BU-NU Square Off In Championship Game Rematch

It's that time of year again and it can only mean one thing: Beanpot. Tomorrow night, BU and Northeastern will square off in a rematch of last year's championship game. If anyone forgot, BU walked off in the opening minute of overtime on a power play goal from Matt Grzelcyk. It was BU's 30th Beanpot crown and left NU still searching for their first title since 1988.

From The Vault
BU celebrates after winning last year's Beanpot. Photo quality is
terrible because I took it on my phone.
(Photo by Matt Dresens) 

Coming into Monday night's game, NU is following a similar path as to when the two teams met in last year's championship game. The Huskies are on a six game win streak and have only lost one game since November 27th. Last year, NU won seven consecutive games before falling to Maine the Saturday before the Beanpot Final.

Much like a year ago, NU limped out of the gate. They lost 11 of their first 14 games, but come into Monday's tilt with a 9-12-4 record. Since playing in the Belpot (Friendship Four in Belfast) in late November, NU is 8-1-1 and have outscored their opponents 44-21. In the streak, NU has knocked off St. Lawrence, New Hampshire, and Merrimack twice, tied Quinnipiac and Boston College and beat Michigan State and Colgate once. Their only loss was to Boston College and they were up 2-0 and 3-1 in that game, but lost 4-3 at home.

Earlier this year, BU caught NU in the middle of their dismal 13 game winless steak. BU won a back and forth, seesaw type of game at Agganis on November 6th, 5-4. The following night, the Terriers rolled to a convincing 4-1 at Matthews.

Scouting the Huskies
Zach Aston-Reese currently is the offensive leader for the Huskies. In 25 games played, Aston-Reese has 7 goals and 16 assists for 23 points. Nolan Stevens has the most goals on the Huskie roster with 10. Other players to watch include Dylan Sikura, John Stevens, Matt Benning and Adam Gaudette, who scored in both games vs BU earlier this season.

Then there is Kevin Roy. Yes, that Kevin Roy who always seems to score against BU in the Beanpot. Well, he only has seven points on the year and surprisingly has not scored a goal yet. He was out with an injury from November 13th to January 22nd and has posted two assists in two games back. In total, the Lac-Beauport, Quebec native has only played in 13 games.

In goal, freshman Ryan Ruck has seen action in 21 games and has a 7-9-3 record with a .906 save percentage and a 2.47 goals against average. BU posted eight goals on him in two games on 62 shots. That's an .886 sv%.

Out Of Conference Common Opponents 

Bentley
Bentley 3, at NU 2 (October 16)

NU 1, at Bentley 4 (October 17)

BU 3, Bentley 0 (November 24)   

Quinnipiac

BU 4, at Quinnipiac 1 (December 12)

Quinnipiac 3, at NU 3 (January 2)

BU Notes
- BU will be the home team in both games no matter if they play in the Consolation game or the Final a week from Monday. They won the coin flip at the Beanpot Lunch earlier this week. 

- Maguire in net.

- Still no word on Nik Olsson's availability.

- I would suspect that Ryan Cloonan will be back on the top line with Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson and Danny O'Regan. Oskar Andrén will likely be back on the third line.

Terriers Take Out Warriors

Tonight's 4-0 shutout of Merrimack followed a bit of an odd story line. BU goalie Sean Maguire may have not allowed any goals, but he also did not record a shutout or even a win for that matter.

Matt Lane celebrates after scoring BU's third goal of the night
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

It could not have been a worse start for BU in the first period. Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson was whistled for a roughing call just 22 second into the game. On the ensuing Merrimack power play, Maguire's skate blade detached from his skate and he was hopelessly trying to tend goal and push off with no blade in his left skate. Finally, for what must have felt like a decade for Maguire, BU got whistle and Maguire skated to the bench with some help. Somehow, Merrimack didn't score here.

While Maguire was having his blade reaffixed to his skate, Connor LaCouvee came in and played 5:49 of game time. In that 5:49, he made one save and Robbie Baillargeon scored what was the eventual game winning goal. So even though Maguire played 52:54 of this game, he is not credited with the win because BU scored the go-ahead goal in his absence. In fact, Maguire doesn't even get a statistical shutout.

On the Baillargeon goal, Robbie was set up with two crisp passes. First, Brian Diffley to Matt Lane and then Lane to Baillargeon in the middle of the near circle. Robbie wristed home his fifth goal of the year to MC goalie Collin Delia's blocker side.

That was BU's only goal in a dominate first period.

The second period had a sort of a ho-hum sort of feel to it. There were several calls on both sides that were very suspect and rather ticky-takcy. It made for a period that had very little flow and not much excitement.

Danny O'Regan changed all of that with 4:08 left in the period with a shorthanded marker. He disrupted a pass in the neutral zone, then was stripped of the puck near the attacking blue line. He then got it back and split the D. Then lost it again, only to have the MC defender give it right back to him. O'Regan was then in the clear and did a nice job protecting the puck with his body to make sure he wouldn't lose it again. From the slot, he roofed a quick wrister up over Delia's left shoulder to extend the lead.

Midway through the third, Matt Lane further distanced the Terriers. At the dot on the far circle, Lane fired off a shot that hit Delia up high and popped up toward the roof. It came down behind him and bounced around in the crease. Meanwhile, after Lane took the initial shot he was forced behind the net, but stuck with the play. From behind the goaline, he batted home 14th goal of the year.

Ahti Oksanen rounded out the Terrier offense with an empty net goal off a pass from Matt Grzelcyk. The goal was his 50th career goal as a Terrier and 14th of the year.

Maguire, even though he didn't officially get his shutout, finished with 27 saves and stopped everything that came his way.

Before the game, BU's longtime PA man Jim Prior was horned for his time at the scorers table.

Next up, Northeastern on Monday night in the opening round of the Beanpot.

Looking For Revenge

One of BU's ugliest losses of the year came at the hands of the Merrimack Warriors back in late October. It was a night that goalie Sean Maguire couldn't stop a nose bleed, allowing four goals on fourteen shots. In a recent article that came out on College Hockey News, Maguire said he "was so excited for that game. Probably too excited."

From The Vault
Sean Escobedo and Josh Myers colide in a January 2013
matchup. BU won this game 4-1 behind goals from four
different Terriers: Wade Megan, Matt Nieto, Sahir Gill and
Cason Hohmann.
(Photo by Matt Dresens) 

Connor LaCouvee took over after the fourth Merrimack goal and BU fell one goal short of another third period comeback. Since that game, both teams have gone in opposite directions. 

