Following the deflating 7-3 loss of last night’s game, the Boston University men’s hockey team bounced back claiming a 6-4 victory over the Providence College Friars. Each team came out of this weekend’s series with a win; the Terrier’s with their first of the season.
Sophomore forwards Markus Boguslavsky and Robert Mastrosimone as well as freshman defenseman Cade Webber entered the lineup for their first games this season; Webber making his collegiate debut.
After being pulled from the net late in yesterday’s match, freshman goaltender Drew Commesso started tonight’s game. In the postgame press conference head coach Albie O’Connell said the pull was intended to rest Commesso in anticipation of this evening’s start.
“I wanted to give him the opportunity to rebound and see what his mental make-up was,” O’Connell said.
Commesso ended the night with an impressive 32 saves on 36 shots.
Donning their scarlet sweaters, the Terriers kicked the game off with energy and scored 3:04 into the first period. Senior defenseman David Farrance’s shot from the point was deflected by redshirt junior forward Ty Amonte to put the squad on the scoreboard.
Soon after, Farrance netted a power play goal off of a shot similar to his last with eyes for the back of the net. Coming off a five-goal weekend against the Friar’s last season, it seems Providence is the place to be for the defenseman.
“I think David’s the best player in college hockey, personally,” O’Connell said. “He’s got the ability to change a game, control the play, make a difference.”
On the power play once again, a cross-ice pass from Domenick Fensore met the tape of sophomore forward Jay O’Brien who scored the Terrier’s third goal in just over six minutes––his second of the weekend.
Providence earned their first tally, also on the power play, from freshman defenseman Uula Ruikka, and their second less than a minute later from junior forward and captain Tyce Thompson on their third consecutive man advantage.
Just twenty seconds later, senior forward and captain Logan Cockerill broke out of the defensive zone with three strong slides and dumped the puck five-hole for a short-handed goal. This was the fourth short-handed goal the Friars have given up this season.
With six goals in the first, it was an entertaining period and brought a higher level of intensity than last night’s competition.
Providence started the second on the power play after Fensore took a roughing penalty with 37.6 seconds left in the first, however no goals were produced from this advantage.
BU had an aggressive forecheck on the boards and were forcing turnovers in what turned out to be a scrappier second period.
The Friars began to tighten the Terrier’s lead with a goal at 15:37. Senior defenseman Ben Mirageas lobbed a cross ice pass through the neutral zone to sophomore forward Craig Needham who sounded the goal horn to make the score 4-3.
The second ended with BU leading 5-4 after goals from Markus Boguslavsky of the Terriers and Matt Koopman of the Friars.
Between the second and third period, David Farrance said, “We want to have an identity where we close games out.” The team did just that in the last twenty minutes of play.
The Terriers held off Providence’s offense for the entirety of the third, and finished the game off with an empty net goal from Logan Cockerill with 1.5 seconds left in the matchup.
O’Connell was happy with what he saw out of his team this weekend after only practicing four times in the past thirty five days, and was excited for his players’ success.
“I’m just happy for not only the team but for the captains, the seniors, the guys that have had a lot of normalcy over the past three years and now we’re obviously in a very strange year so I’m really psyched for them,” he said.
The team hopes to build off of tonight’s victory in their next game against UMass Lowell on January 15th.
Thank you Belle first the tv feed was significantly better last night. I loved the fight by bu. We looked sharp at times and other times hesitant I think that’s to be expected from a young team with little game experience together. You can tell they have some talented kids just look at the power play puck movement. In my opinion this team will continue to keep making strides forward. Getting a now closer look at this team they remind me of a coach Umile type style team size on defense and fast shifty forwards I like the team our coaches have put together but give them time to coach them. This year is unlike any other it has been especially tough on me personally so I’m sure it’s difficult for these kids although every program is dealing with covid this club has been hit especially hard . I’m just so excited to see bu hockey back. Nice win let’s string a few of these together. Go bu🐾
Colin is right about the talent up front. Only problem is the D and , dare I say it, the goal tending.
Crazy we have so much depth In a year we may not play 12 games.
Tv from BUwas awful.one camera with no close up action does not make it. We do have a School of Communications, right?
i watched the video highlights a number of times. i hope camesso settles down. sure wish we had crotty and konkansalo to fortify the D with some experience