Six shots. Four goals.
It took just 10 minutes and 31 seconds for the Boston University men’s hockey team to find themselves in a 4-0 deficit to the No. 7 University of North Dakota.
Nothing went the Terriers’ way — avoidable penalties led to defensive breakdowns, the starting goaltender was replaced mid-way through the first period and clears failed before they ever started.
The Terriers have gotten away with inadequate starts in their first three games. However, when faced against one of the nation’s top teams in a hostile arena, BU couldn’t escape a fourth time.
The Fighting Hawks (3-1-0) trounced the Terriers (3-1-0, 1-0-0 Hockey East) 7-2 at Ralph Engelstad Arena on Friday evening in a contest where the stage was just too big for BU.
“It’s been a bit of a common theme for us our first three games, not being ready to play from the start,” head coach Jay Pandolfo said. “We got out-battled, out-competed, you name it, from start to finish.”
From puck drop, the Terriers appeared lost on the North Dakota ice. Just 54 seconds into the game, senior Jack Hughes took a tripping penalty.
The Terriers all but killed it off when North Dakota’s Jayden Perron circled the net and brought the puck up the slot. Drawing a defender, Perron found senior forward Jackson Kunz, who made a move on senior goaltender Mathieu Caron and made it 1-0 Fighting Hawks.
BU couldn’t make much of its offensive opportunities, struggling to penetrate a strong North Dakota defense.
Sophomore defenseman Gavin McCarthy was called for interference at 5:04, and North Dakota’s Mac Swanson scored the team’s second goal at the backdoor at 6:28.
The start of the game draws comparisons to BU’s 9-2 loss to Michigan in 2022, when the Wolverines took advantage of back-to-back five-minute majors by the Terriers. More recently, the game mirrored the Terriers’ 6-2 loss to Boston College where the penalty kill allowed four goals on five opportunities.
The Fighting Hawks were far from done. Captain Louis Jamernik V scored on a tip in front of Caron at 6:56. Then, at 10:31, UND’s Owen McLaughlin passed the puck across the zone to Abram Wiebe, who gave the home team a 4-0 advantage on their sixth shot.
Caron’s day ended with three saves on seven shots. Sophomore Max Lacroix then entered the contest for what would be his longest outing as a Terrier, excluding exhibition play.
“He was under siege,” Pandolfo said. “We have another game tomorrow night. I didn’t see a lot from our group. I know it was still early, but I wanted to get him out of there, and it’s good experience for Max Lacroix.”
The sophomore goaltender matched Caron’s save total in his first two and half minutes in net, but North Dakota’s Jake Schmaltz found the slot and snuck one past Lacroix’s glove for a 5-0 lead at 13:12 of the first
The game began to lose form from there with eight more penalties called by the end of the second period. For the Terriers, sophomore Jack Harvey took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and sophomore Devin Kaplan — tied for second in the NCAA in penalty minutes — spent four minutes in the box.
On the other side of special teams, the Terriers came up fruitless on their four power play opportunities by the end of the second period.
North Dakota nearly came away with its sixth goal in the second period’s waning minutes, but an offsides challenge disallowed Sacha Boisvert’s tally.
The sixth goal did come across early into the third period when Kunz scored a goal for the 6-0 lead at 0:40 of the third period.
“It’s a lot of these guys’ first time playing in this type of environment,” Pandolfo said. “I’m certainly not putting it on the young guys, because we had some guys that are veteran players for us that … did not lead the way.”
The Terriers then crossed their zero off the board when Matt Copponi skated the length of the ice and found Tristan Amonte netfront for the senior’s second career goal at 1:37.
BU kept up the momentum with the first Hutson-Hutson goal of the year. North Dakota’s Wiebe went to the box for tripping at 5:09, and on the ensuing powerplay, freshman Cole Hutson found his older brother Quinn at the left circle to make it 6-2.
North Dakota sent the extra point through at 13:07 when junior Ben Strinden scored on the rush to make it 7-2.
North Dakota’s goaltender T.J. Semptimphelter allowed 2 goals with 27 saves. BU fans may remember Semptimphelter from the 2022 Beanpot when he took the net for Northeastern.
Lacroix ended his night with 3 goals allowed and 25 saves during his 49:29 in goal.
“I thought Max competed,” Pandolfo said. “I wish some other people competed as hard as he did in front of him, and they certainly didn’t.”
The Terriers will look for much-needed redemption tomorrow night for a 7:07 p.m. EST puck drop at the Ralph.
“It makes it tough when you don’t win battles and compete all over the ice,” Pandolfo said. “We certainly have to find a way to regroup, respond because it’s not going to be any easier tomorrow.”
oh boy…
On the bright side, at least they got cool warmup pics for social media in those nice jerseys.
Copponi came to play, too bad nobody else did. When adversity struck tails were tucked, fighting spirit evaporated, and tents were folded. Nice to see Larry V. back. PSD