BOSTON — When Cole Eiserman flipped his commitment from Minnesota to Boston University almost 14 months ago, the third period on Friday night was probably what the Newburyport native and the Terriers’ coaching staff envisioned.
A nationally-ranked BU trailed by a goal. The freshman phenom with a shot of almost mythical status was moved to the top line. Two goals followed, stealing a win at Agganis Arena.
“Just gripped it and ripped it,” Eiserman said postgame.
What they would not have envisioned, however, was all of it being necessary against a 3-6-1 Merrimack team.
This was anything but the blueprint, and the idea that Eiserman’s heroics would rescue his head coach’s mood was snuffed real quick in the press room.
When asked what prompted him to move the 20th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft to the top line during the second intermission, Jay Pandolfo responded incredulously: “I had to change something.”
He’s been everything from angry to bewildered in that room so far this season, especially on Friday nights, as No. 13 BU has shot itself in the foot with the same bullets over and over again. But on this Friday night, even after a 6-3 victory, he seemed genuinely defeated. When asked for his overall takeaways to open the press conference, Pandolfo took five seconds to gather his thoughts.
“Not sure what I need to do,” he finally muttered, “to get this team going.”
He then listed the problems he diagnosed in the first two periods, which the Terriers (6-5-1, 3-2-1 Hockey East) left trailing the Warriors (3-7-1, 2-4-1 HE), 3-2.
“Uncompetitive,” Pandolfo deadpanned. “Lost probably 85 percent of 50-50 battles. Don’t stop on pucks, don’t play the right way, don’t manage the puck. Do everything you can to try to lose. That’s what it looked like to me.”
The Warriors — who entered averaging 1.9 goals per game, the worst mark in Hockey East and tied for 57th of 65 teams nationally — scored two goals in the first 12 minutes, each of them off completely uncontested shots. Senior netminder Mathieu Caron didn’t have much of a chance, and even though he could’ve done better on Merrimack’s third goal midway through the second period, the chance was born out of BU’s inability to clear the puck from the immediate area around his crease.
“I’m searching for answers, for sure, but obviously, I haven’t come up with any yet,” Pandolfo said. “Because we’ve seen this pretty much every Friday night we’ve played.”
BU’s previous four series were against ranked opponents, and the Terriers lost the Friday opener in every one. But the thinly veiled excuse that those struggles were a product of strong opposition was ripped apart against Merrimack. The Warriors outshot BU, 39-30, a total 17 shots higher than their season average, a threshold they passed less than halfway through the game.
“We’re not ready for puck drop,” senior transfer Matt Copponi said, who played against his former team for the first time. “And that’s on us. That’s within the locker room. We have to address that.”
BU’s defensive core was incompetent for large portions of the first 40 minutes, losing battles against the boards, leaving Warriors wide open in the zone for quality chances, and committing agonizing turnovers. It’s a young group; only one of the six is an upperclassman, but these were problems that had been plaguing them for weeks. Merrimack whiffed on a bevy of one-timers from opportune spots and was slow on the rush. Otherwise, BU’s third-period hole could’ve been a lot deeper, something Pandolfo admitted postgame.
“Disappointing with our effort, more than anything,” Pandolfo said. “And that’s the difficult thing to watch.”
Two impressive solo goals from freshman forward Brandon Svoboda notwithstanding, BU’s attack was starved of life again. Sophomore captain Shane Lachance botched two Grade-A chances early in the first period, but the Terriers’ momentum was neutered after that. In the final 10 minutes of the second, most of it played trailing by a goal, they mustered a single shot on net.
It prompted the line changes for the final frame — Eiserman, who started on the third line with freshman Kamil Bednarik and Svoboda, moved to the top line with junior captain Ryan Greene and sophomore Jack Harvey. He tied the game on a wrister from the circle that jammed through Merrimack goalie Max Lundgren’s five-hole at 4:24, then, off an assist from Copponi, buried the winner from the slot at 11:52.
Copponi scored two more goals in the final six minutes to seal the win.
“Obviously, things change during the game,” Eiserman said. “I ended up going out with Greener and Harvs, and I ended up having a nice goal from them making an unbelievable play. So it felt good to kind of get some chemistry with them early.”
He’s moved up and down the line chart throughout his first season, as has almost every one of BU’s forwards. None of the changes have stuck. When asked if he plans to keep Eiserman on the top line — the Terriers travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a rematch with the Warriors on Friday in the Friendship Four — Pandolfo said “it’s the last thing I’m thinking about right now.”
