On Saturday, the No. 19 Boston University men’s hockey team played No. 7 Cornell University in the sixth installment of Red Hot Hockey, which takes place at Madison Square Garden.
The Terriers now have a 3-1-2 record in Red Hot Hockey. PHOTO BY MADDIE MALHOTRA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
The Terriers found themselves in a 3-0 hole after the first 30 minutes of the game. However, tallies from sophomore defensemen Dante Fabbro and Chad Krys, and sophomore forward Patrick Harper put BU within one goal.
While the Big Red couldn’t seal the game with two empty-netter chances, the Terriers were unable to tie up the game and fell for the first time in the biennial Thanksgiving weekend matchup.
BU will resume Hockey East conference play this weekend with a series against its crosstown rival, No. 14 Boston College. The first game will take place at Conte Forum on Friday and then at Agganis Arena on Saturday.
The No. 19 Boston University men’s hockey team will take on the No. 7 Cornell University tonight at Madison Square Garden for the sixth edition of Red Hot Hockey. Read this week’s preview here and follow along on the live blog.
After last Saturday’s win against the No. 11 University of New Hampshire, the No. 18 Boston University men’s hockey team has officially made it through the first third of its 36 regular-game season.
The Boston Hockey Blog decided to compile an infographic on the team’s progress so far. We’ve also elaborated on some of the information in the graphic below and added things that couldn’t fit.
Senior forward Chase Phelps in front of the net against Northeastern University. PHOTO BY MADDIE MALHOTRA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
BU was slated as No. 2 behind University of Denver in the preseason poll, and kept this standing as it beat Union 4-1 during its home-opener and Quinnipiac University 4-3 in overtime. However, a sweep by Minnesota State University caused the Terriers to drop to No. 7. The following weekend, BU split its series against UConn and moved up a spot.
After losing to both the Denver and Providence College, the Terriers went to No. 12. The following weekend, BU split its Hockey East matchups after a win against Providence, but a loss to Northeastern, causing it to drop to No. 15. Finally, despite beating UNH, the Terriers were swept by Northeastern giving them a No. 18 spot in the polls.
Record: 5-6-1, 3-3-1 Hockey East during the Terriers’ first 12 games
Power Play: 20.4 percent
Junior forward Bobo Carpenter has scored four of his seven goals while BU was on a power play.
Penalty Kill: 70.6 percent
Carpenter scored two short-handed goals against UConn on Oct. 20.
Terriers with Two Points: freshman forward Ty Amonte, graduate transfer forward Drew Melanson, freshman defenseman David Farrance
Freshman forward Shane Bowers with the puck in BU’s 2-0 win against Providence College. PHOTO BY MADDIE MALHOTRA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Goaltending:
Jake Oettinger sits on a .904 goal save percentage and 2.91 goals against average over 658:41 minutes
Max Prawdzik owns a .968 goal save percentage and .91 goals against average over 66:03 minutes
Other Things to Note:
Fabbro leads the team in blocked shots with 32
Krys leads in shots with 45
Freshman forward Brady Tkachuk leads BU with a plus-minus rating of +7
The Terriers have been outscored 15-8 in the second period
BU has allowed its opponent to score first in seven games with a 2-5 record in those contests
Other Notable Quotes:
“For the next 50 minutes they played men’s hockey and we played boy’s hockey, and that was the difference.” — Coach Quinn after 3-6 loss to Minnesota State University
“At the end of the day, this is a game about scoring goals. We can talk about forechecking, d-zone coverage, we can talk about power plays and penalty kills, but you got to score goals.” — Coach Quinn after 1-6 loss to then-No. 13 Northeastern University
Upcoming Games:
After this weekend’s series against the University of Maine, the Terriers will only have five more games left before the end of the semester.
Cornell University at Madison Square Garden for Red Hot Hockey, 8 p.m. on Saturday Nov. 25
Boston College at Conte Forum, 7 p.m. on Friday Dec. 1
Boston College at Agganis Arena, 7 p.m. on Saturday Dec. 2
University of Massachusetts Lowell at Tsongas Center, 7:15 p.m. on Friday Dec. 8
University of Massachusetts Lowell at Agganis Arena, 7 p.m. on Saturday Dec. 9
Senior forward Nik Olsson looking for a pass against Providence. PHOTO BY MADDIE MALHOTRA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
NEW YORK — It doesn’t count as more than a tie in the standings, but David Quinn and his bunch might be feeling as if they were winners in this one.
