The Top Five Moments from Saturday’s tie against Vermont

The Boston University men’s hockey team tied the University of Vermont 3-3 on Saturday afternoon at Agganis Arena. Here’s what I picked out as the top five moments from the game.

5. Sam Stevens gets his first at BU

Taking over for the scratched Trevor Zegras on the Terrier top line, freshman forward Sam Stevens took no time to capitalize on his opportunity atop the BU depth chart. Less than three minutes into the first, Stevens got on the end of a cross-ice feed from freshman defenseman Dom Fensore, who had tallied his first goal as a Terrier the night before. The early tally opened the floodgates for Stevens, who got another in the second period.

4. Chabot and Kotkansalo ejected after high hits

Within a minute of each other in the game’s early stages, senior forward Gabe Chabot and junior defenseman Kasper Kotkansalo both hit the showers early for making contact to the heads of a pair of Catamounts. Both penalties were originally assessed as minor penalties, but upon video reviews for both plays, the referees assessed five-minute major penalties to both BU upperclassmen. Making it four major penalties in three games, these infractions put the Terriers down 5-on-3 for four minutes.

3. Evers gets the UVM power play on the board

Head coach Kevin Sneddon said on Friday night that the Catamount power play just needed one lucky bounce to get out of the slump they were on. On an extended 5-on-3 opportunity with nine minutes left in the first, junior defenseman Christian Evers needed no luck to get the Catamounts’ first goal of the series, beating graduate goaltender Sam Tucker to the glove side to draw UVM even. Coach Sneddon’s theory proved to be right, as Catamounts struck again on a power play in the second period.

2. Farrance stays hot

With the game tied 2-2 halfway through the second period, junior defenseman David Farrance pitched in with his eighth power play goal of the season to give BU the lead. After a faceoff win, the Predators prospect wheeled and unleased a laser to the top right corner. Associate head coach Paul Pearl pointed out after Friday’s game that Farrance continues to produce despite the attention he gets from the opposition, and the junior confirmed his coach’s observation with his goal on Saturday.

1. Esposito ties it late for Vermont

Outshooting BU by close to ten at the time, the Catamounts’ persistence paid off when junior forward Alex Esposito gloved down a lofted pass from freshman forward William Lemay and knocked it in to bring UVM even with BU at 3-3 with four minutes left in regulation. The third goal of the game for the Catamounts tied their most goals in a conference contest this season; the last three-goal night came in a 5-3 loss against the University of Massachusetts at Lowell at the start of November.

Moving out of conference competition, BU will host Sacred Heart on Tuesday night at 7 pm.