BOSTON — In the locker room before the Boston University men’s hockey team’s opener against Holy Cross, freshmen Alex Zetterberg, Cole Hutson and Cole Eiserman were already workshopping potential goal celebrations.
One of Zetterberg’s from practice — a shimmy-shake and a flex while gliding past the BU bench — was floated as a joke.
“A pretty stupid celly,” Hutson conceded postgame.
But sure enough, Eiserman was shimmying and flexing his arms after his first collegiate goal in the second period. A few minutes later, Hutson did the same after a filthy five-hole tally. Zetterberg completed the trifecta after poking home a rebound a few minutes after that.
“For [Eiserman] to do that was kind of shocking, and so we all just kind of joined up,” Hutson said dryly, sporting a salmon suit, Nike Dunks and a BU hockey beanie.
And that was the word of the night in No. 3 BU’s 5-2 season-opening win over Holy Cross Saturday night: celebration. From the packed crowd at Agganis Arena to the flashy play of the Terriers — specifically, their freshmen — this felt like a party from start to finish.
“It was great to see we had a ton of students here, which is huge for us,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said postgame. “So for a first game versus Holy Cross, great crowd and we certainly liked the result.”
The Terriers didn’t rout the Crusaders, but they soundly outplayed them. BU was quicker and far more skilled. Holy Cross could only compete in the physicality department.
The Crusaders came out with a game plan to “attack” and “make [BU] defend,” Holy Cross head coach Bill Riga said postgame.
Much of that manifested in physical play, with the Crusaders (0-1-0) pummeling the Terriers (1-0-0) at almost every opportunity — especially at the start. By the end of the game, the teams had combined for 83 penalty minutes. Eiserman and junior forward Devin Kaplan were both ejected with game misconducts.
“There was a scrum after every whistle,” Pandolfo said. “I don’t know if that was their game plan to try and be physical against our group, but we stood right in there.”
The Terriers controlled much of the scrum-filled, scoreless first period, but Holy Cross outshot BU, 9-6, in the frame and generated a few grade A chances on senior netminder Mathieu Caron.
“I thought in the first period, we didn’t put enough pucks to the net. We weren’t creating enough second chances,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said postgame. “I thought we passed up a lot of shots.”
That changed in the second.
Just 39 seconds into the frame, the Terriers’ first line of Shane Lachance, Ryan Greene and Quinn Hutson opened the scoring. After a strong shift of offensive zone time, senior captain Ryan Greene poked home a rebound that had been bouncing around the crease after an initial shot from Hutson and a second look from Lachance.
“It was right there for me,” Greene said. “It was kind of a charity goal.”
Greene went on to score his second of the night at 7:50 of the third period, and he also tallied an assist.
“Ryan ended up with two goals, but he could’ve easily had five,” Pandolfo said. “He was really good.”
The top line, Pandolfo said, has gelled after spending the last few weeks together in practice. Outside of Greene’s performance, though, it was BU’s freshmen group that stole the show.
Forward Cole Eiserman was the first of the class to find the net. The left winger found the puck at the left circle on the power play and blasted a one-timer off iron and in at 3:56 of the second.
Eiserman’s shot had been advertised as one of the best among any prospect in hockey coming into the season. And it only took one look to confirm that hype as fitting.
His shot simply comes off the stick harder and faster than anyone else on the ice — and he is a seamless fit on BU’s top power play unit, slotting into the goal-scoring role that Macklin Celebrini held last season.
Cole Hutson and Alex Zetterberg followed suit. Hutson was first, beating his man down the left wing for his tally on Holy Cross netminder Thomas Gale at 8:30 of the second.
He was inducing oohs and ahs from the crowd all night with his speed and shiftiness.
Zetterberg found the net at 13:43 of the second, 12 seconds after the conclusion of a BU power play.
Sophomore forward Jack Stockfish scored the first Holy Cross goal at 11:27 of the second, and junior Jack Seymour tallied the other, a power play goal at 1:11 of the third.
Caron looked confident in net, saving 29 of the 31 shots he faced. And BU’s young defensive core, featuring two freshmen and four sophomores, held it down in the Terriers’ own end.
But the highlight was the energy around the arena, which just felt different than it had in year’s past. The Dog Pound was completely full 30 minutes before puck drop, and even the student overflow section on the opposite side of the rink was mostly full. Student tickets sold out for the game.
“If you ask me,” Cole Hutson said, “I think they should show up to a few more.”
On all fronts, it was a statement on the state of this program coming into a season with sky-high expectations. A celebration.
and well we should have high expectations. the terriers beginning in the 2nd period showed that they are a very fast and skilled team much as they were last year. The defense and goaltending appear to be solid and the forward lines all have the ability to score and create chances. they dominated the game and except for the fact that they were a little off in some of their finishing, probably because its just the first game, this could have been a rout vs a good team that nearly qualified for the NCAA tourney last year. Cole Hudson seems to be the heir apparent to Lane and some of his moves and puck carrying abilities might be even better. Eiserman’s laser on the power play brought back memories of Celebrini’s goal vs BC in the Beanpot. The enthusiam and bang out Agannis arena crowd hasn’t been seen for quite some time for an opening night game as well. BU hockey is definitely back and it seems everyone around campus knows it.