LOWELL, Mass. — There are few must-win college hockey games in November.
But for the Boston University men’s hockey team, Saturday’s matchup with UMass Lowell met the criteria. Coming off a brutal three-game skid full of bad penalties, bad turnovers and late-game collapses, a win over the River Hawks felt essential for the Terriers.
No. 9 BU (5-4-0, 2-1-0 Hockey East) responded, delivering what head coach Jay Pandolfo called the team’s “most complete effort” so far, a 5-2 triumph over No. 17 Lowell (6-2-0, 2-1-0 HE) at the Tsongas Center in Lowell.
“We were competitive right from the start,” Pandolfo said postgame. “Really happy with the way we played tonight, and we have to build off of that.”
As has been the case in the opening month of the season, senior Matt Copponi was the spark plug for BU.
The forward has been one of the most effective players on the team since transferring from Merrimack over the summer, and that continued Saturday night.
Copponi tallied a goal and two assists — all in the second period — with two of the three points coming in a 44-second span at the start of the frame. He looked excellent on the second line with Cole Eiserman and Jack Harvey.
“He’s been coming for us the last few games,” Pandolfo said of Copponi. “He certainly can make plays. He drives play off the rush.”
The transfer from Merrimack was flying all game, but especially in an action-packed second period, which featured all seven of the game’s goals.
Copponi kicked off the scoring by dishing the puck to a cutting Quinn Hutson, who deked to his backhand and beat River Hawk goalie Henry Welsch at 1:01 of the second. Just 44 seconds later, Copponi found the net himself after whacking home a rebound at 1:45.
His third point came at 11:06 when he carried the puck into the zone and evaded a defender with a nifty move, setting up Jack Harvey’s goal, which gave the Terriers a 3-1 lead.
Cole Hutson sniped a tally off a faceoff win at 13:45 to make it 4-1, and Quinn Hutson added the exclamation point with his second of the night at 18:07, which made it 5-2.
Both of the River Hawks’ goals came on the power play. Senior Isac Jonsson netted the first at 6:05 of the second after Sascha Boumedienne took a five-minute major for grabbing a facemask. Freshman Libor Nemec scored the other at 17:11 of the second after the Terriers took a penalty for too many men on the ice.
But after BU took its two-goal lead early in the second, the River Hawks never truly threatened to knot the game up. The Terriers were in control throughout.
After BU struggled to limit goals in the three-game losing streak, Pandolfo opted to start sophomore Max Lacroix over senior Mathieu Caron, who had given up 14 goals in his last three games.
“I just thought it was a good game for Caron to get a reset,” Pandolfo said. “We had a tough stretch at home, and I thought it was a good opportunity to get Max in. We’re very comfortable with Max.”
Lacroix wasn’t tested a ton, but he was impressive nonetheless, making 16 saves on 18 UMass Lowell shots to notch the win.
“He’s such a good teammate, and he’s such a good person, and he’s a really nice friend,” Copponi said. “At the end of the day, you really hope good things for good people, and that’s a kid who’s really worked hard, kept his head down. I’m really proud of him.”
Lacroix looked solid in his first official action of the year in the Oct. 25 loss to North Dakota, and he also started in front of a packed Agganis Arena for the Terriers’ exhibition against Harvard on Oct. 19. That experience, he said postgame, helped him settle in and feel comfortable.
“It makes it a lot easier to get those reps, and it was a lot of fun to be out there,” he said.
Next up: a huge two-game set with No. 5 Maine at the always-raucous Alfond Arena on Nov. 15 and 16.
“We just need to be ready and more physical,” Copponi said. “We need to play our game and stick to our pace. When we play our game, we’re a good team.”
Some progress tonight. Still made a lot of “losing” plays (bad penalties, turnovers, etc.) but made fewer of them and took all their chances in the 2nd period. It was a must win going into a weekend in Maine. We’ll learn a lot more about them next weekend.
Can they avoid being overwhelmed like the 1st game in North Dakota? Orono will be electric. Important to get off to a good start and score first.
And for clarification on one of my comments last night, I love the coaching staff. Not looking for anyone to leave. But Joe and Kim have flipped on who coaches offense/defense over the past two seasons and I’m not sure either is equipped to be a top-notch defensive coach. Not saying it’s a Matt Patricia coaching offense situation but one might need to slide into another role and have BU bring in a proven defensive coach in the future. It’s our Achilles heel the past few seasons and it’s still our biggest issue.
FWIW, and I’m sure PSD will agree, I’ll never understand our complacency in forcing one predictable play on every PP. It’s something we’ve done historically but really heavily the past two seasons. I get that NHL-level shots from Mack and Eiserman on one-timers at the dot can be successful but when everyone knows you’re going to do it, and the goalie and defense can cheat that way, your percentages go down. BC and Maine have historically had creative PPs where everyone is moving and anyone can beat you. I wish we’d be a little less predictable with the man advantage.
Mike
Copponi and Engum again demonstrated the value of their being added to the team. I have made note of Copponi’s skill and determination on prior posts, and his tenacity and talent were again on display tonight. Engum was solid once again, and helped to stabilize the lately porous defense. In my opinion he is needed as a regularly paired defenseman.
I agree with Mike that the repetitive movement pattern to get the PP “one timer” has become too structured and predictable. If LaChance is open at the back door, then it is another story. As Mike also noted PP freewheeling movement, as opposed to structured passing patterns (which we were doing earlier with success), is harder to defend against. Guys in constant motion get open and create options that cannot be anticipated by the defenders. Movement away from the ball – artistry over science.
I went home with a smile and cancelled Monday’s appointment with my grief counselor. The ship has been righted – on to Maine. PSD
Not sure it has been “righted.” next weekend will reveal that
especially since BC just swept Maine