Terriers Welcome No. 12/9 Harvard to Agganis on Tuesday
December 2, 2019 | Men's Ice Hockey
BU (4-6-5) will be cloing a stretch of three straight non-conference games and looks to finish on a high note after shutout losses to No. 2 Cornell and Sacred Heart on Saturday and last Tuesday, respectively. This is the first time since 1982 that the Terriers and Crimson are facing off in the month of December.
BU and Harvard are the closest Division I hockey schools - from rink to rink - in the country, just 1.9 miles apart. BU-Northeastern is second at 2.1 miles while Brown-Providence is third at 2.6.
The Terriers and Crimson have played 157 times since the 1922-23 season and the Terriers hold a 80-70-7 (.532) advantage. The teams have split their six meetings at Agganis Arena and last faced off on Parker Rink on Nov. 22, 2016, with the Terriers earning a 5-3 win.
BU has won four of the past seven meetings (4-2-1) after dropping five straight to the Crimson. The teams first met on Dec. 13, 1922, at Boston Arena, with Harvard winning a 2-0 contest.
Harvard (6-1-0) got off to its best start in over 30 years, winning its first six games before suffering its first loss on Friday in a 4-2 home contest against Boston College.
The Crimson offense leads the nation, averaging 5.0 goals per game, while the defense is giving up just 2.0 goals per contest, which ranks ninth. Harvard is the most disciplined team in the country, earning only 6.9 penalty minutes per game.
Sophomore Casey Dornbach has team highs in points (12) and goals (5) to lead a balanced Crimson offense as Nick Abruzzese has nine points (2g, 7a) and six others have eight points apiece. None of Harvard's top 10 point-getters are seniors.
Freshman d-man Henry Thrun already has a plus-13 rating through seven games for Harvard.
Senior Cameron Gornet and freshman Mitchell Gibson have shared time in goal and have three wins apiece. Gibson holds an edge in both save percentage (.955 - .936) and goals-against average (1.49 - 2.48).
BU faced Harvard twice last season, skating to a 2-2 draw at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center before the Crimson came out on top in the Beanpot consolation game. In the first meeting, Matthew Quercia opened the scoring with his first collegiate goal before classmate Joel Farabee provided the game-tying tally on a power play in the third period.
THe Terriers were edged by No. 2 Cornell, 2-0, on Saturday night in the seventh edition of Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden. Cornell scored two goals in a 20-second span during the second period and held off a late rally by BU to earn the victory and hand the Terriers just their second defeat at Red Hot Hockey. Graduate student Sam Tucker made 26 saves, including five on the penalty kill, to hold Cornell's second-ranked power play to an 0-for-3 performance.
Junior defenseman David Farrance is tied for first nationally in power-play tallies with eight, which would have been the most on eight of the previous 10 Terrier squads, dating back to the 2009-10 season. Amongst defensemen, Farrance leads the nation in goals (10) and is second in points (19). He had a career-best seven-game point streak come to an end on Nov. 26. He had 12 points (7g, 5a) during the run.
Last week's results marked the first time the Terriers had either back-to-back losses or or back-to-back wins this season. BU has outscored its opponents 23-12 in the second period but is geting outscored in the third by a margin of 20-8.
The Terriers are closing out the first half with three opponents (Cornell, Harvard, Northeastern) in eight days who are a combined 18-2-1 since Nov. 3.
