BU men’s hockey has a ‘little things’ problem. Can they solve it before the NCAA Tournament?

Before this season began, Jay Pandolfo sat in his office and explained the recipe for the Boston University men’s hockey team’s first national title since 2009. Most of it — a talented roster, a winning culture, national relevancy — was already in place. 

The final ingredient? Mastering the “little things.”

“For me,” the third-year head coach said then, “it’s just the little things over the course of one big game that can really make a difference.”

Blocked shots, keeps at the blue line, active sticks in the defensive zone. In high-stakes games with thin margins, small details like those stack up to decide wins and losses. 

Back in September, Pandolfo hoped that attention to the little things would help this year’s group reach the heights that last year’s team couldn’t.

Instead, the little things have become the kryptonite of this year’s team. The Terriers have the talent to beat any team they play in any given game. But for as many big wins as BU has enjoyed, there have been just as many baffling losses. 

Thursday’s noncompetitive 5-2 defeat to UConn in the Hockey East semifinals was the latest example.  

In the “little things” department, the Huskies ran up the scoreboard. UConn played with cohesion, purpose and crispness. The Terriers played like they’d rather have been anywhere else. 

“Out-competed, out-battled for every puck, out-battled on the wall, out-battled in the slot. They played winning hockey,” said Pandolfo. “They wanted it a heck of a lot more than we did.”

Take UConn’s first of five unanswered goals, which made it 1-1 at 0:59 of the second period.

Ryan Greene, BU’s best at the faceoff dot, lost a defensive zone draw to UConn fourth-line left-winger Tabor Heaslip. Little thing number one. 

After the Huskies worked the puck down low, Sascha Boumedienne gained possession and cycled it to Jack Harvey, who was positioned at the half-wall and ready to clear the zone. UConn graduate defenseman John Spetz beat Harvey to the spot and kept the puck in the offensive end. Little thing number two. 

Winding up with possession behind the BU net, Greene sent the puck along the boards and into no man’s land. It went right to the tape of Heaslip, who snapped the puck to the netfront. Little thing number three. 

UConn junior forward Tristan Fraser had an initial shot off Heaslip’s feed, but BU goalie Mikhail Yegorov staved it off with his pad. As the rebound popped back into the fray, Fraser was surrounded by four BU skaters. Nonetheless, Fraser collected the puck and sniped it past a helpless Yegorov. 

This was 5-on-5 hockey, in the first minute of the second period. Legs were fresh.

Is it fair to nitpick an entire shift? Maybe not. But these are the “little things” Pandolfo is so adamant about. And when you make five small mistakes in a row, a team of UConn’s caliber will make you pay. 

Thursday night, that’s what happened. Over and over again.

Some might blame the roster construction of this BU team. Behind an emphasis on recruiting highly-touted NHL prospects, the Terriers have a lineup that features more freshmen (7) than seniors (4). With graduate student stalwart Brehdan Engum out for the season, the defensive corps is all freshmen and sophomores — besides senior Jack Page, who played just five games during his previous three years at BU. The talent is there, but the steady leadership of fourth and fifth-year veterans is not.

Nonetheless, BU’s young, inexperienced players have risen to the moment this year — like when the freshman class lifted the Terriers to the Beanpot title, 4-1, over top-ranked Boston College. BU won the “little things” battle with the Eagles on that night at TD Garden, and it wasn’t close.

Then games like Thursday happen, when the Terriers look sluggish and disinterested. It’s been hard to predict when these duds will occur — but they’ve flared up enough times to mark a pattern. 

Which brings us to the NCAA Tournament. 

Margin for error no longer exists. The Terriers did well enough in the regular season to earn themselves the seventh overall seed, and they appear positioned to face 10th-seeded Ohio State in the first round of the Toledo Regional on Thursday. 

By the way BU has played this season, it won’t matter who they take on. If the Terriers play with an attention to the little things, they can beat any team in the field. If they lay an egg, they can lose to the worst team in the tournament.

“If it happens again, the season’s over,” Pandolfo said after Thursday’s loss. “If our guys want to play the way we did tonight at regionals, I don’t think we’re going to like the result.”

It’s hard to know what to expect at regionals from the Terriers, who seem to have a love-hate relationship with the little things. How will they fare with their season on the line?

Within the week, we’ll find out.