After securing its first regulation win in dominant fashion over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish last weekend, the No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team (2-2-0, 0-1-0 HE) will open its home schedule with a home-and-home series against the No. 19 UMass Amherst Minutemen (4-1-0, 0-0-0 HE) this weekend.
“We’re excited now to get our home schedule started,” head coach Jay Pandolfo said to the media Thursday. “UMass always has a good following, too. I’m sure they’ll be bringing some fans in, and hopefully it’s a really good atmosphere tomorrow night.”
Following a lackluster 4-1 loss to the Irish on Oct. 20, BU made a statement the following night — rolling Notre Dame by a score of 8-2.
“Honestly, we were just sick of it,” freshman defenseman Aiden Celebrini said Thursday. “We were sick of where the season was heading, and we finally understood who we are and got our confidence back.”
Everything finally started to click for BU in the second game of the weekend road trip. All four lines stepped up, especially in the absence of star sophomore defenseman Lane Hutson and assistant captain Cade Webber.
“Obviously that first game, same problems again,” sophomore forward Quin Hutson said Thursday. “Following that game, everyone knew — even without them — that we had to show that we weren’t that team.”
Both L. Hutson and Webber practiced Thursday, and Pandolfo said he will make the game-time decision on them ahead of the home-opener.
“I expect both have a pretty good chance of playing this weekend,” Pandolfo said.
Special teams have struggled to start the season and have been a point of emphasis in practice. In Hockey East, the Terriers’ power play is ranked second to last (10.5%), and its penalty kill is ranked last (68.8%). Pandolfo saw improvements on Saturday against Notre Dame but stressed the need to keep improving.
“We’re continuing to work on it,” Pandolfo said. “It was definitely better, but again, we still certainly have to be better as a team in our special teams game.”
Hutson pushed BU’s offense all weekend against the Irish and was rewarded with the opening goal in Saturday’s game. The sophomore leads the team in shots on net with 19 shots over just four games, and it is only a matter of time before the goals come raining in.
“I was just moving my feet,” Q. Hutson said. “I had a lot of shots on net, so I think a couple more of those go in this weekend.”
Hutson started the season on the third line with freshman Macklin Celebrini and sophomore Jeremy Wilmer but has since moved to the second line with sophomore Ryan Greene and junior Jack Hughes.
“We hold the puck in the o-zone a lot,” Q. Hutson said of his new linemates. “Not in the d-zone a whole lot, so it’s good for us — getting a lot of offensive opportunities.”
On the back end, A. Celebrini has quietly been one of the Terriers’ most consistent players — both defensively and offensively.
“He’s been a real positive for us,” Pandolfo said. “He keeps the game really simple. He fits into what we want to do, he plays fast … we want to keep building and keep growing his confidence.”
Celebrini leads all HE defensemen in production with four points (one goal, three assists) through his first four games. Heading into this season, the Vancouver Canucks prospect honed in on developing his offensive game, especially working on his “point shot.”
“Coming from maybe a less than ideal production year last year, I really wanted to develop that game in the offseason,” A. Celebrini said. “It was a real focus to bring that game up to this level because I knew I wasn’t going to be the physically-dominant, shut-down defenseman I was in juniors.”
Celebrini recorded his first collegiate goal to make it 7-1 BU on Saturday — with a shot from the point — and his brother Macklin was on the ice when it happened.
“I was shown the gif after, and it’s really cool to share that moment with him,” A. Celebrini said. “Game in, game out — to share that ice with him is special.”
BU’s nine-player freshman class has combined for nine of the team’s 16 goals so far this season. Regardless of the adjustment period for any first-year players, the young group has seemingly transitioned with ease.
“They have a passion for the game, and it’s exciting,” Pandolfo said. “It’s refreshing … we needed some of our veteran guys to start finding their games, and I think we started seeing that on Saturday.”
After playing its first three weeks on the road, BU will open its home schedule Friday. Alongside his fellow first-years, Aiden will experience his first game at Agganis Arena.
“It’s something I’ve been circling on the calendar since I first got here in the summer,” A. Celebrini said. “It’s going to be awesome.”
When asked what his favorite team to play against is, sophomore forward Devin Kaplan quickly answered: “UMass.”
Historically, BU has always played well against the Minutemen. Last season, the Terriers decisively swept them in their home-and-home series, beating them by a score of 7-2 and 5-1. In their last seven meetings, BU holds a 6-0-1 record.
“They play man-on-man, so we like to take advantage of that because we think that we have better talent than them,” Kaplan said.
Five things to know about UMass ahead of Friday:
- After playing non-conference teams for their first three weeks, the Minutemen open their HE play against the Terriers this weekend.
- UMass has three consecutive wins over ranked teams, beating the then-No. 6 University of Michigan on Oct. 14 and sweeping the then-No. 19/20 Minnesota State on Oct. 20 and 21.
- Freshman forward Jack Musa leads Hockey East in offense with eight points (two goals, six assists) through five games played.
- UMass returns all five of its top-five goal scorers from last season, and junior defenseman Scott Morrow and sophomore forward Kenny Connors led the way with nine goals each.
- Senior goaltender Cole Brady started in the Minutemen’s first two games before freshman Michael Hrabal took the reins; Hrabal is a perfect 3-0 on the season and boasts a .933 save percentage and 2.01 goals against average.
Puck drop is set for 7pm for both Friday’s home-opener at Agganis Arena and Saturday’s rematch at the Mullins Center. The Boston Hockey Blog will have full, on-the-ground coverage of both games, so be sure to follow along on Twitter (X) @BOShockeyblog and Instagram @boston.hockey.blog.
Recent Comments