Merrimack lost their first game of the year the next night and have only won four times since playing the Terriers on Halloween Eve. The Warriors are currently on a nine game losing steak and have one win since November 13, 4-1 at home vs Canisius. Overall, Merrimack is 7-13-5 and sit in ninth in the conference standings. 

Scouting The Warriors

Brian Christie leads a team that has seen offensive production spread out from almost the entire roster. Christie has 18 points behind four goals and 14 assists. Ben Bahe is the team leader in goals with just seven. In fact, only four players (Bahe, Hampus Gustafsson, Brett Seney and Justin Hussar) have five or more goals this season. 

Merrimack ranks 11th in Hockey East in scoring at 1.86 goals/game. Maine is the worst at 1.42. BU ranks third with 3.64 goals/game. 

In goal, Collin Delia, who beat BU earlier this year, has a 2.86 goals against average and a .893 save percentage. He is 6-10-5 on the year. 

Out of Conference Common Opponents

Bentley

Merrimack 5, @ Bentley 1 (November 4)

Bentley 0, BU 3 (November 24)

Union

BU 3, @ Union 5 (October 10)

Union 4, @ Merrimack 0 (November 28)

Union 3, vs Merrimack 2 (Ledyard Classic, January 2)

Cornell

BU 3, vs Cornell 3 ( Red Hot Hockey,  November 28)

Merrimack 0, @ Cornell 3 (January 8)

Merrimack 2, @ Cornell 5 (January 9)  

BU Notes

- According to the Boston Hockey Blog, Coach Quinn said that freshman Oskar Andrén will be on the first line with Danny O'Regan and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson. 

- Maguire in net.

- No word on whether Nik Olsson will be back. My guess is no. That means Tommy Kelley will likely back on the fourth line with Mike Moran and Chase Phelps.  

This Week In '06: Playoff Preview

In a two game set, BU faced Boston College on Friday night and UMass on Saturday. This was a bit of foreshadowing as BU would play both the Eagles and Minutemen in the Hockey East playoffs in just a few weeks time.

Friday January 27, 2006
This was a strange, streaky kind of game. Both teams had nine, yes nine power plays and both teams went 2 for 9 on said power plays. BC opened the scoring on five on three goal in the first and took a 2-0 lead into the dressing room after one. Peter Herald and Andrew Orpik both found twine for the Eagles.

BU respond by scoring the game's next four goals. Kevin Schaeffer, on the power play and Eric Thomassian scored in the second frame. Brandon Yip and Brad Zancanaro (power play) scored in the third. The Zancanaro goal was the eventual game winner. Brett Motherwell's third period strike registered BC's only goal after the first stanza.

John Curry made 30 saves in his second victory over the Eagles on the year. BC was number one in the country coming into the game.

“He’s the best goaltender in BU history as far as stats are concerned,” said Terriers head coach Jack Parker, defending the consistent play of his own goaltender. “He’s a hell of a goaltender and we like how he’s playing right now.” - From USCHO

Saturday January 28, 2006

Behind a strong crowd (6,156) back in their home barn, BU ground out a 3-1 over UMass. The Terriers picked up two goals over the first two periods from Kenny Roche and Bryan Ewing. The lead was threatened when Chris Davis scored a short handed goal midway though the third. Peter MacArthur silenced any hope of come back with a goal five minutes later.

“I was very concerned about this game after last night’s game, and maybe it was self-fulfilling prophecy, but I don’t think we played as well as we should have played,” Parker said. “I think we played okay in the first period. I thought Massachusetts outskated us, outbumped us, and played harder than we did-I’d say for most of the game. We were fortunate we got the 2-0 lead; we were fortunate that they didn’t get two goals in the second period.

“I thought John Curry played great. The three stars in my mind were John Curry, John Curry, and John Curry. That’s why it was a struggle because we didn’t play as hard as UMass did; we didn’t match their intensity.” From USCHO

With the two wins, BU extended the nation's best win streak to seven games in a row.

Current Record: 14-8-2

Current Ranking: 8, up five slots from 13.

Bracket Projections Week 1

Here's my "if the season ended today" bracket projection. I'll try and have this up every Tuesday from now until the NCAA tournament field is selected in late March.

The Breakdown

Current PWR
1. Quinnipiac
2. St. Cloud State
3. North Dakota
4. Providence
5. Harvard 
6. Michigan
7. Boston College
8. Notre Dame
9. Nebraska Omaha
10. Yale
11. Boston University
12. Lowell
13. Denver
14. Cornell
15t. Minnesota
15t. Penn State
20t. Bowling Green (WCHA)
20t. Mankato (WCHA)
23t. Robert Morris (AHA)

Minnesota wins the tie breaker over Penn State because they have a higher RPI. Same with Mankato over BGSU. Every league in the NCAA must have one team in the field and I am assuming the highest rated team in the PairWise has won their respective conference tournament. So, Robert Morris and Bowling Green get in, Minnesota and Penn State are on the outside looking in. 

Field of 16:
1. Quinnipiac
2. St. Cloud State
3. North Dakota
4. Providence
5. Harvard 
6. Michigan
7. Boston College
8. Notre Dame
9. Nebraska Omaha
10. Yale
11. Boston University
12. Lowell
13. Denver
14. Cornell
15. Bowling Green (WCHA)
16. Robert Morris (AHA)

The field is then broken into four groups or the four regionals with the goal of "bracket integrity", i.e 1vs16, 2vs15 and so on. There can not be inter-conference mach-ups in the first round and hosts of regionals must be placed in their host city no mater what their ranking is. Holy Cross hosts in Worcester, Union in Albany, Minnesota in St. Paul and Miami in Cincinnati. Teams can also be moved to "boost attendance" (see Providence playing in Providence last year). 

Regionals

Worcester
1. Quinnipiac vs 16. Robert Morris 
8. Notre Dame vs 9. Nebraska Omaha

St. Paul 
2. St. Cloud vs 15 Bowling Green
7. Boston College vs 10. Yale

Cincinnati
3. North Dakota vs 14. Cornell 
6. Michigan vs 11. Boston University 

Albany 
4. Providence vs 13. Denver
5. Harvard vs 12. Lowell 

Theoretically, based off integrity and no inter-conference match-ups, it should be left this way, but there are few moves we can make to boost attendance: BC could come east and be placed in the Worcester bracket, while Notre Dame is shipped closer to home in Cincinnati. BU can also be moved to the east and switch places with Lowell. 

