By Mark Fraenkel
Embraced by junior forwards Robert Mastrosimne and Markus Boguslavasky, senior goaltender Drew Commesso left the ice for what could be his final time this season after making 36 saves in a Boston University win.
After senior forward Logan Cockerill’s two goals in Tuesday’s huge win over the University of Massachusetts, the Boston University men’s hockey team (13-10-3, 9-7-3 Hockey East) beat the Providence College Friars (17-10-2, 8-8-1 HE) on Sunday. The Terriers remain hot, as BU last lost in regulation on November 27th to Cornell.
Junior forward Wilmer Skoog opened up the scoring for the Terriers less than 1:30 into the game. Skoog got control of the puck inside of the defensive zone and skated with it all the way down the ice, creating a 2-1 opportunity with Providence’s goaltender Jaxson Stauber.
Later in the first period, Junior forward Ethan Phillips continued his goal streak, scoring with just under seven minutes to go in the period. The Dartmouth, Nova Scotia native has now scored goals in his last three games.
After a strong period from the Friars, right wing Patrick Moynihan opened up the scoring for Providence with 5:30 left in the second period. The New Jersey Devils prospect’s goal was assisted by Davis Bunz and New York Rangers prospect Brett Berard.
Off an offensive zone faceoff almost six minutes into the third period, Wilmer Skoog netted his second goal of the game. His two goals in Sunday’s game give him eight goals on the season.
Speaking about his goal in the post game press conference, Skoog said that he saw that the Providence defensive set up seemed off so he “gave it a try.”
About one minute later, junior defenseman Domenick Fensore added another goal off of an offensive zone faceoff. He was assisted by fellow junior Jay O’Brien.
After a too many men on the ice penalty with just less than nine minutes to play, Providence responded on the power play. Sophomore left wing Nick Poisson’s goal made it a 4-2 game.
Post game, Head Coach Albie O’Connell acknowledged that the referees made the correct call on the penalty.
“Live it didn’t look like there [were too many men]. But it was the right call,” he said.
With under two minutes to play, Jay O’Brien added an empty net goal to give the Terriers a 5-2 lead. The Hingham, Massachusetts native and former Providence Friar now has six goals on the season.
BU had quality chances all game, despite shooting fewer times than Providence. The Friars outshot the Terriers 38-25.
The Terriers now move into third place in Hockey East. With 29 points, BU trails the second place University of Massachusetts Minutemen by two points. The University of Massachusetts-Lowell Riverhawks lead Hockey East with 35 points.
BU hosts Maine next Friday night before playing Harvard in the first round of the Beanpot a week from Monday. O’Connell said he isn’t concerned about BU overlooking Maine before the Beanpot.
“These guys are excited to play,” O’Connell said. “And they feel good about what they’re doing.”
Great 1st, survived the 2nd, and punched back when things got tight (much like at UMass). Took advantage of an off night for PC’s goalie but I’ll always happily take a win over PC.
Drew C often bails out our undermanned D so Vinny D will definitely have to hit the ground running, as it were. I think the winner of BU/Harvard wins the Beanpot this year.
Good luck to Drew C in China. Fensore is our (non-Goalie) MVP. Keep up the intensity vs Maine.
P.S., We must average a dumb blind behind the back pass every 3 shifts (in any zone) so can we please cut down on those, for my own sanity? Thanks in advance.
Mike
Solid W. I have trust in Vinny D to stop the ones he needs to stop (no flukey ones). he has experience so that is good. i think the maine game will be a nice warmup. they gotta win that one and not squander 3 valuable points like they did against VT
it will be interesting to see where this team finishes in HE. lots of teams have games in hand so it is too early to project
i like the balanced scoring, and Phillips is looking like he has his confidence
what is up with Peterson and McCarthy? anyone hear anything? although i like his game, i am not not sure i like Tristan Amonte on the second line. a bit too high up.
Solid effort by the Terriers today against a good opponent, although the Friars haven’t had that much success vs Hockey East teams this year. However it was an important win on two levels. Firstly the Terriers played a full 60 minutes and stayed away from stupid penalties and showed discipline vs a team that is very good on special teams, and secondly it was a victory vs a program which has been a thorn in BU’s side for ever despite what the all time record indicates. The Terriers were opportunistic in taking their opportunities , showing finally the ability to score goals consistently and getting ahead in games which always makes it easier as they have done in their last 3 games. The face off goal by Skoog was quite a rarity. I only saw once live before when i saw Derek sanderson do it vs the Canadiens back in the day. The team has clearly turned their season around emphatically. A 9-1-1 record over the last 2 months is not to be sneezed at especially in Division 1 hockey this year., when there seems to be tremendous parity across the board with any team capable of beating any other team nightly.
We can now looked forward to seeing how the rest of the season and now probably the playoffs will go. I am especially interested to see how BU remaining games vs BC (maybe even in Beanpot) will go. It would be great to see the Terriers pound them a couple of times since they are in such a good moment and the Eagles are definitely not.
