Boston University
New Hampshire
Terriers Visit Wildcats to Open Home-and-Home Weekend on NESNplus
February 13, 2020 | Men's Ice Hockey
The Terriers (10-9-8, 7-5-5 Hockey East) and Wildcats (15-11-2, 9-8-1 HE) enter the weekend tied for fifth place in the league standings. BU has a game in hand and posted a 3-0 home shutout of the Wildcats back on Oct. 26. The two squads are just a point behind third place, currently occupied by Boston College and Maine, and just three points behind second-place UMass Lowell.
BU is 6-3-3 since the start of December and has just one loss in its past six games (2-1-3).
The Terriers and Wildcats have played 184 times since the 1924-25 season, and BU holds a decided advantage, 111-52-21 (.660). BU is undefeated in the past 10 meetings (8-0-2) and has been victorious in 17 of the past 25 (17-6-2). The Terriers are 15-11-6 in 32 all-time visits to the Whittemore Center.
UNH is 7-3-1 since the turn of the new year and is coming off a home sweep of Vermont last weekend to move up to fifth place. The Wildcats went 6-3-1 in non-conference play to help them stay competitvie in the PairWise and enter the weekend ranked 23rd.
UNH leads the nation in overtime wins with five and is tied for first in go-ahead goals with 38.
BU and UNH are two of only eight teams in the country that has a defenseman as its top point-getter this season. Bowling Green, Brown, Ferris State, Minnesota Duluth, Sacred Heart and Vermont are the other six.
Junior d-man Max Gildon leads the Wildcats in points with 24 (7g, 17a) while classmate Charlie Kelleher is right behind with 23 (6g, 17a). Fellow junior Patrick Grasso has 21 points on 12 goals and nine assists and sophomore Angus Crookshank is one of three players with 18 points thanks to a team-high 13 goals. Crookshank is tied for sixth nationally in shots with 113.
Junior netminder Mike Robinson has 20 starts and boasts a 2.55 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.
The Terriers finished as runner-up in the Beanpot for the fourth time in five years but came out of the tournament with a pair of ties due to a new NCAA rule that does not recognize extra overtimes. Junior David Farrance continues to lead both BU and all Division I defensemen in points with 35 on 13 goals and 22 assists. Farrance tallied a goal and two assists in both Beanpot contests.
BU is one of three teams with three players among the top 20 nationally in points per game. The other two are fellow Beanpot schools Boston College and Harvard. Senior Patrick Harper is tied for seventh at 1.32 and Farrance ranks 11th (first among defensemen) at 1.30. Freshman Trevor Zegras, who scored twice in Monday's Beanpot final, is 20th at 1.12, which ranks third among Division I rookies.
BU's power play has gone 11-for-27 (.407) over the past eight games, which came immediately on the heels of an 0-for-19 skid.
The Terriers have the most ties in the nation this season with eight, one off the program record of nine set in 2003-04 and matched in 2006-07.