Final Bracket:

Worcester
1. Quinnipiac vs 16. Robert Morris 
7. Boston College vs 9. Nebraska Omaha

St. Paul 
2. St. Cloud vs 15 Bowling Green
8. Notre Dame vs 10. Yale

Cincinnati
3. North Dakota vs 14. Cornell 
6. Michigan vs 12. Lowell 

Albany 
4. Providence vs 13. Denver
5. Harvard vs 11. Boston University 

Monday Lookback: Maine Offers Little Resistance

Player of The Week
Ahti Oksanen
2 goals, 4 assists, 6 points. Oksanen
was also named Hockey East player
of the week.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Trying to forget last night's Patriots game? Yeah, so am I.

Let's talk hockey instead.

To say this weekend's performance was BU's most dominant weekend of the year would be an understatement. Really, outside of the first ten minutes of Friday's game in Orono, BU utterly dominated Maine in all phases of the game.

Maine's early pressure was more self inflicted than Maine actually generating chances. The Terriers struggled to get the puck out and make simple passes in the opening frame at Alfond. Thankfully, Sean Maguire was there to bail his team out with two spectacular saves. He finished the weekend with a .947 save percentage and only allowed 3 goals on 57 shots.

Offense From Everyone
The offense continued to score in bunches as it has really all second semester. Eight different Terriers found the back of the net in the course of the two game series. Bobo Carpenter, Matt Lane and Ahti Oksanen all registered multi goal games, but that wasn't all. Mike Moran scored his first goal of the year on Friday night. Doyle Somerby, who hadn't scored since late November showed some offensive flare on an unassisted wraparound goal on Saturday. Even second semester newcomer Oksar Andrén registered his first two points as a Terrier in Saturday's 6-1 win.

Playing A Complete Game
In both games, BU turned in a complete effort. There was no need for the usual third period comeback. In fact, it was the complete opposite. BU had a multi goal lead every time Maine scored this weekend. The Terriers also added goals of their own after the Black Bears scored. They did what the Patriots were unable to do: Make Maine play on their terms.

Quotable's
Dave Quinn: “Just a great weekend for us. Any time you get four points over the weekend in this league, it’s a great accomplishment. That team tests your work ethic and your physicality and for six periods, I thought we did a good job of moving our feet and playing at a pace I don’t think we’ve been playing at lately.”

Matt Lane: “It was focusing on not just playing 60 minutes, but 120. I think we might’ve only swept once this year and at this point in the season in Hockey East, it’s time to buckle down. We need sweeps, and we need to string together some wins. We know what we’re capable of as a team, and in a sense we didn’t feel we were meeting our standards. This is maybe the first weekend where we’ve played six good periods from start to finish.”

At The Polls
BU climbed two pegs this week in the USCHO ranking, moving up from 11th to 9th. It's their highest ranking since Halloween when they were 8th. Quinnipiac was once again number one and North Dakota was two. St. Cloud made the jump from fifth to third, Providence dropped from third to fourth and BC closed out the top five.

The Terriers moved up one slot over the course of the weekend in the PairWise from 12th to 11th. If the tournament field was selected today, they would be a three seed. I will have a full projected bracket out later this week.

Around Hockey East
Tuesday: Maine fought off a late charge from Quinnipiac at home to tie 3-3.

Friday: Providence doubled up Lowell 4-2 at home… Boston College routed UMass 8-0 at the Mullins Center. BC Coach Jerry York picked up his 1,000th career victory with the win… Noter Dame steamrolled UNH 5-1 at the Whit… Northeastern handed Merrimack a 5-2 loss at Lawler… Vermont took down Connecticut 4-2 in Hartford… BU handled Maine 5-2 in Orono.

Saturday: Notre Dame completed the sweep of UNH with a 3-2 win.. UConn and BC staked to a 3-3 tie at the Heights… Northeastern swept Merrimack with a 4-1 win. It was Northeastern's sixth win a row and Merrimack's ninth consecutive loss… Vermont toppled UMass 6-4 in Amherst… Lowell avoided a swept from Providence after a 3-1 win at home… BU ran over Maine again, 6-1.

Next Up
Merrimack, Friday, 7:30, Home

Northeastern, Monday, 8:00, Beanpot Semis

Terriers Make Quick Work of Maine

Just over five minutes into tonight's game between the Terriers and Black Bears, BU's offense picked up where it left off last night. Bobo Carpenter and Doyle Somerby scored 31 seconds apart and BU was off and running.

Carpenters' goal came off a mini breakaway in the low slot set up by a nice pass from Robbie Baillargeon. Oskar Andèrn also picked up his first collegiate point on the play. Somerby's goal was of the wrap-around version and was unassisted.

Carpenter added a power play goal in the second period to extend the Terrier lead. Charlie McAvoy and Matt Lane picked up assists on the play.

Lane notched his first of two on the night midway through the second. Jordan Greenway gave way to Ahti Oksanen outside the attacking zone to create a two on one for Oksanen and Lane. From the slot, Ahti slid a pass over to Lane who directed it in on the far post.

Not a minute later, Maine got on the board. Cam Brown snuck one through Sean Maguire for his second of the weekend to cut the lead to 4-1.

Danny O'Regan would round out the scoring in the second frame with a rebound goal off a Doyle Somerby shot. The shot was well set up by a Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson drop pass in the high slot.

Matt Lane added BU's sixth goal 3:54 into the third period. It was Lane's second marker of the game and the second time Oksanen had the primary assist on his goal.

Sean Maguire finished with 22 saves. Maine's starting goalie Rob McGovern was yanked after BU's fourth goal. He finished with 18 saves in 31:57 of game time. Matt Morris didn't fare much better, as he allowed 2 goals on 15 shots.

BU will host Merrimack next Friday night in their lone game of the weekend.

Oksanen, Maguire The Difference As BU Tops Maine

ORONO- The final score may have read 5-2 BU, but it was much closer than that. The final shots were 34-34 and Maine threatened early with 15 shots in a back and forth opening frame. Sean Maguire made two phenomenal glove saves in the first period to hold the Black Bears at bay.

Tommy Kelley and Connor Riley scrap after the whistle
in the second period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

The reason Maguire had to play so well in the first was simple. BU made some really hideous turnovers in their own end that led to odd man rushes and good scoring chances for Maine.

