Quinn Hutson hat trick leads Terriers to 6-1 win, sweep of UMass Lowell

With the help of a Quinn Hutson hat trick, the Terriers notched their first sweep of the season with a 6-1 win against UMass Lowell Saturday night at Agganis Arena. 

A four point night from Macklin Celebrini in the ‘Return of the Mack’ guided No. 9 Boston University (6-3-1, 3-1-1 Hockey East) to a winning weekend. 

“I thought our guys, for the most part, had a pretty good weekend, overall. I thought we got contributions from up and down the lineup, from our goaltender on out,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said postgame. 

Terrier goalie Mathieu Caron came close to a shutout with his first one-goal game of the season. 

“I thought he was excellent, he had a really good weekend for us,” Pandolfo said. 

UMass Lowell (4-6-0, 1-5-0 HE) started off the night aggressively, leading early in shots on goal 8-2. That aggression turned into a negative for the River Hawks, though, with UMass Lowell skaters gifting BU man advantages throughout the night. 

The first came after graduate forward Filip Fornåå Svensson was called for a slashing penalty five minutes into the period. BU got a few shots off in its first man advantage, but no goals to show for it. 

That changed a few seconds after the penalty expired when freshman defenseman Tom Willander cleared the puck to freshman forward Doug Grimes. Grimes dished it to a sprinting Sam Stevens, who tapped it past UMass Lowell goalie Luke Pavicich stick side, earning BU an early 1-0 lead and Grimes his first collegiate point. 

Less than a minute later, the Terriers got their second tally. 

The play started when Macklin Celebrini escaped a Lowell defender and drove the puck forward. It looked like Celebrini was going to take the shot when he got to the netfront, but at the last moment he placed the puck on the stick of an idling Quinn Hutson, who knocked it in.

With tempers continuing to flare, a slashing call sent Quinn Hutson to the box, and UMass Lowell ended the period on the power play. The Terriers killed off the man advantage as the second period began. 

BU earned a 5-on-3 man advantage midway through the second, after a holding call against junior forward Matt Crasa and a cross checking call on senior defenseman Brehdan Engum. 

Sophomore defenseman Lane Hutson capitalized, putting the Terriers up 3-0 off the assist from freshman forward Macklin Celebrini. Hutson got the puck from Celebrini at the left circle, skated to the right circle and fired it past the stick side of Pavicich. 

It was at this point that Lowell’s extracurriculars began to add up. Midway through the second, the River Hawks had six penalty minutes to BU’s four, along with a bevy of unnecessary hits away from the action. 

Pandolfo said it’s “tough” to keep his team focused during a chippy game like Saturday’s, and laid the blame squarely on the referees for not protecting players from unnecessary hits. 

“That can’t happen in this game, and the players can’t control that. It’s the referees that have to control that, they have to make sure that these plays don’t happen,” Pandolfo said. 

Pandolfo identified a specific hit against Macklin Celebrini early in the first. It comes in the wake of a tough weekend for Celebrini where a North Dakota defender had equally hard hits against the freshman star. 

“It’s happening too often, I’m seeing it happen too often, so it’s got to change,” Pandolfo said. 

Six minutes into the third, Celebrini found Quinn Hutson again, dishing to his linemate as he absorbed a hit and drifted towards the right side boards. Quinn Hutson received the pass and scored for the second time, putting BU up 4-0. 

“I think all those goals [Celebrini] snuck by like two guys and it’s nice. I just got open and he found me every time, so it worked out good,” Quinn Hutson said postgame.

Hutson grabbed another at the 12:24 of the third, notching a hat trick one week after his brother did the same against North Dakota.

“It’s obviously pretty cool, it probably hasn’t happened before ever if I had to guess,” Hutson said postgame of the consecutive Saturday night Hutson hat tricks. 

The River Hawks found the net for the first and only time immediately after falling down 5–0, with a goal from freshman defenseman Adam Cardona. Freshman forward Jaiden Moriello got the assist, delivering Cardona the puck in the left circle, who then fired it into Caron’s net. 

With two minutes left in regulation, junior forward Jack Hughes joined the Terrier scoring party, grabbing his first goal in a BU jersey off the assist from senior forward Luke Tuch. 

The result marks BU’s first weekend sweep of UMass Lowell since the 2010-11 season, and is a good benchmark for a squad that’s starting to play consistent, good hockey following a slow start to the year. 

BU will face off against the Maine Black Bears next weekend in a two-game series at home. Puck drop at Agganis Arena is set for 7 p.m. on Nov. 17 followed by a 6 p.m. start on Saturday. The Boston Hockey Blog will have full, on-the-ground coverage. Follow along on Twitter (X) @BOShockeyblog and Instagram @boston.hockey.blog.