If the Boston University men’s hockey team had New Year’s resolutions, they would have been to stay out of the box, avoid slow starts to games and break the pattern of losing on Fridays.
The Terriers (10-7-1, 6-3-1 Hockey East) did all of that on Friday night at Agganis Arena and came out hot to start off 2025 against the University of Vermont.
While scoring goals was not the primary issue in its loss to Yale 12 days ago, BU needed a strong offensive performance to get back on track in the second half of the season. The No. 15 Terriers’ 6-1 win over Vermont (8-9-3, 3-5-2 HEA) can serve as a reset.
BU carried a shooting mentality throughout most of the game, putting up 28 shots on goal, including three goals on eight shots in the first. The power play provided an additional boost with two goals.
“We were quick and direct tonight,” junior forward Quinn Hutson said postgame. “Tonight that showed that both [power play] units could go out there and score, and [Vermont] couldn’t really stay with us.”
Junior Ryan Greene opened the scoring seven minutes into the first period with a shot from behind the net that pinballed off a Catamount defender’s shin and goaltender Axel Mangbo’s back before it crossed the goal line. The puck was supposed to be a pass to waiting teammate Jack Harvey, but the fortunate bounces put the Terriers on the board early.
Before Vermont could settle in at even strength after killing a slashing penalty, Hutson received the puck from Greene and fired the puck home to take advantage of traffic in front of the net. In the fading seconds of both another power play and the period, Hutson scored another coming downhill and elevating the puck top-shelf.
Harvey opened the second period with BU’s fourth goal of the game off a backhanded shot that beat Vermont goaltender Alex Mangbo glove side.
Junior Devin Kaplan continued to bury the Catamounts with a goal off an offensive zone faceoff won by freshman Kamil Bednarik.
Vermont opened the final frame with another power play, and BU’s Jack Hughes took advantage of the man advantage by netting his first goal of the season to put the Terriers up with a comfortable 6-0 lead.
Despite getting two of their best goalscorers back on the line chart with their goal medals, the Terriers’ leadership group stepped up with the bulk of the scoring.
Cole Hutson led the World Juniors tournament in points with 11, while fellow freshmen Cole Eiserman and Brandon Svoboda both came up with timely goals to pave the way to USA Hockey’s second consecutive tournament win. They scored 24 points between the three of them, but they did not make a huge contribution in their return to BU.
Instead, co-captain Greene led the team with a four-point night and assistant captain Quinn Hutson added two more goals to his point total, now tied for first on the team with co-captain Shane Lachance, who also got on the board with the primary assist on assistant captain Kaplan’s goal.
While turnovers still proved to be an issue, granting good looks to Vermont, senior goalie Mathieu Caron cleaned up the majority of those mistakes. After he gave up four goals in his start against Yale before getting yanked and replaced by Max Lacroix, he made 27 saves while only giving up a single goal midway through the final frame.
Vermont only got three chances on the power play, a vast improvement on the struggles the Terriers have been creating for themselves by committing nearly six penalties a game.
“We played probably our most consistent game of the year I would think, just played the right way, and we need to play that brand of hockey more often,” Greene said.
The Terriers face the Catamounts again tomorrow at Agganis at 5 p.m.
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