BOSTON — In the first two years of the Jay Pandolfo era, Agganis Arena was a house of horrors for opponents of the Boston University men’s hockey team.
Not recently.
Before last weekend, the Terriers had lost just five games on home ice since Pandolfo took over before the 2022-23 season. It’s been a struggle ever since.
UMass Lowell was the latest beneficiary of those woes. The No. 17 River Hawks (6-1-0, 2-0-0 Hockey East) waltzed onto Comm. Ave. Friday night and stunned the home crowd with a 5-3 win, marking a third consecutive loss on home ice for the No. 9 Terriers (4-4-0, 1-1-0 HE).
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, because no one else is,” Pandolfo said postgame. “We just have to find a way to dig ourselves out of this. That’s really the only answer.”
The issues that plagued the Terriers against UMass Lowell are nothing new.
The River Hawks scored the go-ahead goal at 11:28 of the third on the power play, after senior forward Jack Hughes took a cross-checking minor at 10:46.
Last Saturday, a similar sequence cost BU in its 5-4 overtime loss to Michigan. In that game, the Terriers held a 4-3 lead until Gavin McCarthy took a boarding penalty at 12:29 of the third. The Wolverines tied it 11 seconds into the ensuing power play.
“At that point, you have to be able to find a way to kill a penalty,” Pandolfo said. “It’s happened two games in a row to us.”
And just as Michigan did in its 5-1 win over BU last Friday, the River Hawks rattled off a series of unanswered goals after the Terriers took a 1-0 lead. UMass Lowell did so in the second period, scoring three times in the first 10 minutes of the frame.
Sophomore co-captain Shane Lachance paced the Terriers with two goals, both on the power play, and freshman forward Cole Eiserman added a goal and an assist.
Lachance showcased his gritty playstyle on both tallies, scoring each from his usual spot at the bumper on BU’s first power play unit. His first, which gave the Terriers a 1-0 lead at 11:55 of the first, was a tip-in off a Quinn Hutson blast.
Eiserman orchestrated the other, which cut UMass Lowell’s lead to 3-2 at 14:45 of the second. The freshman forward received the puck at the right circle and faked a one-timer, instead delivering a pass right to the stick of Lachance, who was wide open at the doorstep.
Eiserman followed it up by sniping a goal of his own at 9:00 of the third, tying the game at three before the River Hawks re-took the lead.
Five different skaters netted goals for UMass Lowell: junior forward Connor Eddy, grad student forward Ian Carpentier, grad student defenseman Ben Meehan, freshman forward Libor Nemec and junior forward Dillan Bentley.
The Terriers have now allowed 15 goals in their last three games, conceding five goals in each. Pandolfo put the responsibility for it on “everyone.”
“It’s the coaching staff, it’s the players, it’s the goalie, all of it,” Pandolfo said. “We have to find a way to come together and find a way to put some good stretches of hockey together.”
BU will get another crack at UMass Lowell at the Tsongas Center in Lowell Saturday night before traveling to one of the most hostile environments in college hockey, Alfond Arena, for a marquee series with No. 5 Maine (6-1-1).
With that matchup looming, the Terriers understand that this three-game rut is at risk of snowballing into a significant losing streak — and a losing record.
“As a staff, we’re searching for solutions, looking for answers,” Pandolfo said postgame. “That’s what we have to continue to do.”
“D” corps is a mess, and this year we do not have the highflying offense to cover this Achilles heel. Turnovers are repetitive, as are defensive mistakes. Mistakes are to be expected, but we are all too often repetitively making the same mistakes. That is a defensive coaching issue. The way things are going Carone has to be absolutely perfect every game for us to have a chance to compete. As of late, the team’s leadership is also sorely lacking. PSD
I completely agree, PSD.
But let me start with the positives…
…Ok. Moving on. This team is indeed an absolute mess at the moment. They aren’t playing at a high level in any facet of the game. That part is obvious. The question is, why?
My general mood RE: BU Hockey is based on expectations. I thought we’d take a small step back this season but remain a Top 8 team. At the moment, we’re not even a tournament team, so I feel rightly frustrated.
Throughout their early tenure, Pandolfo and staff have put out a team that plays from the front > back, relying on superior offensive skill to offset an average defense, and expecting the goaltender to often play at an elite level since they’d be hung out to dry more than those in defense-first systems.
Last year, the likes of Macklin and Lane would be relied on to possess the puck and create scoring chances on most of their shifts, of which there were more than average, and elevate the offensive production of the other forwards. Weber was a shot-blocking machine but Case was more or less inconsistent (as he was throughout his career), and the rest of the D corps were really JAGs (just another guy). Willander showed glimpses but not often enough. Caron was great in net when he was on (which was most of the time) and poor when he was off.
Side note: I’d love for Jay to explain what happened to Ty Gallagher. He was +21 (yes, you read that right) his sophomore season but seemed to fall into a mental funk on the ice early in his junior season and Jay seemed to give up on him. I get it. He was really bad when he played but he had already showed there was a good player in there. He needed a reset and to be coached up. For some reason, that never happened. He’d be a healthy scratch or dress as the extra D but not play or only play a few shifts. In the meantime, guys like Gavin McCarty and Aiden Celebrini got regular shifts. And, let’s be honest with ourselves, those two are average at their absolute best and Jay would often shorten the D bench to the top two pairings late in games and put lots of miles on Lane, Webber, etc. Why do I bring that up? Because Gallagher is off to a very nice start to the season with Colorado College (2G 4A +6). And, playing like that, he’d be a standout on the 2024-2025 crew. Because there simply isn’t enough natural defensive talent on this current roster. There isn’t a Weber. Cole Hutson inherited his brother’s penchant for being a great offensive talent but a liability in his own zone. Willander is still inconsistent. And the others are freshmen who haven’t hit the ground running and, of course, the aforementioned JAGs.
