BU starting Hockey East stretch against Merrimack and BC

The Boston University men’s hockey team has finished its non-conference slate and will be facing Hockey East and Beanpot tournament foes for the remainder of the regular season. The Terriers are kicking off this high-stakes stretch with visits to Merrimack College and Boston College this weekend.

BU (7-7-5, 4-3-4 Hockey East) opened the second leg of the season last week with a 3-2 overtime win over Brown University at Agganis Arena. But a game at Dartmouth College on Saturday tripped up the Terriers, who squandered a three-goal lead en route to a 5-4 defeat.

Heading into Hockey East action for five games before the Beanpot, BU currently sits sixth out of 11 teams in the division and will be looking to gain critical points against the tenth-place Merrimack Warriors (5-14-2, 3-6-2 Hockey East) and fifth-place BC Eagles (13-5, 7-3 Hockey East).

The teams have experienced very different seasons thus far. Merrimack has allowed the most goals of any Hockey East squad with 75 shots beating the Warrior goaltenders, headlined by freshmen goaltenders Troy Kobryn and Jere Huhtamaa, who carry save percentages of .894 and .863 respectively.

On the other end of the leaderboard, BC has allowed a league-low of 37 goals. Freshman netminder Spencer Knight holds Hockey East’s second-best save percentage at .937. That mark ranks seventh among all goaltenders nationwide, as does Knight’s goals-against average of 1.83.

Offensively, the Eagles have been led by senior forward David Cotton and junior forward Logan Hutsko, who have both recorded 10 goals this season. Cotton leads BC with 25 points and senior forward Julius Mattila is close behind with 24 after racking up a team-leading 19 assists.

Scoring hasn’t come so easily in for Merrimack, where Warrior senior forward Tyler Irvine’s eight goals and 15 points are both the top totals on the team. Freshman defenseman Declan Carlile has been a bright spot on the blue line for the Warriors, posting a team-best 11 assists.

In the midst of their longest road stretch of the season – a mere three games – the Terriers,  who have won just one of seven away games so far this season, will be aiming to improve on an underwhelming record on the road. After winning their season-opener at Union College, BU has not won outside of Agganis Arena.

The Terriers are travelling to play Merrimack on Friday at Lawler Rink in North Andover and BC on Saturday at Kelley Rink in Chestnut Hill. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. 

The Boston Hockey Blog will be traveling to provide coverage for you on Twitter, @BOShockeyblog, and through our in-game live blog. Click here for our live blog from Merrimack on Friday and click here for our live blog from Boston College on Saturday.