There are much bigger problems to solve, but he did end up offering a telling response.
“Obviously, they’ve changed a lot up to this point,” Pandolfo said. “That’s somewhat the result of how we’ve played and trying to find chemistry with our group. And I still haven’t really found it.”
The question was about Eiserman and the line charts, but the answer could’ve been about anything else.
Nice job headlining specific players mistakes. It’s a team game and countless turnovers happened.
Nice work headlining a player name and his mistakes. Especially a player that was sick for a month and still getting legs and wind back. Entire team had its issues.
Excellent journalism headlining a specific player and his mistakes. Especially one that was sick for a month and still getting legs and cardio back. The entire team has issues. And turnovers.
He said it: “Uncompetitive,” Pandolfo deadpanned. “Lost probably 85 percent of 50-50 battles. Don’t stop on pucks, don’t play the right way, don’t manage the puck. Do everything you can to try to lose. That’s what it looked like to me.”
Happy for a win but I don’t see a lot of defense…too many turnovers in our own end with not enough smooth connected passes to exit the defensive zone when they eventually retrieve a puck in their own end.
Eiserman stays on the top line period
A few years ago when Bu hockey was going through a tough stretch and fans in my view were being critical of players I would stick up for not only them but the program. Unfortunately for me it got heated with other fans who disagreed with me. I decided to stop commenting on the blog because of this and of course our programs success’s the past 2 years did not warrant me to defend it. although I read it all the time and enjoy the articles.
Let me first describe myself so everyone understands where I’m coming from since I was a little boy I have been obsessed and loyal with the Bu hockey team. I understand the game and have been involved in sports at all levels. I have seen all sorts of Bu teams dating back to 1985.
All this said I have some analysis some questions some solutions and some optimism. First analysis one needs to make is why we struggle. Slow out of the gate, turnovers, penalties, coupled with subpar pk . And finally a category I call confusion it encompasses a lot . (Flatfooted,beat to loose pucks poor decision making etc. ) the coaches see it and believe me the players see it.
Now that I have described our issues comes the why and how we get out of it. We are young the kids are playing at a high level . Our players are tremendously gifted but plays that worked at previous levels won’t work in D1 but they keep trying. Why because it’s habit and when things are going bad most folks go to what they are used too . kids are even more prone to do that. This team needs to buy into the structure the coaches are teaching them. The good news is I think they want. Too it’s just kids being kids not a easy job for coach or captains to fix.
I think once this team can get rolling build confidence we will play better hockey we need to be harder to play against we need to be moving our feet . There is a reason we play better on Saturday and that’s because after playing poorly on Friday often after a loss we are more loose . We need to bee more losse but structured. its easier said then done i get that if it was easy we would not need a great coaching staff two months to work on it but we will be better and i will detail why below.
i cant say enough good things about our leadership shane and Ryan are terrific captains the kids look up to them our assistants provide leeadership as well and even though they dont wear a letter Copponi and Amonte bring energy into that room. heck coach mentioned how young a captain shane is but has been groomed for the post its true that. kid was born to wear the sweater he also made a great pass on that goal last night its only fair to give him props if in article we knock him im going to build him up he’s a great captain and kid i think the world of him and he is who i want leading this team. with our strugle’s of late follks are forgetting this team never gives up and will play till the end case in point lowell maine north dakota and last. night its this. drive that will get them out of this. lets go bu hockey we got this .
After writing my long response as is usually the case I remember something I forgot to cover. When coach Quinn was here I saw him at brugers bagels one morning we were discussing the teams issues they were having . His team was very similar to this team. What he told me stuck . He said in hockey there are 3 things you can do when it comes to a play 1 the right thing 2 the wrong thing and 3 nothing at all. With our current confidence level we are doing number 3 too much we need more of 1 and 2 we are talented enough to make up for mistakes but doing too much number 3 is not the answer we need to be moving I can’t say it enough we are watching too much because we are afraid to make mistakes which unfortunately leads to mistakes but rest assured we will get through this . These kids work hard it will eventually come . Keep working hard is what should be told to these kids keep listening to coach and keep your heads held high that’s what these kids need
Four-Goal Third Period Takes No.13/16 Terriers Past Merrimack, 6-3 !!!
Great come back win for BU Terriers 👍
WIN IS A WIN. I hear your comments earlier & understand your game analysis & views.
No team is perfect. Every team has up &
down.
Terriers have great coaches and talents &
they’ll put together another Amazing season in 2024/2025. 👍
in 2024/2025. Go BU!