Terrier Insider: Terriers Survive Tricks, Earn Treats in Season’s Opening Weeks
October 28, 2019 | Men's Ice Hockey
By Scott Weighart, GoTerriers.com Staff Writer
BOSTON - In the first few weeks of the college hockey season leading up to Halloween, it often felt like trick or treat.
The treats included a resounding 7-3 win at Union in the season opener and several bursts of offense that led to three-goal leads against Northern Michigan and UMass Lowell.
The tricks meant losing those three-goal leads and coming away with two ties as well as a home loss to Northern Michigan in which BU also led early.
The upshot was the realization that a team that could have been at least 3-1-0 had a 1-1-2 record coming into Saturday night's game hosting New Hampshire.
To be fair, there were any number of mitigating circumstances for the trick-and-treat start. For one, the team has a seemingly unprecedented number of new arrivals on the roster this season. On Saturday night, 11 of the 20 guys in the lineup were not Terriers last year. This included nine freshmen and two graduate students—winger Alex Brink and goaltender Sam Tucker—who transferred from Brown and Yale, respectively, with one year of eligibility remaining after earning their degrees.
The newcomers bring a startling amount of upside, as they include six players selected in last June's NHL Draft—half of whom where chosen in the first two rounds. But it also means that the majority of the lineup is still learning the ropes of the BU system.
And if that's not enough, the Terriers have lost a couple of their relatively few upperclassmen for an extended stretch due to injuries: Junior Ty Amonte is out for the season, and junior Logan Cockerill also will miss months after getting hurt just three games in this year. Among returning Terriers this season, the pair were fourth and fifth among BU scorers last season. On top of that, sophomore Jack DeBoer is hurt, meaning that the team has had to play without three centermen.
Playing in front of many costumed fans on Saturday in anticipation of Halloween, the Terriers had to find the 3-0 win over the Wildcats especially satisfying—particularly seeing the team hold onto a 2-0 lead in the face of considerable third-period pressure. What had gone wrong with closing out games, and how has the team addressed it?
"I think it was our management of the puck," senior captain Patrick Curry said afterwards. "We've got a lot of young players as you know, and they were having some trouble adapting to the pace and knowing when and when not to move the puck.
"In between periods tonight, we all knew that we'd blown leads, so we made sure that we knew to stick with it and that we were making hard plays in all areas of the ice. Ultimately, the result came out right because guys were taking care of the puck and understanding the situation."
"I think maybe we were in the box a little too much," fellow senior Patrick Harper said. "When you're playing down a man a lot, that's something that takes everyone out of your flow. But I thought our penalty kill was really good this weekend. That's a positive sign, and Tucker looks really good in net."
Coach Albie O'Connell agreed with Harper's assessment but also noted that the team had experienced some bad puck luck on top of being the youngest team in college hockey. "In the Northern Michigan games, we took some penalties. So we've opened the window for other teams. Against Lowell, we go up 3-0. We're feeling good about it. The next shift, they score: We go down, we block a shot, it hits our guy, it hits a guy out front, hits their guy, goes in the net. So we get a couple of bad bounces, and they get two goals. I'm not saying they didn't deserve it, but they didn't have to work too hard for those."
The Terriers sure had to work for it on Saturday. On top of the long-term injuries, the team was without defenseman Cam Crotty due to a minor injury, then Harper had to bow out for precautionary reasons due to a first-period ailment. And junior David Farrance struggled with cramps and also was unavailable as BU clung to its lead.
"Happy to close out tonight. It wasn't easy, but it was a good learning lesson because we had a lot of young guys in the lineup tonight, especially toward the end."
In turning things around, Curry also acknowledged that he has had to change his mindset as the leader of such a large and varied group of newcomers. "From my perspective, I can't try to micromanage things," Curry said. "There were times when I wasn't playing my best because I was focusing too much on what other guys were doing. So for me personally, it's leading by example, but the integration aspect is just making sure everybody's comfortable inside the locker room—good buddies and friends and willing to put it on the line for each other."