Why is this an issue? Because the offense isn’t elite like in past years to mask our defensive liabilities. Why isn’t it elite? Well, not everyone is a Macklin or a Lane, but the biggest issue is that the core juniors and seniors are unbearably average. Jack Hughes and Devin Kaplan go missing far too often during games and too often catch your attention by taking a bad penalty. Seriously, what has Kaplan done on the ice to earn an “A” on his sweater this season? He’s followed the path of Luke Tuch (drifting in and out of games for most of his college career and wasting a lot of talent). Tuch finally figured it out last season but Kaplan (one game aside this year) hasn’t. I always expected Copponi to do something great when he played for Merrimack vs. BU (also feared he’d injure one of our players too, but that’s a separate story). Thus far in his Terrier campaign, he’s been underwhelming. And for goodness sake, someone please tell him to shoot when he has an opportunity rather than trying to pass through two sticks like he did countless times tonight. Is it taking him some time to settle in at BU? Maybe. But half of Lowell’s roster is new this season and they are absolutely flying. Quinn Hutson. Talented goal scorer who hasn’t found any rhythm this season. Those four guys, playing at an average or below-average level are killing this team. It puts more pressure on the defense (who already aren’t terrific on paper), and Caron, who needs to be perfect every game.
Greene, Lachance, and Eisermann have been solid. But none of them can put the rest of the team on their back like a Macklin could. This team needs to act like they can’t just show up and win on talent alone. They need the mindset that they’re going to outwork the opponent every night. That starts with the leaders and upperclassmen. Too many of them aren’t bringing that to the table.
So, how do you fix it? I propose that Jay and company have to do the opposite of how they prefer to play. Like a soccer team that ships too many goals every game, they need to play from the back > out. Have Caron settle down and focus on positioning and fundamentals, have the defense focus on positioning, clearing pucks, and making the simple play to help him out, and have the forwards think team defense first and offense second. Win some scrappy low-scoring games. Get comfortable in that system and then open things up down the line when you’re playing better as a team. Maybe that can get the likes of Hughes, Kaplan, Copponi, and Quinn Hutson playing a more consistent game and serve as a springboard for success as the season goes on.
Because, even though it’s early in the season, you don’t want to dig yourself too deep a hole. If they keep playing like this, they’re on their way to 4-7-0 with a tough game at Lowell tomorrow and a very tough trip to Maine next week. I expect them to be a better team in the 2nd half of the season but if they continue this rut, it becomes harder to turn it around.
The boys need to look at themselves in the mirror. And the coaches need to do the same (especially the one(s) who run the defense because that part of our game needs real coaching up – it has throughout Jay’s tenure – and I’m not entirely sure they are up to the task.
(And it doesn’t help that BC has been excellent, as expected.)
Let’s hope for a better performance Saturday, like the bounce-back game in North Dakota. But if we lay another egg? Let’s not go there.
My kingdom for a 60-minute effort.
Mike
Mike, Insightful, and spectacularly detailed analysis! Well done, and very well said. PSD
i had the BU game on my computer as I watched BC – Maine on NESN. the differential in skill, speed, and smart play between the two games was remarkable. BU better get their act together before they play those 2 teams or they are going to get crushed
Sadly, this looks like another abysmal first half in which the record will be below 500 and the hope of making any noise in the post season will be a steep uphill climb.
when i saw our juniors as frosh i was very hopeful; now they are just so ineffective. why?
this D is so porous; the talent level is suspect except for the Swedes. i hope it changes but i do not think so. you can not get a silk purse out of a sow’s ear as they say
You are right on Mike. I wish that we still had Gallagher. And how about Wilmer (4G, 6A in 7 games for Q , although -1) ! Can’t help but think that those two would have made us much better this year.
Great analysis as always, Mike. This defense just doesn’t have the ability to get this team through big games and challenging opponents. Celebrini’s loss is becoming more obvious each game. And the defensive shortcomings are just putting too much pressure to, as Mike indicated, be perfect. I don’t know if Lowell can maintain this winning pace, but as of right now, BU is clearly behind BC, Maine and Providence in HE.
Hoping for better things down the road for the Terriers but it certainly won’t be easy. At least they won’t have to get beat up by the Big Red at MSG this year.
I watched Maine/BC last night and saw two teams competing like it was game 7 of the cup. Both teams desire for the W was a true joy to behold. Skill, decision-making, speed and fun. It was all there.
With this group we have a cultural/psychological issue. This Terrier squad, convinced of everyone’s individual greatness, needs multiple Herb Brooks style death marches in practice until they start caring about each other more than themselves, their social lives and their prospects at the next level which they should start doing the math on. Question is, does Jay have it in him to let his players fear him? If not, he should bounce.
They call it men’s hockey because that is the way of men. No excuses.
Don t forget about Carrabes 5-5-10 so far