BU also knocked on the door early. Matt Lane powered a shot through Maine goalie Matt Morris, but as it was rolling toward the goal line, Maine forward Blain Byron swept it away.

The Terriers finally broke the ice at the 14:19 marker of the first. Danny O'Regan and Ryan Cloonan worked a high cycle in the Maine zone. At the top of the circle, Matt Grzelcyk stepped down from the point and took a dump off pass from O'Regan. Two Maine skaters followed O'Regan into the slot allowing Grzelcyk to take an uncontested shot. He wired a wrister inside the far post on Morris for his eighth goal of the year.

BU extend their lead 4:18 into the second period. Jordan Greenway attempted a wrap-around from behind the net. The puck didn't go in, but went through the crease and found Ahti Oksanen's stick on the backdoor. The Finnish forward didn't miss as he backhanded home his team leading 12th goal of the year.

Ahti Oksanen nets his first of two goals on the night.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Just over two minutes later, Maine finally solved Maguire on the power play. Steven Swavley slipped a pass through a defender and Cam Brown picked up the puck in the slot. Brown then made a shifty move to his backhand and beat Maguire glove side.

Some sloppy play by Maine deep in their own zone led to BU's third and eventual game winning goal. After a tough turnover by the Black Bears, Greenway worked the puck to Oksanen down in the near corner. From there, Oksanen found Mike Moran uncovered in the slot. Oksanen's pass wasn't prefect and Moran made a nifty play to transfer the pass that was in his feat to his stick and then into an open net. The whole play left Morris well out of position and once Moran corralled the puck all he had to do was throw it in the vacant net.

Jacob Forsbacka Karlsson struck on a rebound goal in the opening minute of the third period to further distance the Terriers. This basically put the game away. Maine did give a little push back late in the period though. With 2:59 left Blain Byron slammed home Maine's second power play goal of the night on a rebound.

24 seconds later, Oksanen answered for BU on a diving goal. Matt Lane moved the puck to Oksanen in the slot and while falling to his left, rolled his wrists and tuck the puck into the net. It was his second goal of the night and third point.

Overall it was a very physical game. There were big hits all over the ice throughout and even a nice brawl in the final five minutes. There will be lots of love to cary over for tomorrow as the two teams go at it again tomorrow in Boston at 7:00.

Weekend With The Black Bears

In a weird scheduling quirk this weekend, BU is essentially playing two road games. Friday they will play up in Orono vs Maine and then the next night will play at home against the Black Bears. Granted, BU traveled to Orono on Thursday, but they have to travel back to Boston after Friday's game to play Saturday. I can't remember if BU and Maine have ever played a home in home on back to back nights before. It seems a little ridiculous to make both teams travel that distance. Why not just play two at one school one year and then play two the next year at the other? BU and Vermont already do this. It doesn't make sense.

From the Vault
Sean Maguire sticks away Ryan Lomberg on the doorstep in a
November 2013 game at the Alfond. Maine won this game 7-0
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Anyway… Maine was one of the last teams in Division I to find the win column this year. They started the season with three straight ties (Michigan State, North Dakota and Union) before losing eight in a row. The Black Bears first win came on November 20th at home against Vermont. Tuesday night, they were 47 seconds away from handing Quinnipiac their second loss on the year, but surrendered an extra attacker goal. They finished with an impressive tie though. Overall, Maine is 5-13-6 and sit in dead last in Hockey East with just 6 points.

Maine has a tendency to play well on the first night of a series and then get routed in the second game. Take their mid November series with Lowell and two series with New Hampshire for example. In the Lowell games, Maine lost 2-1 on Friday before getting dumped 6-0 on Sunday. Moving to the first UNH series in earlier December, Friday's game ended in a 3-3 tie. Saturday was a 5-3 UNH win. In the second series with UNH, Maine lost game one 5-4 and then got shelled 7-0 the next night.

What does that really mean? Well, it seems once a team gets up a few goals on the Bleak Bears, they don't have the fight to get back in the game.

Scouting the Black Bears
Will Merchant and Blaine Byron are your offensive leaders at 13 points a piece. Merchant has eight goals and five assists and Byron has posted five goalsand eight assists. Other players to watch include Natick native Cam Brown, Steven Swavley and Dan Renouf. This Maine team is a far cry from the Maine teams of the early 2000's that were consistently competing for Hockey East hardware and National Titles.

In goal, Rob McGovern and Matt Morris have both made 13 appearances. McGovern is 1-9-3 on the year with a 2.60 GAA and a .914 save percentage. Morris has an identical save percentage, but his GAA is slightly less impressive at 3.00.

Out of League Common Opponents
Union
Maine 1, @ Union 1 (October 16)
Maine 0, @ Union 2 (October 17)

BU 3, @ Union 5 (October 10)

Quinnipiac
Maine 0, @ Quinnipiac 4 (October 20)
Quinnipiac 3, @ Maine 3 (January 19)

BU 4, @ Quinnipiac 1 (December 12)

BU Notes
- Coach Quinn said earlier this week that Nik Olsson will be out for both games.

- I wouldn't be surprised if both Connor LaCouvee and Sean Maguire see time this weekend. Then again, I could be dead wrong.

This Week In '06: Merrimack Is No Match

This weekend, BU squared off with Merrimack in a home in home series. Friday night, the Terriers travailed to Lawler and a night later Merrimack headed down to Boston.

Friday January 20, 2006.
BU was propelled by an offensive outburst by Kenny Roche. The junior forward racked up his first career hat trick in the 5-3 BU win. It was Merrimack who got on the board first as Derek Pallardy found the back of the net just 2:35 in.

Roche netted his first of three in the later half of the first frame. BU took their first lead in the second period behind a goal from Jason Lawrence and Roche's second of the game, again on the man advantage.

Merrimack's Matt Byrnes cut the BU lead to 3-2 at the 11:34 maker of the second. 27 seconds into the third, Merrimack tied the game on the power play. Peter MacArthur put BU up for good in the final five minutes. Roche rounded out his hat trick with an empty netter with a little over a minute left. Roche finished with four points on the night and MacArthur had three.

Karson Gillespie started the game for BU and played the first two periods. He allowed three goals on 12 shots. John Curry took over at the start of the third and stopped all three shots he faced.

Saturday January 21, 2006
Peter MacArthur struck on the power play 49 seconds into the game and BU never looked back. Chris Higgins, Matt Gilroy, Dan Spang and Steve Smolinsky all scored in a 5-0 win at home for BU. Curry stopped all 20 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the year.