Tucker, who pitched his fourth collegiate shutout Saturday and first as a Terrier, has been impressed with the job that his fellow upperclassmen have done in getting everyone on the same page. "It definitely starts from the top down with Curry, and then our other three assistant captains have done a great job in practice every day of setting the tone, showing the younger guys what it takes in college hockey to win, and that's starting to show."
It's an exciting group of newcomers for the BU faithful to get to know. Trevor Zegras, selected ninth overall in the NHL Draft by the Anaheim Ducks, is already centering the top line and shown off some slick playmaking skills.
Curry also said that the freshman also gets noticed off the ice. "Zegras is a really funny guy in the locker room. He's a really talkative guy; it seems like he never shuts up and always has a funny thing to say. So he's one of the guys who's come in and stuck to his personality inside the locker room, and a few other guys have followed suit."
O'Connell had his own take on what has been interesting about the incoming class. "All of them bring a different personality to the group," the second-year BU coach said. "The one common theme is that they're pretty likeable guys, really good guys, and they've been welcomed to the team right away by the upperclassmen. One guy that's really stood out is [defenseman Alex] Vlasic. We knew he was good; we always thought he had a high ceiling, but he gets better and better every day. From day one, he's made great strides. He's a great athlete. Add that to his size and you can see he's going to be really good."
Freshman right winger Robert Mastrosimone has four points in his first five collegiate games. On Saturday, he basically pulled the puck off the stick off a UNH defender before wheeling and scoring. Among others, Nova Scotia native Ethan Phillips has shown some flashes of brilliance, and defenseman Domenick Fensore is a small, speedy blueliner who could be prove to be an electrifying fan favorite. It will be great fun to watch how they and others develop this season.
Meanwhile, it's the upperclassmen who have lit up the scoresheet the most to date. After scoring a total of seven goals in first two BU seasons, Curry now has six goals in just five games played this year. He's actually leading the nation in goals per game right now.
"I just wanted to build on last season," Curry said. "It was a breakout year for me statistically. A lot of the times I'm going to get my goals by going to the hard areas and playing my role, and I've been the beneficiary of my linemates Harper and Zegras as well as some great plays by our defensemen, who are great puck movers. But for me it's just making sure I'm in those dirty, hard areas where I find most of my success."
Harper's journey has been quite different from Curry's. The native of New Canaan, Connecticut, was an instant success for BU, averaging almost a point per game until an illness ended his sophomore season early. As a junior, Harper got off to a slow start and ended up with 20 points in 38 games. But he seems to be back to his old self this season, as he already has four goals and five assists for nine points in just five games—among the top ten point-scorers in the nation. He points to his linemates for the resurgence.
"We've been seeming to find each other out there," Harper said. "Curry brings a different dynamic from Trevor and myself: He's really hard on pucks; he has a really good stick, and he find open spots. And Trevor is obviously an extremely dynamic and skilled player. He just does his thing out there, and it's really fun to be a part of it."
Saturday was a certainly a bright spot for the team, and it fuels optimism for the weeks to come.
"It's been great so far," said Tucker, who is undefeated at 2-0-2 in his first four games between the pipes for the Terriers. "We have a ton of energy and a lot of youth, but the young guys have shown that they're really dedicated to their craft and getting better each and every day."
"Every year is a new team, new dynamic, and everyone wanted to be on the same page from day one," Harper said. "We focused on the process, not the outcome, and that's been the case over the first few weeks."
Coach O'Connell feels that some of the tough lessons from the first few weeks will land with his troops. "You have to learn to win and maybe go through some unfortunate situations to get there. We bent a bit but didn't break and protected our net. It's good to get the result so the guys get a sense of what you have to do.
Curry acknowledged that it's been tough to see the injuries but perhaps better to deal with the adversity early in the season rather than later. "Right now it's about the guys who usually aren't in the lineup stepping up and being a positive factor. If we can round out our game now and get those guys back in the future, we'll be even better."
Once the BU newcomers learn more tricks of the trade, the program should be in for treats well beyond Halloween.
BOSTON - In the first few weeks of the college hockey season leading up to Halloween, it often felt like trick or treat.
