ORONO, Maine — This Friday was no different.
The Boston University men’s hockey team had played three weekend sets entering this series against No. 7 Maine — and had lost all three openers by a total margin of 17-6.
“I don’t have a great answer,” head coach Jay Pandolfo said of the team’s Friday struggles during midweek availability on Wednesday. “I’m a little bit lost for why.”
When the No. 11 Terriers took the ice at Alfond Arena Friday night, the result wasn’t a surprise: a deflating 5-2 defeat.
BU looked like a lost team.
It hosted an open goaltending contest this week that ended with long-time starter Mathieu Caron benched for sophomore Max Lacroix, who made his second start. The team’s pitiful discipline became a parody of itself with eight penalties in the contest — four by the team’s top defensive-pair of freshman Cole Hutson and sophomore Gavin McCarthy. A once-proud power-play unit only converted on a five-on-three, giving up a short-handed goal along the way.
“It falls on the staff. It falls on me,” Pandolfo said postgame. “I gotta find a way to get them ready and prepared on Friday nights, and I’m certainly not doing a good enough job.”
The contest was physical from puck drop. The Terriers didn’t appear to stir at the raucous environment suffocating them. Contrary to the team’s early struggles at Ralph Engelstad Arena in the first period of the North Dakota series, BU’s passes were clean and shifts were strong.
The Terriers were then rewarded with a power-play at 4:42 of the first when Maine senior forward Nolan Renwick took a slashing penalty.
However, the Black Bears co-opted the man-advantage. BU’s Cole Hutson turned the puck over to junior forward Owen Fowler, who took a glide and rang a goal off the post at 5:13.
“A guy like that who has the puck a lot on his stick, there’s going to be times where he’s going to turn some pucks over. They can’t come at real inopportune times,” Pandolfo said of Hutson. “I give Maine credit. They read that drop pretty well, picked it off.”
But the Terriers responded differently than in recent losses. They ended the first period with promise, establishing residency in the offensive zone and fighting for pucks. The forecheck answered failed battles, and when that broke down, the Terriers’ sticks were disruptive enough to thwart the Maine offense.
Finally receiving the defensive support, Lacroix followed through on his end of the deal, making strong save after strong save and finishing with 10 in the first period.
The score held 1-0 Maine after one, but the defensive leg the Terriers’ stood on late in the first period crumbled early in the second.
Lacroix faced an early onslaught from the Black Bears. At 3:16, Maine defenseman Frank Djurasevic danced through the heart of the BU defense and slid the puck through traffic and past Lacroix, sprawling on his glove side, for a 2-0 lead.
The discipline issues plaguing BU climaxed at the end of the second period when the Terriers sat shoulder pad-to-shoulder pad in the penalty box.
Cole Hutson took his slashing penalty at 18:24, and Jack Hughes took a simultaneous boarding penalty to give a lethal Maine power play unit two minutes of uninterrupted five-on-three action.
The Terriers’ penalty kill held strong for just over 30 seconds when BU graduate student defenseman Brehdan Engum took a slashing penalty — just his second infraction of the season — at 19:07.
“It’s tough when you have to kill that many penalties off, so we certainly have to do a better job,” Pandolfo said. “They put us down five-on-three again. To call another penalty off the face-off that was not a penalty, that’s very disappointing. It’s tough, really hard to overcome that.”
From there, Maine sophomore forward Charlie Russell found junior forward Thomas Freel on the backdoor for an all-too-easy tally at 19:29. Freel scored his seventh goal of the season — his seventh power-play goal.
Maine senior forward Harrison Scott, who leads Hockey East in points, then found the top-left corner as time expired on the period for an insurmountable 4-0 lead.
Early in the third period, the Terriers had a five-on-three opportunity of their own after captain Lynden Breen and senior forward Taylor Makar took hooking and tripping penalties, respectively.
Junior Ryan Greene broke the shutout for the Terriers at 2:32 of the third period to make it 4-1. Sophomore forward Doug Grimes brought it within two at 9:01, scoring high on goaltender Albin Boija’s gloveside.
The Black Bears seemed to turn their focus away from goals and towards Cole Hutson, who found himself on the wrong end of a hook, a rough and a host of other late hits.
Quinn Hutson, the team’s point leader, disappeared midway through the game with an upper-body injury. Pandolfo said he’s questionable for Saturday.
The deficit felt much greater than two goals for the Terriers. Still, BU pulled its goalie for Fowler to score his second of the night on the empty net, capping off a sound 5-2 victory. BU has now given up at least five goals in each Friday game this season.
Lacroix was in top form during his second official start. He bailed out the defense on multiple occasions, making breakaway saves after turnovers and diving across the crease after breakdowns. He totaled 29 saves in a performance not indicative of the final score.
“He made some timely saves for us, some breakaway saves. He competes, so I thought he played well,” Pandolfo said. “If [Lacroix] plays like that, we’re gonna get certainly some better results.”
BU has the chance to respond Saturday night against Maine at 7 p.m.
The good news for the Terriers: they have earned a point in night two of each weekend series. But no matter the result, the Friday night struggles point to a deeper problem that Saturday’s response will not solve.
“We showed that we could play with them,” Pandolfo said. “Trying to stay positive, or that’s all you can do.”
This squad is a mess. Time for open tryouts.
I feel bad for Pando; not saying he does not bear some responsibility. I just think the way the team is playing is embarrassing to him. To me, Pando is synonymous with BU hockey excellence.
Also, part of what I think needs to happen is a reevaluation of the type of player he and the staff want to recruit. Keeping this storied program in the upper echelon of college hockey is and will be challenging, given all this NIL money. not a level playing field which stinks