“I thought we were terrible in the first period after getting a 2-0 lead — numb, brain dead, didn’t play very well at all,” Terrier coach Jack Parker said. “Gave them chances: they were beating us to pucks. We were trying to play on the offensive side and not playing very well. I was real disappointed with my team and let them know it after the first period.

“We came out in the second period and played very well; I think they attempted only seven shots in the second period. It was a real good shutdown by us. We did a real good job on the penalty kill all night, and in general controlled the game. The best part of the night was how we rebounded in the second.” - From USCHO

Current Record: 12-8-2

Current Ranking: 13, up three spots from last week. 

Monday Lookback: Missed Opportunity

Player of the Week
Sean Maguire
70 saves, .933sv% for the
weekend
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Unfortunately I was not able to get to Agganis on Saturday for the second BC game, but I was at Conte on Friday. This weekend was a story of letting leads slip away. BU is usually the team coming back in games and that was not the case this weekend. The Terriers struck first on back to back nights for just the second time this year. The other was the Northeastern weekend.

Unlike the NU weekend, BU won neither of the games. After leading 1-0 and 2-1 vs BC on Friday night, the Eagles scored three of the game's next four goals, including the game winner on the power play with 2:10 left. Saturday night, Matt Grzelcyk got BU on the board in the second, only to have Ryan Fitzgerald score with just over 2:00 minutes remaining in the third. It was BU's inability to close out these games that left them picking up only one point from BC. Saturday's tie was only the third time since the 2014 season that BU had a lead in the third period and did not come away with a win. The other: Providence (November 14, tie 3-3) and the National Championship Game.

From what I have read/heard about Saturday's game, BU was totally dominated in the final ten minutes and the BC tying goal was only a matter of time. Sean Maguire played pretty well on Friday night. He made a spectacular glove save in the second period and then an equally impressive save with the right leg late in the third.

On Saturday, he made 38 saves including four in overtime.

I wish I had more to offer here, but with going to the Patriots on Saturday and moving back into school on Monday, its been a busy week for me. I hope to have more up this week on the upcoming series with Maine.

At the Polls
BU slipped back to 11th in the USCHO poll. Quinnipiac moved up one place to take over the top spot. North Dakota was second, Providence third, BC fourth and St. Cloud closed out the top five.

In the Pairwise, BU fell from 9th entering the weekend to currently 12th.

Around Hockey East
Friday: UConn shutout Maine at the Alfond 1-0… Northeastern doubled up New Hampshire 4-2 at Matthews… Providence tripped up Vermont 3-1 in Burlington… Notre Dame steamrolled Merrimack 7-2 at home… BC topped BU 5-3 at Conte.

Saturday: Maine and UConn skated to a 1-1 tie in Orono… Lowell blanked UMass 5-0 at Tsongas Center… Northeastern completed the sweep of UNH with a 6-2 win at the Whitt… Notre Dame ran over Merrimack again, 5-1… Providence smoked Vermont 6-3… BU and BC tied 1-1 at Agganis.

BC Wins A Special One

Special teams dominated the scene tonight. All three of BU's goals came via the man advantage and BC notched two of their own power play goals. BC also picked up another on a penally shot in the second period.

The Eagles scored the game winner with just 2:10 left on the power play. In game that saw the two teams combining for 13 power plays, it was the final BC man advantage that decided the game. Bobo Carpenter with one hand on his stick that was stepped on, causing a BC skater (the player is escaping my mind) to fall down. It drew a tripping call from referee Geoff Miller, who was the far ref on the play. Jamie Koharski, the other ref tonight, was right in front of the play and did not call anything. All of this led to Ian McCoshen riffling home the power play goal with a little over two minutes to play.

After a back and forth first period that saw both teams on the power play twice, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson cashed in on a nice play off the rush. Matt Grzelcyk found Ahti Oksanen from in the neutral zone and from just inside the blue line, Ahti dished to JFK. Once in the middle of the slot, Karlsson wristed home his sixth of the year to Thatcher Demko's blocker side.

BU took that lead into the locker room only to see it disappear on a penalty shot 2:01 into the second. Austin Cangelosi was able to beat the BU defense wide and with speed, cut to the middle. Danny O'Regan dragged him down in the slot and Cangelosi was awarded a penalty shot.

On the shot, Cangelosi came in slow, stick handled about 50 times before beating Sean Maguire (31 saves) low glove side. The play Cangelosi made to draw the penalty shot was a common occurrence all night. BU had a tough time dealing with BC's speed to the outside. At points, they were getting abused by the BC forwards.

Oksanen put BU back in the lead just 17 seconds after the Cangelosi goal. Oksanen shoveled home a feed from JFK, who while falling down made a pass back toward the front of the goal from below the line.  Karlsson was tripped up in the process of passing to Oksanen that drew another call.  The goal was the Finnish defenseman turned forward 100th career point as a Terrier.

Exactly three minutes later, BC scored the game's only even strength goal of the game. McCoshen sent a low, hard drive in on goal. Maguire kicked it out into the slot where Zach Sanford picked it up, moved out of the scrum in front and shelved a backhand from the bottom of the circle.

BC took their first lead with a little less than five minutes to play in the second. Ian McCoshen and Casey Fitzgerald set up Colin White with a cross box pass. The feed was too quick for Maguire to react  in time and White caught and released a shot from in tight that went top shelf.

The third period seemed like death by a thousand paper cuts. BU needed a tying goal, yet they were outshot 18-8 in the period. Maguire made some really huge saves to keep his team in the game, but it seemed that the equalizer was never going to come. Then, finally BC took maybe the stupidest penalty of the game. Michael Kim ran the goalie and the door was suddenly open.

Charlie McAvoy found Matt Lane in the high slot for a one time bid. The shot hit Demko high in the shoulder, popped up, and then fell in behind Demko. That made it 3-3 with 4:10 to go.

That feeling of frustration turned to anger after the call on Carpenter that setup the BC game winner. You knew right after the call that BC was going to score. There was no doubt in my mind.

McCoshen added an empty netter with 13 seconds left from about 197ft away to pour some salt in those paper cuts.

Anyway, the two teams go at it again on the other side of Comm Ave tomorrow night.

BC Weekend

Yes 6:00 Friday night start times are dumb. Yes it's stupid that Hockey East scheduled this series when both teams are on break. Yes it sucks that Saturday's game conflicts with the Patriots playoffs. That all being said…  it is still BU-BC weekend, after all.