The treats included a resounding 7-3 win at Union in the season opener and several bursts of offense that led to three-goal leads against Northern Michigan and UMass Lowell.
The tricks meant losing those three-goal leads and coming away with two ties as well as a home loss to Northern Michigan in which BU also led early.
The upshot was the realization that a team that could have been at least 3-1-0 had a 1-1-2 record coming into Saturday night's game hosting New Hampshire.
To be fair, there were any number of mitigating circumstances for the trick-and-treat start. For one, the team has a seemingly unprecedented number of new arrivals on the roster this season. On Saturday night, 11 of the 20 guys in the lineup were not Terriers last year. This included nine freshmen and two graduate students—winger Alex Brink and goaltender Sam Tucker—who transferred from Brown and Yale, respectively, with one year of eligibility remaining after earning their degrees.
The newcomers bring a startling amount of upside, as they include six players selected in last June's NHL Draft—half of whom where chosen in the first two rounds. But it also means that the majority of the lineup is still learning the ropes of the BU system.
And if that's not enough, the Terriers have lost a couple of their relatively few upperclassmen for an extended stretch due to injuries: Junior Ty Amonte is out for the season, and junior Logan Cockerill also will miss months after getting hurt just three games in this year. Among returning Terriers this season, the pair were fourth and fifth among BU scorers last season. On top of that, sophomore Jack DeBoer is hurt, meaning that the team has had to play without three centermen.
Playing in front of many costumed fans on Saturday in anticipation of Halloween, the Terriers had to find the 3-0 win over the Wildcats especially satisfying—particularly seeing the team hold onto a 2-0 lead in the face of considerable third-period pressure. What had gone wrong with closing out games, and how has the team addressed it?
"I think it was our management of the puck," senior captain Patrick Curry said afterwards. "We've got a lot of young players as you know, and they were having some trouble adapting to the pace and knowing when and when not to move the puck.
"In between periods tonight, we all knew that we'd blown leads, so we made sure that we knew to stick with it and that we were making hard plays in all areas of the ice. Ultimately, the result came out right because guys were taking care of the puck and understanding the situation."
"I think maybe we were in the box a little too much," fellow senior Patrick Harper said. "When you're playing down a man a lot, that's something that takes everyone out of your flow. But I thought our penalty kill was really good this weekend. That's a positive sign, and Tucker looks really good in net."
Coach Albie O'Connell agreed with Harper's assessment but also noted that the team had experienced some bad puck luck on top of being the youngest team in college hockey. "In the Northern Michigan games, we took some penalties. So we've opened the window for other teams. Against Lowell, we go up 3-0. We're feeling good about it. The next shift, they score: We go down, we block a shot, it hits our guy, it hits a guy out front, hits their guy, goes in the net. So we get a couple of bad bounces, and they get two goals. I'm not saying they didn't deserve it, but they didn't have to work too hard for those."
The Terriers sure had to work for it on Saturday. On top of the long-term injuries, the team was without defenseman Cam Crotty due to a minor injury, then Harper had to bow out for precautionary reasons due to a first-period ailment. And junior David Farrance struggled with cramps and also was unavailable as BU clung to its lead.
"Happy to close out tonight. It wasn't easy, but it was a good learning lesson because we had a lot of young guys in the lineup tonight, especially toward the end."
In turning things around, Curry also acknowledged that he has had to change his mindset as the leader of such a large and varied group of newcomers. "From my perspective, I can't try to micromanage things," Curry said. "There were times when I wasn't playing my best because I was focusing too much on what other guys were doing. So for me personally, it's leading by example, but the integration aspect is just making sure everybody's comfortable inside the locker room—good buddies and friends and willing to put it on the line for each other."
Tucker, who pitched his fourth collegiate shutout Saturday and first as a Terrier, has been impressed with the job that his fellow upperclassmen have done in getting everyone on the same page. "It definitely starts from the top down with Curry, and then our other three assistant captains have done a great job in practice every day of setting the tone, showing the younger guys what it takes in college hockey to win, and that's starting to show."
