NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Same old thing? Nothing new? All the same?
No matter how you spin it, nothing has changed for the Boston University men’s hockey team.
The No. 13 Terriers (9-7-1, 5-3-1 Hockey East) fell to Yale (3-7-1, 2-3-1 ECAC) on Sunday afternoon at Ingalls Rink.
After what can only be described as an up-and-down first half of the 2024-25 season, the Terriers hoped to leave their woes in the past. Head coach Jay Pandolfo shot down the notion of turning a new leaf in two words.
“Nothing changed,” he said postgame.
It looked like BU was ready to shed new light on its season just 1:01 into the contest. Freshman forward Alex Zetterberg picked the puck up in the neutral zone, skated it over the blue line, and found junior forward Quinn Hutson driving the net, who scored to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
But that light was put out fast. Yale responded at 5:13. Senior defenseman Connor Sullivan found sophomore forward Will Richter in the slot from behind the net, and Richter finished, knotting the scoreline at 1-1.
Despite a push from the Bulldogs after their first goal, it was the Terriers who retook the lead at 6:59. Huston fired a pass from the top of the right circle down to Zetterberg at the back door, who tapped it home to give BU a 2-1 lead.
After freshman forward Nick Roukounakis was called for a hook, Yale tied the game on the power play at 8:26. Junior forward David Chen fired a wrister from the point on the man advantage, beating senior netminder Mathieu Caron.
The penalty kill has been a problem for the Terriers throughout thus far. Entering the contest, BU only killed penalties at a 73 percent clip, good for 57th in the nation. Yale scored three power play goals Sunday.
“That’s a problem,” Pandolfo said of surrendering three power play goals. “The penalty kill has not been good enough.”
BU’s power play, however, finished 2-for-6. The first came at 18:25 of the first, when junior co-captain Ryan Greene buried a slick feed from senior forward Matt Copponi to retake the lead.
Yale responded with two quick goals to take its first lead of the day at 4-3. At 2:54, freshman forward Micah Berger redirected a point shot from junior blueliner Bayard Hall. Then at 4:06, junior forward Kalen Szeto beat Caron shorthanded on a breakaway off a miscue by freshman defenseman Sascha Boumedienne.
Caron was pulled after Szeto’s goal for sophomore Max Lacroix. Caron stopped 10 of the 14 shots he faced. Lacroix stopped 11 of 14 in relief.
“I just didn’t think he was seeing the puck great,” Pandolfo said of Caron.
After Hutson tied the score with his second goal at 5:19 of the second, Yale swapped goalies. Sophomore Jack Stark, who stopped 12 of 16 shots, was replaced by freshman Noah Pak, who stopped 15 of 16 in relief.
Chen scored his second power play goal of the game at 15:03 to give the Bulldogs the lead back at 5-4. BU thought it tied the game at 18:13 when Zetterberg found the back of the net. But after review, the goal was waved off. Senior forward Tristan Amonte was ejected for contact to the head.
Yale extended its lead to 6-4 at 13:00 of the final period. It marked the first time since Nov. 22, 2019 that the Bulldogs scored six times in a single game.
“It’s the discipline and the team defense that is continuing to be the biggest problem,” Pandolfo said.
To make things worse, Yale tacked on a seventh goal at 15:51. It hasn’t scored seven goals in a game since Feb. 10, 2018. BU made it 7-5 at 19:26 when Zetterberg potted his second of the day.
The Terriers were without several key contributors Sunday. Freshman forwards Cole Eiserman, Cole Huston, and Brandon Svoboda are in Ottawa competing for the United States at World Juniors. Sophomore defenseman Tom Willander is playing for Sweden. Junior forward Devin Kaplan missed the contest with what Pandolfo called a “minor injury. Pandolfo expects Kaplan back against Vermont on Jan. 10.
Pandolfo nor his team feel sorry for themselves. He knows the way the Terriers are playing right now isn’t working. Most importantly, what is BU’s identity?
“We’re still trying to find it, clearly,” he said.
No bueno.
58th-ranked power play snipes 3 against your PK at midseason when this gaping liability has been obvious a while now.
The lights are on but no one’s home. Happy New Year.
Pandolfo:
“Disappointed with our effort, our attention to detail. Everything we talked about that we needed to get better at and learn from the first half, nothing changed.”
“It’s the discipline and the team defense that is continuing to be the biggest problem.”
Not sure if I have too much to add. The coaches aren’t getting through to them and the players aren’t buying in. Some of it is roster construction (they simply don’t have the horses on defense, none of the freshmen hit the ground running, and the big defensive-minded portal guy has unfortunately been a dud). Some of it is that none of our coaches have truly elite defensive minds (defense and PK). Some of it is we don’t have a big mask like Macklin to distract from the many faults. Some of it is our #1 goalie seems to lose the ability to track the puck once every 5-10 games. And some of it is our players simply aren’t holding each other accountable and the lack of depth means the coaches can’t use playing time as a deterrent to poor play.
It’s all that and more. Missing your 4 best players doesn’t help but those same players turned in similar performances throughout the first half.
We’re a broken team that is on the path to needing to win the HE Tournament to get in the NCAAs. Regardless, they’ll need to sweep BC and Providence AND not trip up against any low PWR teams the rest of the way if they want any real chance.
They’ve dug a big hole. Defense is a combination of mindset and effort. I worry that too many of the players don’t have enough of either to climb us out of the ditch. Only time will tell. And not knowing for sure makes them a damn frustrating team to watch.
Mike
BC and Michigan knows they are going to lose key guys to the WJ so they don’t schedule a game.
Why do we play? It’s stupid
It sucks to have to watch an entire second half of the season knowing we are going nowhere. Do you believe in miracles? NOOO – Not with this undisciplined, untalented, and overrated team
I guess we turn our attention to any and all teams that can beat BC
I’m guessing the idea was to keep the legs going by playing a team they should beat 7 days a week and twice on Sunday–with or without WJ players. Ya know, throw an easy one on the calendar.
But with this group, resigned to play shinny—and lose—good luck with that or any other success strategy.
Wondering if this team can even get to 20 wins? They have the talent to get to the Garden for the HE semifinals but do they have the drive or the sacrifice necessary? May just be an underachieving season coming off back-to-back Frozen Fours. They’ve got to get right between the ears and right quick. Nobody in HE will mind stomping on the Terriers, especially BC and Providence. Won’t take long to find out how much octane this team has in the tank.
I’d say right now 20 wins is a tough sell.
Two 60-minute/200-foot performances with minimal penalties vs Vermont should literally be the only thing that locker room is concerned with.
They have 10 days to live at that rink, hold each other accountable, and figure out how to not beat themselves. Coaches, players, hockey ops, AD….you’re all on the hook for this one.