From The Vault
Charlie Coyle and Tommy Cross jaw after the whistle in a
December 2011 game at the Heights. BU won the game 5-3 

Tonight, the Terriers head down Comm Ave and reopen the Green Line rivalry for the 2016 season. Last year the two teams spilt the season series 1-1. BU won the opener in November at Conte and BC bounced back in January at Agganis.

Going off of that, BU is 5-3-0 at Conte since 2009. On the other hand, BC has only lost three times at Aggains (2006, 2009, 2013).

BC this year, is 14-4-2 and is currently ranked 4th in the nation, but haven't exactly played the strongest schedule. They are currently slotted 10th, one place behind BU in the PWR. According the KRACH rankings, Boston College has the 33rd hardest schedule in the country. BU has the 6th highest SOS ranking.

Impressive wins for the Eagles do include a 4-3 win at home, against then 5th ranked Denver. Last weekend BC took three of a possible four points from Providence. BC did win 11 games in a row from October 16 to November 28, but since December 10th, they are just  1-3-1.

Scouting the Eagles
Colin White, who a prominent member of the USA WJC team that won Bronze in Helsinki, is the offensive leader for the Eagles. In 18 games played, he has posted 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points. Ryan Fitzgerald, who always seems to score against BU, leads BC in goals with 12. He has also notched 14 assists. BC's "player's to watch list" is rather lengthy, but here are a few: Zach Sanford, Miles Wood (always good for a penalty or two), Alex Tuch and Steve Santini.

In goal, Thatcher Demko will reportedly be back in the lineup after missing the last two games due to injury. Demko has been strong, to say the least this season. In 18 games, he has a 1.72 goals against, a .936 save percentage and 6 shutouts. 

BU Notes

It would be shocking if Sean Maguire does not start in goal tonight. As for the rest of the lineup, it should be much like the UMass game.
  Other Links
This week I did a question and answer session with the guys over at BC Interruption in preparation for this weeks series. you can read that HERE.

I also was a guest on the Eastern Bias podcast talking all things BU. You can listen to that below (I come in at about minute 51. I was not part of all the cat talk, in the beginning…):

Unfortunately, I will not be at the Saturday game. I have tickets to the Patriots game.

This Week In 06: Hitting Their Stride

After coming out of the break with a 5-1 loss to Providence and a 4-0 shutout win at Northeastern, BU hosted Maine for a two game series at Aggains.

Friday January13, 2006
Maine opened the scoring just 2:12 into the game on a power play goal by Greg Moore. Kenny Roche answered for the Terriers in the closing minutes of the period to tie the game.

12 seconds into the second, Moore notched his second of the game to regain a one goal lead for the Black Bears. John Laliberte retied the game less than five minutes later with a power play goal of his own. Kenny Roche scored the game winner with 1:10 left in the game.

John Curry posted 29 saves, including 16 in the first period, a period that BU was outshot 17-5.

“A tale of two periods: The first and second period were like night and day,” Terrier coach Jack Parker said. “The first period they got the goal; they tic-tac-toed on the power play; we couldn’t stop them at all. And we went back on our heels to about the 15-minute mark of the first period. It was shades of Harvard earlier in the year.

“The second period was just the opposite: I thought we dominated. We had all kinds of opportunities, all kinds of time of possession. Who knows how that happens other than that we got some confidence and wore them down." - From USCHO

Saturday January 14, 2006

This was another back and forth, one goal game. Peter MacArthur got the Terriers on the board late in the first period with BU's first of two shorthanded goals on the night. Josh Soares answered on the same Maine power play to tie the game 1-1 going into the second. 

Chris Higgins gave BU their first lead of the night and it was again off a shorthanded goal. The teams traded goals all period long. Chris Hahn and Greg Moore scored for Maine, while Kenny Roche, Sean Sullivan and Bryan Ewing all found the back for the net for BU. The Terriers lead 5-3 late into the third, before Maine's Derek Damon scored with the goalie pulled. That is as close as Maine would get to tying it, though. 

“It couldn’t have been any more different than last night’s game in so many ways,” Terrier coach Jack Parker said. “I don’t think the goaltending was as sharp as it was last night for either team. In our case, the penalty killing wasn’t anywhere near where we want to be.

“All in all, we weren’t thorough. They gave us some breaks; we gave them some breaks that you usually don’t see in a BU-Maine game. It wasn’t because of the emotion of the crowd or the emotion of the game; it was just turnovers or bad reads or whatever it might be.” -From USCHO

Monday Lookback: The Grzelcyk Factor

Player of the week: Matt Grzelcyk
4 goals, 1 assist.
He was also named Hockey East
Player of the Week.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

There is no mistaking that the impact of having Matt Grzelcyk back in the lineup is big, but I never thought it was this important. Grzelcyk has missed 12 of BU's 18 games this year, but the Terriers are a remarkable 5-1-2 in games when Grzelcyk dresses. Oh, and that one loss? Yeah, he got hurt during the game and did not finish. It's not a stretch at all to say that he gives BU a totally different look when he's healthy and in the lineup.

Grzelcyk, along with some A+ setups from Danny O'Regan and Brandon Fortunato broke open the UMass game. That was a game that UMass was hanging around in and with a little puck luck, maybe they could have won the game. Grzelcyk all but ended that threat with a natural hat-trick in just a 6:49 span that bridged the end of the second and into the third period. After the three goals, the game was over.

What was most impressive in the win was that BU limited UMass to just five shots in the third period. That was something that Coach Quinn pointed out in the presser:

“We were a little sluggish in the first five minutes. I thought we really started knuckling down and doing a much better job of managing the puck, playing the puck, and doing the job in our end. … Seven goals is great, but the thing I really like is we gave up five shots in the third period.”

That's also a good lead in to the Harvard game. It feels like every game this year we hear that "we started slow, but finished well" line from Quinn. BU is a completely different team in the third period. The Harvard game took that to a completely different level. The Harvard play by play guys even pointed out during the broadcast that they could not believe that they were watching the same game. And for good reason. BU was at one point being outshot 26-3. 

The comeback against Harvard has the potential to be a huge springboard for this team. They finally have everyone back and if they can get relatively decent goaltending (much like this weekend), this team can really start rolling. Next weekend will obviously be a huge series with BC, as it usually is.  

Seniors

This weekend, seniors accounted for 9 of BU's 13 goals. Danny O'Regan had two vs Harvard, Matt Lane also added a pair vs the Crimson, and Grzelcyk, along with the hat-trick vs UMass, scored a goal vs Harvard, too. 

