After a demoralizing 5-1 loss to Northeastern on Friday night, head coach Jay Pandolfo was asked what went wrong.
“What went right is probably the better question,” he answered.
That’s the type of night it was at Agganis Arena for the Boston University men’s hockey team. Nothing went its way.
The No. 9 Terriers (17-12-1, 11-8-1 Hockey East) looked lethargic from puck drop. They struggled to get behind Northeastern’s blue-liners all night and, other than some short spurts, failed to generate consistent offense.
The Huskies (11-15-3, 6-10-3 HE), on the other hand, were excellent from puck drop to buzzer. Amidst an up-and-down season, head coach Jerry Keefe was pleased with their performance.
“We were committed to playing the right way for 60 minutes,” he said postgame. “It was good to see the guys get rewarded.”
Northeastern’s top forward line stood out in a major way. Juniors Cam Lund and Jack Williams and sophomore Dylan Hryckowian were the three best players on the ice. They combined for nine points (three goals, six assists).
“They just had their way tonight,” Pandolfo said. “Seemed like they could do whatever they wanted.”
Lund opened the scoring at 14:17 of the first period. On a 4-on-3 power play, he picked out the top left corner of the net from the right circle to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
Entering Friday night, Northeastern’s power play sat at 9.1 percent — the worst mark in the nation. The Huskies went 2-for-2 on the power play against the Terriers.
BU’s penalty kill had looked much improved in the second half, but Friday was a step in the wrong direction at a crucial point in the season.
“We just didn’t kill enough plays on the kill,” Pandolfo said. “We let them have a little bit too much zone time.”
Lund doubled the Northeastern lead with his second of the night at 3:52 of the second period. From the goal line, Williams found Lund in the slot, who beat freshman Mikhail Yegorov.
Yegorov stopped only 15 of the 20 shots he faced in the loss, but the Terriers defense did their netminder no favors.
“Poor Yegorov,” Pandolfo said. “He was probably like, ‘What’s going on in front of me?’”
The Huskies’ second power-play goal came at 11:19 of the middle frame. A wide-open senior forward, Ryan McGuire, beat Yegorov glove side high from the slot.
BU got on the board at 17:43 of the second. From the slot, junior forward Quinn Hutson buried his 18th goal of the year at 4-on-4.
Northeastern responded 12 seconds later. Williams rifled a one-timer from the slot past Yegorov to extend the Huskies’ lead to 4-1.
“Lack of focus,” Pandolfo said. “Little things like that make a difference in playing winning hockey.”
Sophomore Cameron Whitehead made 24 saves for the Huskies in the win, but he left plenty of rebounds in front of him. The Terriers didn’t muck up the front of the net nearly enough to make him pay.
“It’s hard. Guys don’t want to play hard and be willing to get there,” Pandolfo said. “It’s effort and having a willingness to win a battle.”
Northeastern tacked on one more 26 seconds into the third period when graduate defender Jake Boltmann blasted a one-timer home.
Pandolfo knows BU won’t always be at its best, but the players “should have enough pride” to put forth a quality effort. On Friday night, the Terriers didn’t play with pride.
But as the saying goes, he knows that BU has to “turn the page.”
DISinterested
DISfunctional
DISjointed
DISengaged
DISabled
DISspirited
DISarrayed
DISinteresting
Feel free to add
left after 2 periods
abysmal effort and performance
out
That’s about as embarrassed as I’ve been by this team this season. And the minimal effort it took me to write that sentence is more than all of the effort they showed on the ice tonight. Inexcusable? Frustrating? Disgusting? Maybe. Predictable? Absolutely!
There is something missing in the DNA of too many of these players. Not enough guys who hate to lose. Not enough guys who demand full effort from themselves and their teammates.
And the result is an inconsistent season where you may as well flip a coin before each game. They can beat anyone and they can lose to anyone and the primary reason is that they don’t play with the required effort every game.
They followed their best 60 minute performance of the season with their worst. Rinse and repeat.
