By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff
Late in the third period, the No. 13 Boston University men’s hockey team was killing off a penalty on sophomore defenseman Ryan Ruikka. Freshman forwards Sahir Gill and Matt Nieto were lingering near the offensive zone when sophomore defenseman Sean Escobedo threaded a pass to Nieto. The freshman charged into the zone with Gill on his left and a defenseman struggling to catch-up, controlling the puck before passing to Gill, who wristed a shot past Northeastern netminder Chris Rawlings to put BU up 3-2 with 3:15 remaining.
Nieto’s confidence and comfort on that play proved just how much he has improved from the jumpy freshman who would force a pass the second the puck hit his stick that played for BU in the first half of the season.
“Matt Nieto is a different player now than he was in November or December,” BU coach Jack Parker said after a practice in February.
It is not surprising that it would take a little while for Nieto to settle in at BU. At 18 years and four months old, Nieto is the youngest player on a very young Terriers squad.
Nieto’s point totals alone show how much he has grown over the course of the year. Through the first 17 games of the season, Nieto collected six points (five goals, one assist). In his next 18 games, Nieto tallied 14 points (3 goals, 11 assists). Nieto reached a career high on Friday night with three points in BU’s 3-2 win over Northeastern. His third point on Friday also made him the eighth Terrier this season to reach the 20-point mark.
“I think it’s just utilizing my speed for a better purpose on the forecheck and the backcheck and not just when I’ve got the puck,” Nieto said of his improvement in the second half of the season.
Following Friday night’s victory, Parker said he thinks Nieto’s improved play is more than just a result of using his speed effectively in all aspects of the game.
“He’s playing with more confidence,” Parker said. “He really struggled to get some points and goals in the first half, and then all of the sudden the goals started going in for him. He’s been great in the second half. I think that was a great play he made tonight to Gill.”
Nieto is also settling into a more reliable spot on the team. Through the first half of the season, Nieto shuffled through multiple line combinations, but for all but two games in the second half, Nieto has played left win on the second line with sophomore Alex Chiasson at right wing and either freshman Charlie Coyle or junior Corey Trivino at center. Nieto is starting to string together point streaks and has enjoyed four multi-point games in the second half compared to none in the first half.
“He’s definitely matured as a player,” senior co-captain Joe Pereira said of Nieto. “He’s getting more confident. He’s started making a lot of plays now that he was a little tentative at the beginning of the year. For where we need to be, he’s going to need to step up.”
Stepping up was exactly what Nieto did on Friday in a game when every goal mattered. Nieto not only factored into every BU goal; he also dove to poke pucks out of the defensive zone, battled for the puck in the neutral zone, and did the dirty work down low for his teammates in the offensive zone.
Nieto’s efforts have earned him the third-most points of any freshman in Hockey East. (Merrimack’s Mike Collins and University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Michael Pereira lead the pack with 24 points. Northeastern’s Brodie Reid and Coyle, Gill and Clendening all have 23 points).
With a team as young as the Terriers, Nieto will need to continue to flourish as the team enters the postseason.
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