The Boston University men’s hockey team will be back at Agganis Arena on Saturday to take on Union College.
The Terriers have yet to budge in the USCHO Men’s Poll, holding down the No. 3 spot they held coming into the season. Union, unranked, is coming in to face what may be their toughest opponent of the season.
After an energetic 5-2 victory over the College of the Holy Cross last week, BU will be looking to keep rolling before it enters Hockey East play. The Terriers have had a week to rest and prepare for this next game, while the Garnet Chargers are fresh off a 4-2 win over Stonehill College Friday night.
Here’s what to look for in this next game.
Can the team keep their cool?
Last Saturday’s matchup against Holy Cross featured 84 penalty minutes between the two teams, including three game misconducts that sent junior forward Devin Kaplan and prized freshman forward Cole Eiserman into the locker room for most of the game. Nine of the 12 penalties were called for or related to roughing.
Union did not play the cleanest game against Army either. Junior forward Brandon Buhr was assessed for a game misconduct of his own for face masking, and the team collected 27 minutes in the box as a whole.
BU’s penalty kill managed to clean up a lot of the mess, only allowing one goal to the Crusaders, whose power play came in at 8th in the Atlantic Hockey Association last season.
“As a group, you have to learn from those things because you know that can cost you at certain points,” head coach Jay Pandolfo said after last week’s game.
Union’s power play has fared better than the Crusaders’, finishing 5th in the ECAC, a more competitive conference.
The competition is only going to get more challenging as the season goes on, so this game will be a good ramp-up to Hockey East play and a test to see if the Terriers can settle down before teams are able to capitalize.
Expect Offense
The Garnet Chargers finished last season ranked ninth in the ECAC with 3.27 goals allowed per game, but they finished third in the conference in goals scored with 3.32 per game.
Last season, BU had an average of 4.1 goals per game.
Union goaltender, junior Kyle Chauvette, struggled last season. He started 36 games last season and posted a 3.05 GAA and a .893 save percentage. His start against Army was about par for the course — he allowed three goals and stopped 15 of the 18 shots he saw for a .833 clip.
Considering the workload he carried last season, it is likely Chauvette will start against BU as well. Union’s other options are senior Joe Sharib, who was in net for only four games last season but had a .923 save percentage, and an unproven freshman in Lucas Massie who the Garnet Chargers are unlikely to throw to the wolves in a mismatch like this game.
The Terriers will likely get more than 18 shots on goal. Against Holy Cross, they had 32. If they keep that pace, more than a couple will hit the back of the net.
Scouting the Garnet Chargers
Union was predicted to finish eighth in the ECAC in the preseason coaches poll. It won its first game of the season against Army in overtime after a 4-1 loss in an exhibition game against Providence College, a closer comparison to the firepower BU is capable of, exhibition or not. Then, the Garnet Chargers took down the Skyhawks to move to 2-0-0.
The roster retained its top five scorers, each with 24 or more points last season, including junior defenseman John Prokop and senior forward Caden Villegas, who both had more than 30 points last season.
In contrast to the Terriers’ young leadership group and exciting freshmen class, the Garnet Chargers are one of the oldest college teams in the country with an average age of 22.6, whereas BU ranks as one of the youngest.
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