It's an exciting group of newcomers for the BU faithful to get to know. Trevor Zegras, selected ninth overall in the NHL Draft by the Anaheim Ducks, is already centering the top line and shown off some slick playmaking skills.
Curry also said that the freshman also gets noticed off the ice. "Zegras is a really funny guy in the locker room. He's a really talkative guy; it seems like he never shuts up and always has a funny thing to say. So he's one of the guys who's come in and stuck to his personality inside the locker room, and a few other guys have followed suit."
O'Connell had his own take on what has been interesting about the incoming class. "All of them bring a different personality to the group," the second-year BU coach said. "The one common theme is that they're pretty likeable guys, really good guys, and they've been welcomed to the team right away by the upperclassmen. One guy that's really stood out is [defenseman Alex] Vlasic. We knew he was good; we always thought he had a high ceiling, but he gets better and better every day. From day one, he's made great strides. He's a great athlete. Add that to his size and you can see he's going to be really good."
Freshman right winger Robert Mastrosimone has four points in his first five collegiate games. On Saturday, he basically pulled the puck off the stick off a UNH defender before wheeling and scoring. Among others, Nova Scotia native Ethan Phillips has shown some flashes of brilliance, and defenseman Domenick Fensore is a small, speedy blueliner who could be prove to be an electrifying fan favorite. It will be great fun to watch how they and others develop this season.
Meanwhile, it's the upperclassmen who have lit up the scoresheet the most to date. After scoring a total of seven goals in first two BU seasons, Curry now has six goals in just five games played this year. He's actually leading the nation in goals per game right now.
"I just wanted to build on last season," Curry said. "It was a breakout year for me statistically. A lot of the times I'm going to get my goals by going to the hard areas and playing my role, and I've been the beneficiary of my linemates Harper and Zegras as well as some great plays by our defensemen, who are great puck movers. But for me it's just making sure I'm in those dirty, hard areas where I find most of my success."
Harper's journey has been quite different from Curry's. The native of New Canaan, Connecticut, was an instant success for BU, averaging almost a point per game until an illness ended his sophomore season early. As a junior, Harper got off to a slow start and ended up with 20 points in 38 games. But he seems to be back to his old self this season, as he already has four goals and five assists for nine points in just five games—among the top ten point-scorers in the nation. He points to his linemates for the resurgence.
"We've been seeming to find each other out there," Harper said. "Curry brings a different dynamic from Trevor and myself: He's really hard on pucks; he has a really good stick, and he find open spots. And Trevor is obviously an extremely dynamic and skilled player. He just does his thing out there, and it's really fun to be a part of it."
Saturday was a certainly a bright spot for the team, and it fuels optimism for the weeks to come.
"It's been great so far," said Tucker, who is undefeated at 2-0-2 in his first four games between the pipes for the Terriers. "We have a ton of energy and a lot of youth, but the young guys have shown that they're really dedicated to their craft and getting better each and every day."
"Every year is a new team, new dynamic, and everyone wanted to be on the same page from day one," Harper said. "We focused on the process, not the outcome, and that's been the case over the first few weeks."
Coach O'Connell feels that some of the tough lessons from the first few weeks will land with his troops. "You have to learn to win and maybe go through some unfortunate situations to get there. We bent a bit but didn't break and protected our net. It's good to get the result so the guys get a sense of what you have to do.
Curry acknowledged that it's been tough to see the injuries but perhaps better to deal with the adversity early in the season rather than later. "Right now it's about the guys who usually aren't in the lineup stepping up and being a positive factor. If we can round out our game now and get those guys back in the future, we'll be even better."
Once the BU newcomers learn more tricks of the trade, the program should be in for treats well beyond Halloween.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
D
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
D
/ Men's Ice Hockey
D
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
G
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice HockeyHighlights: Men's Ice Hockey vs. New Hampshire (2/14/26)
Sunday, February 15
Highlights:Men's Ice Hockey vs Maine (2/6/26)
Saturday, February 07
2026 Beanpot Semifinal Postgame Press Conference
Tuesday, February 03
Highlights: Men's Ice Hockey vs. Boston College (1/30/26)
Saturday, January 31