At The Polls

BU moved up one slot in the USCHO poll from 11 to 10. North Dakota was again one, Quinnipiac two, Providence somehow stayed at three, despite only getting one point from BC this weekend. Speaking of BC, they moved up from seventh to fourth and St. Cloud rounded out the top five.

In the PWR, BU moved up from 12th entering the weekend, to 9th.  

Around Hockey East

Tuesday: UMass fell to Yale 3-2 in overtime at the Mullins Center.

Thursday: BU scored three goals in the a 2:09 span in the final minutes of the third to drop Harvard 6-5. 

Friday: Boston College routed Providence 7-3 at Conte... Lowell shutout UNH at the Whitt... Cornell blanked Merrimack 3-0 at home... Maine topped Colgate 3-1 at Alfond... Northeastern posted a goose egg on St. Lawrence 3-0 in Canton... Connecticut lost to Michigan Tech in the opening round of the Desert Hockey Classic in Arizona, 4-2... Vermont shutout Dartmouth in Burlington 1-0... Notre Dame ran over Western Michigan 7-1 in South Bend. 

Saturday: Boston College came back to tie Providence 4-4 at PC... Cornell completed the home sweep of Merrimack with a 5-2 win... Colgate got back at Maine with a 5-1 win... NU completed the road sweep of St. Lawrence, doubling up the Saints 4-2... Notre Dame and Western Michigan skated to a 3-3 draw... BU dumped UMass 7-2 at home.

Sunday: UConn blanked Arizona State in the consolation game of the Desert Hockey Classic 3-0.

Terriers, Grzelcyk Post Touchdown On Umass

The difference Matt Grzelcyk has made since coming back from injury in the Terrier line up has been remarkable. Tonight he registered his first career hat-trick, a natural hat-trick at that. It was BU's first hat-trick by a defenseman since Ryan Whitney and Kevin Schaeffer both racked up three goals vs Yale on November 30, 2003.

Bobo Carpenter backhands a shot over Alex Wakaluk's glove
in the second period.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

Grzelcyk found twine for the first time just 20 seconds after UMass' Steven Iacobellis tied the game 2-2 in the second period. Grzelcyk answered for BU with a rising shot that hit a Umass defender in front and plopped in behind UMass goalie Alex Wakaluk. 

A few minutes later, Grzelcyk notched a power play goal from the right side set up by Danny O'Regan and Brandon Fortunato. Fortunato teed him up at the top of the circle and Grzelcyk onetimmed the pass off Wakaluk's glove and in.  That made it 4-2 Terriers, headed to the locker room.

18 seconds into the third, Danny O'Regan made a cut back move at the top of the near circle and fed to Grzelcyk in the high slot. Grzelcyk drilled a shot high and hard past Wakaluk to complete the hat-trick. 

Umass opened the scoring in the first on Shane Walsh's team leading 14th goal. He banged home a loose puck to Sean Maguire's right side and Iacobellis and Ray Pigozzi picked up the assists. 

In the dying minutes of the the first period, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson scored one of the stranger goals of the year to tie the game. From behind the goal line, he banked a shot off the left foot of Wakaluk, who was standing in the crease. The puck caromed off his foot and just trickled over the red stripe and in.

Bobo Carpenter got the lead for BU in the middle of the second period. He made a strong rush up the far side to get the puck in the zone. He did a good job following the play as he backhanded a rebound home off a Nick Olsson shot from in close. Doyle Somerby also had a hand in the goal. 

Following the Grzelcyk goals, BU poured it on with two more scores. Brandon Fortunato created a chance for Robbie Baillargeon right as a BU power play expired. From the nearside point, he found Robbie on the hash along the wall. From there, Baillargeon took a few steps and then beat Wakaluk short side for his fourth goal of the year. 

Jordan Greenway kicked the extra point for the BU football team off a shorthanded breakaway goal.

Maguire finished with 25 saves. He was solid all night, but did allow a few less than desirable rebounds but really nitpicking here more than anything. 

BU will face crosstown rival Boston College next weekend in a home and home series.     

UMass Preview

The Terriers open up their league schedule for the second semester in the first home game since December 5th as the UMass Minutemen come to Agganis tonight.

From The Vault
Danny O'Regan scores a 5 on 3 goal vs UMass in the Fall of
2012. It was his second goal of the game in a 5-2 BU win.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)  

UMass started the season with some promise, going 4-0-1 before losing to Yale in the championship game of the Capital City Classic, 6-1. Since that game on Halloween night, UMass has gone just 3-9-3. The Minuteman really haven't been blown-out in too many games other than 7-0 to BC and 6-1 to Yale. They have taken eight games to overtime.

In Hockey East, Umass currently sits in 8th place in the league standings with eight points. Out of league common opponents include Yale, Quinnipiac and Union. Tuesday night, UMass lost 3-2 in overtime at home vs Yale in their second game of the year with the Bulldogs. In a home and home series with Quinipiac, UMass lost both. They managed to keep the games relatively close, losing 4-1 and 1-0. Finally, UMass fell to Union 4-3 in overtime at home.

Scouting The Minutemen 
Senior Shane Walsh has nearly double the amount of goals anyone else does on the Minuteman roster with 13 in 20 games played. He has also adds 5 assists for 18 points. Sophomore Dennis Kravchenko also has 18 points on the year, doing so with seven goals and 11 assists. Other players to watch include Austin Plevy and Steve Iacohellis, who always seems to score against BU.

In goal, Nic Renyard, Henry Dill and Alex Wakaluk have all seen time. Renyard has played the majority  of the time, holding a 4-6-4 record in 15 appearances. He has a .906 save percentage and 3.25 goals against average. Dill is 2-2-0 in five appearances with a sub .900 save percentage and Wakaluk is 1-1-0 in three appearances. I got to see Wakaluk play the US World Junior Team a few weeks back at the Mullins Center and he did more than hold his own, even though he allowed four goals. Hell, he faired a lot better than some of the goalies in the actual tournament did vs the US. Granted, the US did not dress their top line, but it was still impressive.

BU Notes
- Sean Maguire will once again be in net for the Terriers. Expect much of the same lineup as the Harvard game.

