Goaltender Mathieu Caron sat in his crease with his arms in his lap. Michigan players mocked the Dog Pound, trying to rile up a packed section 118 as it cleared out. BU head coach Jay Pandolfo made the lonely trot to center ice with hand in pocket on Saturday, surveying the scene around him.
Pandolfo has led the Terriers to back-to-back Frozen Fours. He has made the team a mainstay in the national top 10. Every opposing coach raves about how “well-coached” BU is. None of this is news.
But as Pandolfo walked down center ice, his team had been swept at home for the first time in his tenure as head coach.
“Can’t find a way to close teams out,” Pandolfo said. “That’s, I guess, the most disappointing part.”
The No. 11 Wolverines made themselves at home in Agganis Arena this weekend, taking both games against the Terriers — first with a dominant 5-1 victory on Friday and then a nail-biting 5-4 overtime winner on Saturday.
Friday was the most lopsided BU home loss since a 5-1 defeat to UConn on Oct. 9, 2021. Saturday was the first time a team completed a sweep on BU at Agganis since Oct. 14, 2017.
The catch: Boston University had the lead entering the third period in both games.
“Last night was a lot worse than tonight, that’s for sure,” Pandolfo said. “If a team’s down in the third, they’re always going to push, especially by one goal. You got to find a way to withstand that push, and we just couldn’t find a way.”
The third period has troubled the Terriers throughout the season. BU has allowed 27 goals so far with just under half of them coming in the final frame. In the last four games alone, the Terriers have allowed an average of 2.75 goals per third period.
No game underscored it more than Friday’s loss to Michigan when Wolverine Evan Werner tied the game at 4:47 of the third, and hell broke loose. Michigan netted four more goals, while BU’s assistant captain Quinn Hutson took a five-minute major and a ten-minute game misconduct before fellow assistant captain Devin Kaplan took a high-sticking penalty.
It was déjà vu on Saturday when BU took the lead at 11:48 of the third period. Then, sophomore defenseman Gavin McCarthy took a boarding penalty — it only took 11 seconds for Michigan to bring the game back even.
“At that point of the game, you have to find a way to kill the penalty,” Pandolfo said. “That’s going to happen, and you got to find a way to get that done.”
The Terriers have recorded 54 penalty minutes in the third period — 46% of the team’s total. The leadership group accounts for 44% of the team’s penalty minutes, while the freshmen take another 37%.
Pandolfo called out his captains Friday night. When asked about Q. Hutson and Kaplan taking the third-period penalties, Pandolfo said he needed more: “Our captains need to be better. They’ve been here long enough. They have to take responsibility too.”
The head coach emphasized that point on Saturday when he moved captain Shane Lachance and Q. Hutson down to the fourth line.
Kaplan and Lachance each answered with a goal on Saturday. Pandolfo complimented their response, saying the two have “a lot of pride.”
A lack of discipline doesn’t just mean penalties. Pandolfo specifically pointed out the team’s untimely turnovers — a problem he said hasn’t improved all year.
“We have to learn from some of these things and learn from the mistakes we’re making … I’m still seeing too many of the same mistakes,” Pandolfo said. “Just way too many turnovers in tough spots, letting the other team have second and third chances because of these turnovers.”
There were positive takeaways from the weekend. For one, transfer senior Matt Copponi seemed to find his groove with a goal Saturday night and several more grade-A chances on top of that. Freshman forward Alex Zetterberg kept proving NHL GMs wrong with a slick goal of his own after the top-line promotion.
The start of Friday’s game and the start of Saturday’s game was a night-and-day difference. Similar to the split with North Dakota last weekend, the Terriers showed resolve on night two of the back-to-back. Even Michigan head coach Brandon Naurato pointed out BU’s fire out of the gate on Saturday.
However, resolve is a moral victory, and moral victories do not win championships.
As Pandolfo often says, the team is young. It will take time for them to find their groove. Seven games is a small sample size, and the Terriers are still above .500.
But from where the team stands right now, BU is far from National Championship form, and it has a steep climb to get there.
A disappointing and frustrating weekend for the terriers with late game meltdowns but especially so on Saturday night where BU certainly played well enough to win and gave up the lead 3 times before falling in OT. I saw a terrier team fast out of the gates in the first period but unable to score despite a heavy SOG advantage. Then they became opportunistic especially copping who has been a good addition. He was able to finish a one on one opportunity just before the 1stperiod bell and then almost finished off a great individual effort beating the michigan defense just missing a backhanded one on one with the goalie. However with BU playing loose in their own end with numerous turnovers it seemed just a matter of time until the aggressive and fast wolverines would take advantage which of course happened in the third period
We come away with the consolation of knowing that the team can play with the best of the west (and hopefully with the east) during periods of a game but need to be more careful handling the Puck , prevent turnovers and play 60 minutes and also tack on to leads instead of letting an opponent back in right after taking the lead. Time to focus attention now on league games now and for the terriers to at least establish dominance there
That’s Copponi I was talking about
Great article. Especially liked the line about resolve and how it does not win championships.
I had an idea that I thought would be interesting for the blog. Shot in the dark if it goes anywhere but figured reaching out here would be good.
I’ve watched the teams for years and typically notice the ones that go deep into the season versus the ones that end after the hockey east tournament.
It would be interesting to get your take on the importance of players returning to comm ave for more than 1-2 years.
The stars are loved here and get our name in the news every year, but it’s difficult when they often only stay for one season.
I look at programs like Denver who are consistently in the tournament with more championships than anyone. Even after they win, they still have marquee names return for another season. That builds the base of upperclassmen, and players who have the experience on the big stage, which reduces mistakes.
It’d be interesting to hear the blog’s take on the importance of upperclassmen and if player retention should be a bigger discussion for the program.
As always I appreciate what the blog does for the community and the time you all spend covering our program with pride.
That’s true David and has been a problem for the terriers for many years. There were two former BU Hobey baker award winners , Drury and Gilroy who played 4 years but that was long ago. In recent years Eichel, Keller, Farabee, Zegras, Celebrini, all first round draft picks for the terriers were one and dones. Lane Hudson also only 2 years. BC on the other hand mostly gets their top recruits to stay ad they did this year
. BU is almost always the youngest team I the country and always graduate few seniors. Certainly not bother best players. A tough way to run a program. Maybe they need to rent out the Friends Lounge more often to make more money
In our ride home Big Roy and I said almost verbatim what was iterated by Jay, and added to by David Franco, and (the always inciteful) Vito, so I only want to make one exclamation.
Matt Copponi was an excellent addition, and has often been the best player on the ice. Skill and raw determination were on display while he was at Merrimac, but are even more so now that he is complimented by other elite players. PSD
We are in big trouble. Last year we were a plus 66 goal differential right now we sit at a minus 1. There is no 71 or 20 to bail things out. Hope I am wrong but it appears other teams will pass us in the standings. Forget about being the youngest team in the country. We have chosen that route
yup DT – “We are in big trouble.”