The Boston University men’s hockey team has the opportunity to put its two-loss weekend against Boston College behind them, and quick.
The Terriers (16-6-1, 11-3-1 Hockey East) will face the Northeastern University Huskies (9-12-2, 4-11-0 HE) Tuesday night at Matthews Arena in the teams’ second meeting of the 2023-24 season. BU took Jan. 9’s game 4-3 in overtime thanks to sophomore forward Jeremy Wilmer’s game-winning goal at Agganis Arena.
Getting swept by your biggest rival while ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation is less than ideal. But it’s something the Terriers will now have to grow from as they face real adversity for the first time since October’s slow start.
“It was definitely disappointing. Losing sucks, but losing to those guys is no fun as well,” BU captain and graduate defenseman Case McCarthy said Monday. “For us, it’s nice with a quick turnaround with the Northeastern game on Tuesday to kind of refocus, reset and get back to work.”
While BU came out with more bite in Saturday’s game against the Eagles, it was the small mistakes that cost it the series split. Whether it was penalties, lapses in coverage in the neutral zone or indirect passes, the Terriers learned the need for consistency against top competition.
“I think discipline. And not just discipline with taking penalties – that’s certainly part of it – but discipline with how we play the game,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said Monday.
“Puck management and all those things matter for our group. At times we’ve gotten away with it this year. But as the stakes get higher here, the margin of error is slim, so we have to make sure that we’re fixing some of those things.”
In the last matchup with the Huskies, BU took a 2-0 lead early in the second period and allowed the Huskies to tie things 2-2 by the end of the 20 minutes. McCarthy said his team will need to keep their compete level high from puck drop to final buzzer against Northeastern this time around.
“They have a lot of skill. You can’t give them very much, you have to stay disciplined, stay within our structure,” McCarthy said. “For us, moving forward with Northeastern and the rest of the season, I think we’re doing a better job competing and the effort for a full 60 minutes.”
Devin Kaplan will be unavailable Tuesday against the Huskies, per Pandolfo. The sophomore forward is sidelined with a lower-body injury. Pandolfo said he didn’t have a final lineup due to Kaplan’s absence but could expect something similar to Saturday.
Five things to know about Northeastern:
- The Huskies are coming off a two-win weekend after sweeping Merrimack College. Northeastern won 5-3 on Friday and 4-1 on Saturday, marking its third and fourth wins in Hockey East this season.
- Sophomore forward Jack Williams leads the team with 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists). Williams has been centering the second line with senior Gunnarwolfe Fontaine and sophomore Cam Lund.
- Senior forward Alex Campbell leads Northeastern with 13 goals while skating on the first line with junior Justin Hryckowian and freshman Dylan Hryckowian. Campbell scored twice on Saturday against Merrimack and tops the team with four power-play goals.
- The Huskies’ power play has been middle-of-the-pack, ranked 22nd in the nation with a .216 percentage. Their penalty kill has struggled at .800 percent and is ranked 38th in the country.
- Freshman goaltender Cameron Whitehead has been Northeastern’s starter this season. Whitehead has a 2.69 goals against average and .910 save percentage. He made a cumulative 45 saves in the Merrimack series.
Puck drop is set for 6:30 p.m. at Matthews Arena between the Terriers and Huskies Tuesday night. The Boston Hockey Blog will have full, on-the-ground coverage so be sure to follow along on Twitter (X) @BOShockeyblog and Instagram @boston.hockey.blog.
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