Very good points Vito . Great analysis of this game. Your right about Providence they have been a thorn in our sides for many years now. I agree with Mike in the second they had us against the ropes first half of season I think we give up a crooked number tonight we battled back went back to physical play and spreading out the ice.
As you said we have a chance to do damage against Bc in the coming weeks . Hopefully we continue to keep getting better.
Bu physical play was fantastic tonight we hit everything moving. I think a lot of guys did not like Leeman gamesmanship with social media a bench height a bunch of crap to me but he was trying to motivate his guys and embarrass us unfortunately for him it failed. As always go bu 🐾
Colin, put a jersey on still behind AIC in the pairwise
Your just a miserable douche no one said anything and u start your nonsense Grow up !! Keep it positive… Unreal … Go Bu
Ozzie Jerseys are for basketball, baseball and football. I’m a hockey guy. I wear a sweater AIC has a very good team good record but I’m not sure where your trying to go with it. I’m sure as Roy points out your trying to knock my terriers by saying AIC is better sure you got me AIC is in another league and no head to head games so if you want that one great you got it they are ahead of bu pairwise congratulations your AIC team is on a roll.
Since this is the bu blog I will just say this bu looks great kids playing well and not that it would change my resolve I root for this team in good stretches and bad but it’s comical now that we are winning your turning to a team in another league to try and knock me. I appreciate the help Roy but this is no big deal it’s water off a ducks back bu is on a roll and those that sold them out can’t figure out how to feel.
Keep the pedal to the metal Terriers and keep the points coming!
Expecting Vinny D. to step up and play well in net for the next few weeks.
Now with Vinnie in net I think we need to alter our mind set a bit. We gotta have all 18 guys playing team D. Sometimes you can take chances and have your goalie bail you out, need to be a bit more conservative until Vinnie gets comfortable. Gotta back check like crazy.
Where was brown and Peterson?
Now I am impressed! Two consecutive wins against top-20 teams and we did it yesterday sans Brown and Peterson. We will still have to win Hockey East to continue our season but now I can go into March thinking it wouldn’t take a miracle for us to progress. I am particularly thrilled with how Ethan Phillips has been staying healthy and has become a significant source of offense for our Terriers.
Guys HE is very weak this year. Just check the record vs out of conference teams. Maybe HE gets three teams in the NCAA Tournament but it could be just
Two. It’s possible we can make it ..time will tell
Come early March, there will be many HE teams who either just barely make the NCAA’s or are on the outside looking in. The teams who are #12 thru #22 in the PW include, Lowell, PC, NU, Merrimack and BU.
We need to worry about the next game that has to be our mentality. Control what we can control.
We can’t be thinking past Maine they are dangerous. And before anyone says anything I know they are in last but if we don’t show up we will get beat it’s that simple they are hungry they will play hard.
I’m as optimistic as anyone on here but in theory you have got to get in top 13 to get automatic bud just because of automatic bids awarded to league champions so bu needs to just worry about the next game.
We are playing well and learning along the way. I felt in my hockey soul when we got healthy we would do some damage and that’s what we are doing now. We still are not 💯 percent just picture how good we will be then. Games are not handed to us we work hard and we need to continue to do that. Glad we are getting everyone back on board the bu train up next a big Friday Monday set go bu 🐾
Thanks Colin but as was explained previiously, none of us had ever gotten off the BUH train. Not sure I understand why you think we did. I hope all of us enjoy a dominating win against Maine on Friday. I agree with you that Maine is dangerous inasmuch as we just go up, score a couple of goals and think we can coast. Only in that scenario is Maine dangerous. Go BU!
Ha ha Glenn I understand your a fan but there we’re definitely a few folks who said we were down and out calling for coach to be fired mired in mediocrity etc. I challenged these folks week after week they wanted me to abandon my team but I would not. I stuck up for them and was proud to do it. Today I’m just happy we are winning now and everyone is excited but I’m not buying the I always was a fan bit from everyone there we’re definitely some folks who counted this team out.
I also believe if we loose Friday or Monday these same folks would be back on here calling for change and knocking the program it’s just my opinion but I have been right about this team I do know my bu hockey. Go bu 🐾
Thank you, Coiln. I do my best from afar LOL. My point is that calling for any coach to be fired and being critical of team play when the results have been subpar for a prolonged time period is extremely consistent with being a BUH super-fan. Like you, I hope that the turnarond we have made is sustained and that it leads to a Beanpot and/or HE Championship this season. I like Albie and I like the guys on the team and their family members who I’ve been fortunate enough to meet at some point during my visits. Still, for the sake of our program, someone at some point needs to be held accountable (as is the case with any other team at any level sans children’s sports teams) if we don’t win any hardware. I want nothing more than Albie and our guys to bask in the glory when this season and future seasons are in our rear view mirror. Go BU!