And they should thank their lucky stars that Hockey East has been so good out of conference because without the conference’s PWR boost for all HE teams, they would not make the NCAA’s this year. But they are pretty much a lock at this point, which could be one of the reasons why they don’t think they need to play hard each night. Maybe getting embarrassed at home by a local rival will drive home the message. But the message has been driven home countless times this season. I expect them to play with effort and win at Northeastern tomorrow and, per usual with these guys, I’ll have no idea how they’ll play against UConn on Tuesday.
So much talent. So little will to be great.
BU Hockey 2024-25.
Mike
A few weeks ago, the BU hockey team was ranked outside the top 10. But we’ve been going up the rankings!
Despite tonight’s setback, we remain among the top 7 hockey teams in the NCAA, according to the USCHO Pairwise ranking.
Let’s compete tenaciously till we win the Hockey East championship!
GO BU!
A few weeks ago, the BU hockey team was ranked outside the top 10. But we’ve been going up the rankings!
Despite tonight’s setback, we remain among the top 7 hockey teams in the NCAA, according to the USCHO Pairwise ranking. Let’s compete tenaciously till we win the Hockey East championship!
GO BU!
seriously??????????????????????????? – “Let’s compete tenaciously till we win the Hockey East championship!”
Yeah, it would be Fantastic!
We got Belpot, Beanpot trophies, and Lamoriello Trophy is next.
GO BU!
A sad display of hockey last night, the see saw season continues,just like games against UML, Umass NH, Providence, lose one win one,again we lose at home, then win the next night , hopefully we win one tonight at NU, enough sleep walking through the first period, now, the party is over , “big Mike” can’t save us all, where’s our pride and effort, lord we won the Beanpot!!!we are a much better team,let’s show it tonight at the last bastion of old time hockey, the ancient Boston Arena,give “The Grand Old Lady” a going away present
So embarrassing!!
Just watch the way the two teams played in their defensive zone
NU gets a A+ and BU gets a F
How about we stop wearing those club uniforms
I can never understand why the majority of our fan base who read and contribute to the comments section of this blog are turned off so quickly on this team. It’s been years of me staying silent then feeling the need to come on here and defend this team. Just a few years ago some of the regulars were bashing Jake Oettinger and let’s not forget how that worked out. It’s just a small one example of many . As a fan why would you want to give up on them.
There is something going on in that locker room I know how this team plays I see the body language example’s Eiserman was behind the D wide open no pass. He slammed his stick and I watched closely it was not pretty on the bench . Same thing with Kaplan frustrated that kid goated him to the box last night with all our blown coverage and flat footed once they scored that goal game over. I saw guys trying and I believe they are a tight group but I have been around long enough to know something is going on. We have the best coaches in college hockey let them coach they addressed how we played they see them every day you can be critical I was critical last night critical now but if you have access to these kids don’t bring your garbage to the equation. The fancy stuff these kids are doing and the bickering I believe is coming partly from outside sources. I’m fortunate to know these kids I know how hard they work I know sports enough to know they need to get out of this funk as coach said it’s about getting to the dirty areas playing hard so if you see a player make sure you build them up and certainly don’t knock another kid while talking to another player it’s not helping. I know how good we can be if we play our game and I’m pulling for these kids I would never quit on them. If I were a teammate of theirs I would run thru a wall for them. They are all terrific kids but kids who need to learn some lessons that’s what coaches are for.
Mercyhurst would have beaten the Terriers last night. I’m embarrassed for them as they should be for themselves. Complete lack of effort by everyone. When the opponent stonewalls you at the blue line…try something different.
Why don’t we skip playing Friday night games? Seriously, why do they play like this? Too young? No leadership? Lachance no ready to wear the C? They better get their shit together. 2 big road dogfights (couldn’t resist) coming up. Need to beat NU and get some pts at Uconn. TK out!
When this squad decides to take the night off, they don’t just go to sleep, they take an Ambien.