The Battle of Comm. Ave has been circled on the schedule since it was released.
The Boston University men’s hockey team ended the first game of the home-and-home series sweeping maroon-and-gold hats off the ice to the cheers of the minority of Boston College fans that had made it to the sold-out Agganis Arena.
The 296th meeting between the two rivals resulted in a 6-2 BC (17-4-1, 10-3-1 Hockey East) victory, sealed by assistant captain Ryan Leonard’s second career hat trick.
Not only was it the beginning of the rivalry series, but it was also a heavyweight matchup between two top-10 teams in the USCHO rankings.
No. 1 BC was the better hockey team.
The No. 8 Terriers (13-8-1, 9-4-1 HEA) outshot the Eagles 33-21 but lost by four goals. The usual culprits of reckless penalties and sloppy defense were not the defining features of the game. BU committed two penalties in the matchup, and only one of them gave the Eagles a man advantage that ran off the clock with nothing to show for it.
Still, BU has made a habit of shooting itself in the foot. Discipline continued to define the game’s play. Too many lateral passes were broken up, feeding into BC’s outstanding transition offense. The shots BU gave up were high-quality ones, and the Eagles did not need much in order to take advantage and make the Terriers pay.
BC scored the first goal of the game shorthanded. Terrier senior forward Matt Copponi swung a pass over to BC sophomore forward Will Vote, who took off uncontested toward the net and cashed in five-hole on a stranded Mathieu Caron.
“The guys seemed calm and excited and ready to play,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said postgame. “In the first, I don’t know if we got caught up in the moment a little bit, but if you give [the Eagles] a breakaway and then a 2-on-0… you can’t give up those chances against that team.”
The BU power play bounced back on its second chance with a five-minute major called on freshman defenseman Michael Hagens for face masking. The first two minutes were matched by Copponi for roughing, and the 4-on-4 play produced nothing new on the scoreboard.
Then the Terriers had a three-minute power play, and they were able to capitalize.
BU assistant captain Quinn Hutson banked in a rebound to tie the game. Taking advantage of a weird bounce off the stanchion and a wide-open net while BC goaltender Jacob Fowler tried to retrieve the puck, Cole Eiserman extended his hot streak at Agganis with the second goal of the power play to give the Terriers the lead.
Agganis Arena lit up with the major penalty announcement, and it only became louder with each goal.
BC silenced the home fans with five unanswered goals in the next two frames. Three of them came in the second, and the final two were empty netters from Leonard.
The neutral zone proved to be the biggest issue. BU had very little ice to work with in the middle third, and BC played well to their strength in transition.
Fowler stood strong the entire night despite an uncomfortable first period and a barrage of shots throughout the 60 minutes. He made 31 saves, and BU failed to bank in any available rebounds after the one Hutson was able to clean up into the back of the net.
“He sticks right to his process, and he was very sharp the rest of the game,” BC head coach Greg Brown said postgame.
The Eagles eased up in the third period. BU, down by two to start the frame, looked like they could battle back. The Terriers had four power plays in the remaining 12 minutes, only to come up empty-handed.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” Pandolfo said. “[The Eagles are] not going to let off the gas tomorrow at home, so we got to make sure that we push a little harder.”
Historically, BU has had the edge over BC, holding a 140-135-21 record over the Eagles dating back to 1918. Lately, however, the Terriers have struggled against their rivals with only one win in the last five meetings.
Both teams were coming off four-game win streak, and both had just taken jumps in the national rankings.
The rematch will be held at the Conte Forum at 7 p.m.
I would play the Russian kid tonight; BC owns Carron and we got nothing to lose. the only way to beat them is to get a Sean Fields circa the Beanpot final against BC to have a chance of beating them. (and i know we lost that game but…)
BC is just better than us on O, D, and in goal
Caron needs to call BC his Daddy( nod to the great Pedro).
Time for a different approach. We can not stop the turnovers. Let’s try the Russian wall
Agree, shake things up.
Defense is not hard to play against. And last I checked, that’s kinda like, well….the whole point of the position — to punish the opponents attacking the D zone.
The late great Shawn Walsh used to say “Recruit offense. Teach defense.” If you like this standard of success (his teams were pretty decent I’d say) then my question is, does Agganis have a film room? The problem here is so straightforward but the solution is proving more complicated…Bottom line, if you want to win big games, you have to physically challenge the opponent and there’s no evidence of a commitment to this.
Yesterday, BC was the superior hockey team.
Today, my bet is for BU to win! BU won 7 of 8 second home and home games.
After all, BC hockey isn’t unbeatable. BC fell against UConn, Merrimack, and Northeastern.
GO BU!
They are what we thought they were — talented team with flaws that will hold them back from postseason success.