tommy Kelley – Worcester Railers

Kelley has split time this year with the Manchester Monarchs, Cincinnati Cyclones, Atlanta Gladiators and Worcester Railers.

In 13 games this year, he has two goals and two assists.

Clayton Keller – Arizona Coyotes

The former No. 7 draft pick is currently is lighting up the score sheets in the NHL. The 19-year-old rookie currently leads his team in points and is fourth among rookies with 36. He also leads the Coyotes with 14 points and 22 assists.

He is considered among the front runners for the Calder Trophy.

Connor LaCouvee – Minnesota State University

After backing up then freshman goaltender Jake Oettinger last season, LaCouvee transferred to Minnesota State University and is now their starting goaltender.

LaCouvee has appeared in 19 games this season, and has a 1.92 goals against average and .913 goal save percentage this season.

He returned to Agganis Arena in October and helped guide Mankato to a sweep of the Terriers. In his one appearance in the series, he saved 32 shots in the 6-3 victory.

Charlie McAvoy – Boston Bruins

The first year blueliner often skates among the first defensive pairing with Bruins captain Zdeno Chara. McAvoy recently returned to the lineup after missing sometime due to a heart procedure.

On the season, McAvoy has 25 points thanks to five goals and 20 assists. He is also a strong candidate for the Calder Trophy.

Johnny McDermott – Providence College

McDermott announced he will continue his NCAA career with Hockey East foe No. 9 Providence College.

Nick Roberto – South Carolina Stingrays
The Wakefield native signed to play with the South Carolina Stingrays over the summer. In 33 games, he has 11 points.

Doyle Somerby – Cleveland Monsters

Last season’s captain, Doyle Somerby, signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets in August 2017 after not signing his entry-level contract with the New York Islanders.

He is currently skating for their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, and has six assists so far on the season.

Live Blog: BU vs Harvard

Riding a seven-game winning streak, the Boston University men’s hockey team will take on Harvard University in the Beanpot opening round. Last year, the Crimson beat BU in the championship round and the two teams have not played since.

Live Blog Live Blog: BU vs Harvard
 

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