Late BU Outburst Shoves Terriers Past Harvard

Tonight was one of the strangest and yet still one of the most exciting games in recent memory. BU posted just 10 shots in the first two periods, but scored three goals in a 2:09 stretch late in the third period to steal a 6-5 win at Harvard. Danny O'Regan racked up two third period goals, while Matt Lane potted BU's first two goals, all before Ahti Oksanen scored the game winner with 1:49 left.

Harvard opened the scoring midway through the first period on a power play goal from Jimmy Vesey. I did not have great seats and it was rather hard to tell what was happening at the other end of the ice, so I won't go into great detail on how the play was set up. Sorry to disappoint.

The Crimson took the 1-0 lead into the dressing room and also led by a staggering 18-2 marker in shots.  The margin was at its worst in the second, when Harvard was ahead 26-3. Despite getting housed in the shot department early, BU still managed to score two goals in the second period... well Matt Lane did anyway.

Lane's first goal tied the score 1-1. Robbie Baillargeon took the puck wide on the right side and from the middle of the circle, slid a pass to Lane, who redirected it past Harvard goalie Merriack Madsen (24 saves).

Harvard regained the lead just 24 seconds later. Sean Malone lifted a rebound over Sean Maguire (32 saves) for his first of two on the night.

Lane responded to retie the game again at the 12:33 marker. Mike Moran was fresh out of the penalty box and picked off a Harvard clearing pass, crossed with Lane just inside the blue line and dropped a pass for him there. Lane took a few strides before releasing a lazar shot just inside the far post on Madsen.

Just over a minute later, Malone got the lead back for Harvard. Clay Anderson and Tyler Moy picked up the assists as they set the entire play up. Maguire was well out of position and Malone has virtually the entire net to sink a putt from thee feet.

That set the stage for a wild third period. I feel like I say that a lot here, but every third period comeback this year just keeps topping the last. This one will be hard to beat, though.

Harvard finally extended their lead to a two goal lead 3:33 (paging Pat Foley of the Blackhawks TV crew) into the third period. It was a rather weak goal that slipped through Maguire on his short side from basically the corner by Jake Horton.

Danny O'Regan dug BU out of the two goal hole, slashing the lead to 4-3 on the power play. Matt Grzelcyk found Ahti Oksanen on the far side and the Finnish forward pulled off a perfectly executed slap-pass to O'Regan, who was all alone backdoor, staring at an empty net. He did not miss.

Harvard seemed to score a back breaking fifth goal with exactly 10:00 minutes left. Vesey set up Kyle Criscuolo down low for his 11th of the year that re-uped the Crimson two goal advantage.

BU struck a little closer on another power play goal. Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson won the faceoff back to Charlie McAvoy, who got it over to Grzelcyk, who scored top shelf. It took just 12 seconds of power play time to set up the goal.

1:04 later, BU tied the game. This goal was pretty much a blur and I really missed the entire set up, but Danny O'Regan banged home a rebound from in tight. JFK and MacAvoy picked up the assists.

Just over a minute later, Jordan Greenway made a hit to separate the puck from a Harvard player from behind the net. Matt Lane scooped up the loose change and dished to Oksanen, who was uncovered in the low circle. Ahti caught and released the shot all in one motion and beat Madsen over his right shoulder to give BU a 6-5 lead.

BU closed out the final 1:49 to absolutely rob Harvard of a win. The victory moved BU up to 9th in the PWR. They will face UMass at home on Saturday.

Harvard

Finally, we are back on to what makes all of this fun: writing about actual hockey and not ridiculous  rumors and player departures. Tonight, BU faces Harvard at the Bright Center in Cambridge for their first game of 2016.

From The Vault
BU walks off with a crazy 6-5 come-from-behind overtime win
at the Bright Center in November of 2009. Chris Connolly scored
the OT winner, 2:42 into the extra session.
(Photo by Matt Dresens) 

Harvard is currently the number two ranked team in the PairWise.This means in back to back games, BU will have played the 1 and 2 ranked teams in the PWR. In case you forgot, BU knocked off previously unbeaten Quinnipiac in their barn, prior to winter break. Tonight's game will be enormous come tournament time, to say the least.

Harvard is 8-1-3 on the year and their only loss was to Qinnipiac back on November 13 in Hamden. Last week, Harvard rolled Ferris State, 7-3 in the opening game of the Marucci Classic in Minnesota. The following night, Kyle Criscuolo scored with the goalie pulled to tie the championship game vs Minnesota and then won the game and tournament in overtime, giving Harvard a 4-3 win.

Common Opponents:
Yale
Yale 2, @ Harvard 2 (November 6)
 BU 2, @ Yale 3 (December 11)

Quinnipiac
Harvard 1, @ Qunnipiac 4 (November 13)
BU 4, @ Quinnipiac 1 (December 12)

Union
BU 3, @ Union 5 (October 10)
Harvard 4 @ Union 4 (November 28)

Scouting Harvard
The Crimson are (unsurprisingly) led by senior and 2015 Hobey Baker finalist, Jimmy Vesey. Vesey,  was also a member on the USA World Junior Team in 2013 that won gold in Ufa, Russia. He has 9 goals and 11 assists on the year. Kyle Criscuolo leads the team in goals with 10 and has also added five assists.

Other players to watch include Alex Kerfoot, who gave BU all they could handle in the Beanpot last year. Ryan Donato, who is fresh off his return from playing for Team USA at the world Juniors in Helsinki.

In goal, Merrick Madsen is 7-0-2 with a .956 save percentage, four shutouts and a 1.32 goals against average. Madsen has only given up 12 goals on the year.

BU Notes
- From the fallout of the AJ Greer departure and a slew of injures that have plagued BU all year, the Terriers added two new players: Erik Udahl and Oskar Andren. Udahl is a 5-7, 155lb forward from Walpole, Mass. He played with the Coquitlam Express of the BCHL last season. Prior to playing junior, Udhal played at The Rivers School. Andren, a 6-1, 185lb forward from Stockholm, played with the Lone Star Brahmans of the North American Hockey League. It is unknown if either will play tonight.

- Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Fortunato, and Brandon Hickey are all expected to play tonight despite playing in the WJC for the past two weeks.

- In an in-depth article on USCHO, coach Quinn was optimistic about the injury status of Matt Grzelcyk, Ahti Oksanen and Nic Olsson.  

"Asked about Oksanen, Grzelcyk and Olsson, Quinn said all three might play against Harvard on Thursday.

“We’re inching toward getting healthier,” he said. “We’re not sure yet, but we’ll know more by Wednesday.”

- Sean Maguire will get the start tonight in goal.