BU practices at Walter Brown Arena earlier this season. Photo by Brady Gardner.
After a three-week break from game action, the Boston University men’s hockey team (6-6-5, 4-3-4 Hockey East) will end 2019 with an exhibition game against Concordia University (6-7-3) at Walter Brown Arena on December 29.
Billed as a “throwback game” in the 34-year home of Terriers, this will be the first time the BU men’s team has dropped the puck at Walter Brown Arena since a similar exhibition game in 2014. That contest resulted in a 5-2 win over the USA World Juniors squad, and on January 3, BU will pay a visit to the home of Team USA in Plymouth, Michigan when they face the USA Under-18 Team for their second and final friendly on the 2019-20 schedule.
Hailing from Montreal, Concordia has traveled to Boston twice to meet BU for exhibitions in 1989 and 2002. BU was victorious on both occasions, winning 8-2 and 2-0, respectively. In the 17 years since these teams last squared off, the Stingers have had six winning seasons and are currently on a three-year streak of finishing above .500, posting annual win totals of 19, 18 and 15 since the 2017-18 campaign.
First-year forward Tyler Hylland leads the Stingers with nine goals, nine assists, and 18 points this season. Sophomore defenseman Bradley Lalonde has pitched in with a team-leading four power-play goals, while first-year forward Liam Murphy nearly doubles all other Stingers with 40 penalty minutes. In goal, senior Marc-Antoine Turcotte holds a 2.97 goals-against average and .913 save percentage through 11 starts.
BU will be without freshman forward Trevor Zegras, who is on international duty with the United States at the World Junior Championship in the Czech Republic. As is often the case in exhibition games, this meeting with Concordia could be an opportunity for players who are often scratched from the lineup to get some game time.
Puck drop at Walter Brown Arena is set for 5 p.m. on Sunday, December 29. In the spirit of recognizing BU hockey history at this throwback game, the Travis Roy Foundation will be taking donations at the arena. Fans both at home and in attendance can tune in to our live blog for constant coverage of the game as it happens.
I’m looking forward to seeing guys get some opportunities tomorrow who otherwise would not get playing time. The kids work hard in practice and school all year and it’s nice to be able to support them when they get some much deserved playing time. I love the idea of the scrimmages this time of year it allows us to get our feet back under us. Go bu 🐾