Weekend Lookback

Prior to Saturday’s win against Lowell at home, it was a trying weekend for the Terriers. Merrimack hands the top-ranked team in the nation two losses, sweeping the season series from BU for the first time ever. Thankfully the team responded with an enormous rebound against the River Hawks, which I was unfortunately out of town for.

The story from the two Merrimack games is simple. Merrimack wanted it more. BU was back on their heels and wasn’t determined. It was a sentiment echoed by coach Quinn after both Tuesday and Friday night’s losses.

“To me the tell tale sign was faceoffs,” said Quinn after Friday’s 4-1 loss at home to MC. “They just walked out of their own end off of D-zone faceoffs in their own end. They got puck possession chances off every face-off. It's just a lesson, one I thought we learned, but that certainly wasn’t the case. We got out everythinged in a lot of ways. There’s not another sport where will and determination can lead you to victory. There was a huge, huge gap in will and determination as that game went on.”

The effort level was certainly an issue, but so was the offensive production. Two goals in two games vs Merrimack, a team that was allowing 2.75 goals a game going into the weekend is obviously not ideal. A lot of that goes back to the determination factor. Merrimack outplayed BU in the second period of both games, and unlike on Tuesday, BU had no push back in the third period of Friday’s game.

Overall it’s safe to say it was a disappointing pair of games. But the fact that the team was able to come back and post a strong showing against Lowell was a very good sign.

Gabe Chabot
The freshman from Quebec City scored his third goal of the season on Saturday night, as he netted BU’s first goal against Lowell. While Chabot may not be posting Clayton Keller numbers, the 5-8 forward has been more than effective.

“Gabe’s had a great year for us,” mentioned Quinn following the Maine game last weekend in Orono. “He brings a lot of energy, smart, physical, has good stick skills. We’re telling three guys a night ‘you’re not in,’ who could be in.”

Cabot has been in. He has played all but two games this season and has been an outstanding depth piece on the third and fourth lines.

At The PollsBU slipped back to third in this week's edition of the USCHO poll. Minnesota-Duluth took over the top spot with 46 of 50 first place votes. Denver was second and picked up three first-place votes, while Union and Harvard rounded out the top five.




Over in the PairWise, BU currently sits in third place there as well. Duluth is one, Denver two. Western Michigan has crept into the top four and would currently hold the final “one seed” if the NCAA tournament field was picked today.

Hockey East Scoreboard
Tuesday:
UConn 1, at Boston College 2
Boston University 1, at Merrimack 3

Friday:
Northeastern 4, at Lowell 3
Providence 3, at New Hampshire 0
Vermont 1, at UConn
UMass 1, at Maine 4
Merrimack 4, at Boston University 1

Saturday:
Notre Dame 4, at Boston College 6
UMass 1, at Maine 2
Providence 3, at New Hampshire 2
Lowell 2, at Boston University 4