Written by James Garrison
After one of their biggest games of the year last Saturday, the Boston University Men’s Hockey Team (4-9-2, 3-5-2 HE) returns to Agganis Arena Friday night to face the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (7-7-1, 3-5-1 HE) for a weekend series against a hot Wildcats team.
After Red Hot Hockey last Saturday, the Terriers wrapped up three weekends of games against ranked opponents in UMass, Northeastern, and Cornell. The Terriers seemed to improve their play during that stretch, despite going 1-2-2 during that period.
The Terriers will welcome a Wildcats team that has put together an impressive stretch of wins over the last two weekends. UNH is riding a three-game win streak with wins against Holy Cross, Harvard, and UMass.
The Wildcats’ success has been largely due to the play of senior goaltender Mike Robinson, who was awarded back-to-back “Hockey East Goaltender of the Week” awards. In this three-game stretch, Robinson has had a GAA of 1.22, a save percentage of 0.962, and one shutout.
“Goaltending is a critical part, and UNH is obviously getting some good goaltending,” Head Coach Albie O’Connell said in his weekly media availability when asked about the recent success of Robinson. “I think UNH is doing a good job defending,” O’Connell added.
The Wildcats were not the only ones bringing in the awards this week, as junior defenseman Case McCarthy was awarded “Hockey East Defenseman of the Month” for November. In seven games last month, McCarthy tallied four goals and had one assist for five points.
“[McCarthy is] a leader…a competitive guy…really tough kid,” O’Connell commented. “He can play any style of hockey.”
McCarthy’s award was not the only major recognition that current Terriers received this week as sophomore forward Dylan Peterson and goaltender Drew Commesso were named to Team USA’s preliminary roster for the 2022 World Junior Championship.
“Oh, I think [Commesso’s] their guy,” O’Connell noted. “I don’t think there’s another guy who can potentially play at his caliber.”
Despite below-average numbers for Commesso (4-7-2, .889 SV%, 3.11 GAA), he has been one of the stronger players for the Terriers so far this year. Commesso is looking to rebound, though, after giving up six goals to Cornell in Red Hot Hockey.
Peterson, the Terriers other representative on the preliminary roster, has put together a strong sophomore campaign thus far. In fourteen games, he has six goals and four assists for a total of ten points. Peterson leads the Terriers in goals and is fourth in points.
As the season continues to progress, the standings begin to matter more and more. The Wildcats currently trail the Terriers in the Hockey East standings by only three points. The Terriers will hope to widen that gap this weekend and try to catch up to UConn, who they are only three points behind.
With the upcoming semester break, December will be a much lighter month for BU, who only have three Hockey East matchups this month. After two league matches against UNH this weekend, the Terriers will face off against their Comm Ave rivals, Boston College, next Friday night.
After that, the Terriers have an exhibition matchup against the U.S. National Development Under-18 team and then return to play with a non-conference matchup against Brown on New Year’s Eve.
This weekend will be an interesting test for the Terriers, who have played well and have been competitive against top, nationally-ranked teams as of late but have played down to “lower” level opponents.
The Wildcats have strung together some impressive wins over the last two weekends but had struggled up until that point this season. If the Terriers can continue their strong play of the past few weekends, they should expect different results.
The game is set for Friday night at Agganis Arena with puck drop at 7:30 p.m. The two teams will then travel north for a Saturday night matchup at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H. with puck drop set for 7:00 p.m. Coverage can be found live on Twitter @BOShockeyblog and on Instagram @boston.hockey.blog. Recaps of each game can be found right here at https://hockey.dailyfreepress.com/.
Played down to lower level opponents? Really ? Sadly, I think bu has become a lower level opponent. Let’s deal with current reality not past reputation
James your spot on great article. Bu is playing better and is close to potentially stringing a point streak together. I agree that bu was not playing well when they played some of the early games this season but we were not healthy either. I must say again on this blog bu will need to do the little things to be successful. I would break down the game shift by shift so it doesn’t get away from them keep it simple. Bu will need to push the pace they need to dictate the game to unh. I know the kids are trying I can see it the results will come but don’t sway from the mission plan. Unh has beaten some good teams of late so they won’t give you a win you have to earn it. I will be in the stands cheering for my team now more then ever especially because of the attacks on the program. As always go bu 🐾
Might need a bullhorn Colin
Two pretty even teams but I think we were the better of the two after a sluggish start. Important win. Dominated the 2nd and did enough in the 3rd. Drew was strong. Carry it through to tomorrow, start off flying, and play all 60 minutes.
Mike
Mike I agree the first was a feeling out process for bu . I think that’s a confidence thing for bu. Being down Phillips and O’Brien hurt us they bring a lot of energy. I can’t say enough about O’Brien he just creates offense he is a gifted goal scorer something we need. With him out of the line up and yet another great goalie we needed to do as coach has been saying right along get pucks to the net and get rebounds we scored a goal like that. I was happy with our pace of play throughout after the first 10 minutes. Our Defense was huge Dom and Case helped moved the game north with there skating and shooting skills. Gallager as always is a tough guy to get around defensively and he finds seems very impressive. Vlacic had a very good game and used his body. The most improved player is Webber this kid does all the little things right he’s not flashy but he’s solid . Our Defense has improved significantly and is now our strength. I thought Drew was fantastic the one goal he let in looked weak but from where I was sitting I did not get a great look.
Now enough praise things to look out for tonight. We need to be better on faceoffs especially those in our end . We did not win one face off towards the end of the game. Need to be better and if we loose face off we need to get out to points they had way to much time off of face offs.
The Whit is known as a lake because it is huge bu can skate there should be no feeling out process necessary keep coming at UnH don’t give them a chance to breathe.
Unh will try the second wave play. This play is when forward comes down the boards and stops and pivots at half wall to allow second wave to establish offensive zone. I noticed they did this last night quite a bit and were very successful it establishes them time and space . At the whit they already have space so bu better close down the time by close back checking and D needs to be aware not to collapse down low if that guy breaks D need to react that’s the only complaint I had from our D they did not react well to this play and Unh uses it a lot.
Offensively keep going to the net D did a good job walking I would like to see them take the puck to the slot and maybe have a forward loop back to cover there will be tons of room out there.
Excited for the win kids worked hard tonight we start a winning streak . Go bu 🐾