Trailing by two goals after two periods, the No. 11 Boston University men’s hockey team rallied for three goals in the third period to finish with a 3-3 draw against No. 16 Cornell University at Red Hot Hockey.
The Terriers (7-4-3, 3-2-2 Hockey East) did win in a subsequent shootout after a scoreless overtime, and thus won the Kelley-Harkness Trophy for the second consecutive time. BU remains unbeaten in the biannual game with Cornell (6-1-2) at Madison Square Garden with a 3-0-2 record.
We’ll take a look at what went right and wrong for BU in this Manhattan edition of Pluses and Minuses.
Pluses
Greer and Greenway break out
Sophomore forward A.J. Greer hadn’t scored a goal in a game in seven months. Freshman winger Jordan Greenway was scoreless with BU before Saturday night.
Both came through for for the Terriers on the big stage.
Greer and Greenway scored their first goals of the season in a frantic three-goal third period, helping BU earn a point for the eighth time in nine games.
Judy has more of a breakdown of their success in her sidebar.
Olsson returns, third line looks strong
Exiting after the first period of a Nov. 14 game against No. 1 Providence College, sophomore forward Nikolas Olsson sat out the last four games with what the team called an upper-body injury.
He returned to the lineup Saturday and made an impact with the third line, especially in the third period.
Olsson skated along the right-wing boards and made a crisp pass to center ice that helped set up Bobo Carpenter‘s goal at 5:36 of the third. The goal started a swing of momentum in BU’s favor, as the Terriers scored three minutes later on Greer’s goal, one that was also set up by Olsson.
The third line, as a whole, totaled five points and nine shots on goal during Saturday night’s contest.
“I think it’s a collective effort,” Greer said of his line. “The defensemen moved the puck up quick, and the first couple of shifts, we thought we held our stick too tight so we were kind of nervous, but then as the game went on we started working down low and just doing our job and using the back of the net.
“We got bodies out front, and they rewarded us in the third period. Those goals were big.”
Moving in right direction
It’s been a long stretch of tough games in November for BU, which has now played a top-20 opponent in three consecutive weekends. The Terriers came away with five points in those five games, earning one win and three ties in the process.
Though he would’ve liked to see his team take more wins out of these recent games, Quinn said after Saturday’s tie that he is pleased with where the team is headed as it moves to the second half of the year.
“I like where we’re going,” Quinn said. “I like the direction we’re going. Obviously we still have to get better, we have to get off to better starts. Though like I said, statistically, we didn’t score a goal, but I thought we were playing well.”
Still undefeated
They didn’t win this time, but the Terriers still haven’t lost a Red Hot Hockey game since its inception in 2007.
BU has earned eight of 10 possible points in the five games played against Cornell, and has now won the Kelley-Harkness Trophy both times since it was created in 2013.
Minuses
Power Play
A 20 percent success rate on the power play is usually about average, and that holds true for the Terriers, who are sixth in Hockey East in that category.
Average, however, hasn’t been good enough, and Quinn acknowledged this postgame.
“Our power play was disappointing, weren’t able to capitalize in overtime,” Quinn said. “Statistically our power play looks okay, but we’ve really got to get better on the power play. I think we’re just a little bit too slow, too methodical, we’re stick handling too much, and there’s just too much thinking going on out there.”
BU went 0-for-4 with the extra man against Cornell, but did garner 14 shots on goal. But the problem wasn’t getting the puck to the net, it was about finishing, or lack thereof.
There were power-play opportunities for BU in the second period after each Big Red goal, but neither were converted. The same went for the man advantages in the third period and overtime.
Slow Start
It wasn’t as if BU was completely outplayed in the first period, but the game just felt slow, and the Terriers never really got in a rhythm in the first 20 minutes.
BU did actually lead in shots at 10-9 after one, but there were few high-percentage opportunities. The same could be said for the initial minutes of the second, where Cornell broke through with two goals.
Tonight’s beginning could’ve had to do with nerves, as Quinn admitted even he was battling with “heart palpitations” on the bench.
“I thought early on, they were controlling the play for the first 10 minutes,” Quinn said, “and then I thought we started getting our legs under us a little bit and started playing much better, playing the way we need to play if we’re going to have success.”
