Terriers Turning Over New Leaf This Fall

by Scott Weighart, GoTerriers.com

BOSTON – The beginning of a college hockey season is almost always a time of excitement and optimism at Boston University.

But as the colors turn from green to gold in New England, the Terriers are also turning over a new leaf in more ways than one. As always, there is a fresh influx of new players—six freshmen, most of whom are already having an impact—but also a first-year head coach in Jay Pandolfo as well as new additions to the coaching staff in Joe Pereira and Kim Brandvold.

So far all we have to go on is a non-conference game against Bentley and the usual exhibition game against a Canadian university opponent—Waterloo, this year—but Terrier fans could not ask for much more from this limited sample size.

In the season opener, BU sprinted out of the starting blocks with three goals in the first seven minutes en route to an 8-2 thumping of Bentley. In the exhibition game, the Terriers took a while longer to break the game open despite outshooting Waterloo by a whopping 65-12 margin. Yet the upshot was much the same, as they ultimately won 7-1.

While these outcomes were satisfying, equally impressive was the consistency and focus over these two games. The Terriers were unfazed to be in a 1-1 game after one period against Waterloo despite outshooting their northern neighbors by a 23-3 margin. They kept after it, and eventually their combination of speed and skill wore down their opponents.

"I think it's what I've expected because it's what I've seen from day one when we started practicing," Pandolfo said after the Waterloo win. "These guys came in prepared. They've come in in shape. They came in ready to play the right way. The leadership group has been excellent at holding themselves accountable, which makes the coach's job a lot easier. So they're ready, they're motivated, and they want to have a good season."

In recent years, the Terriers have had some pretty good seasons. However, the program has not made the national tournament with the year-in, year-out consistency that is expected. For the most part, the issue has not been so much how the team has played in the second semester. The bigger issue has been losing games in the fall that they really need to win against the likes of Sacred Heart and Merrimack. Too many losses like this have put the team in the situation where they needed to win the Hockey East Tournament to make the national tournament, and no team can count on doing that each year.

"It's been a huge problem," senior defenseman Case McCarthy acknowledged. "I think only my sophomore year we got to a hot start. Hockey East is a tough conference; we need to get off to a good start. That's been the message throughout camp. That's not an excuse anymore. When it's time to play hockey, doesn't matter who it is, doesn't matter when it is, doesn't matter where it is. You have to show up and play and play to win."

Pandolfo seems to be striking the right tone on this front so far. He comes in knowing what it takes to win a national championship and a Stanley Cup as a player. While he was a two-way star player at BU, the shorthanded hat trick that he once scored at Walter Brown Arena was an indicator of his professional future. He ended up playing 899 games in the NHL because of his penalty-killing excellence and ability to shut down opposing forwards. He brings that same mindset of tenacity to the BU bench.

"These guys are young; you have to stay on top of them all the time," Pandolfo said. "It's about consistency at any level, but that's the biggest thing is for these guys to be consistent every day. Show up every day. Do the work. If you do that, the game gets easier for you. So we're making sure we're practicing the right way, every day, and these guys have bought into that."

This spirit is embodied on the back of the shirts that the players wore as they hit the weight room after Saturday's win: "Everything Matters."

"That's just our motto," senior captain Domenick Fensore said. "Every little detail off the ice, on the ice, all the little things like that."

"We're determined," McCarthy said. "It doesn't matter if it's 1-1, 0-0, 3-1. We're going to play a hard style. I think the speed portion was expected, but I didn't expect us to be this fast, especially in transition."

"We have to perform every day; that's our mindset," Pandolfo said. "Even tonight, we're playing a team we didn't know a lot about, but we didn't want to take it like it's just an exhibition game. We're taking it like every game matters."

The other new coaches are also spreading this gospel. Like Pandolfo, Pereira knows what it means to be a BU captain and to win a national championship. Pereira was a freshman when the team last won it all in 2009.

"Joe's awesome," McCarthy said. "He's little bit younger, a little bit fresher out of school, so he connects with us on a bit of a different level. He's been amazing. Great energy on the ice every day. Raining outside, sunny outside, doesn't matter. He's coming to the rink with a lot of energy and gets the boys fired up for practices and games."

Kim Brandvold is also getting great reviews as a new assistant.

"I think he's the first one at the gym every morning," McCarthy said. "We show up, and he's on the bike. He works extremely hard with everybody, especially the defensemen. He has a great mind for the game. I've learned ton from him so far, either on the bench or through video sessions."

If the coaches have everyone feeling good about what's happening off the ice, the newcomers on the ice are making just as powerful an impression. In the Bentley game, the all-freshmen third line of Ryan Greene centering Jeremy Wilmer and Quinn Hutson combined for a startling four goals and four assists, while Quinn's younger brother Lane Hutson added three assists from the blue line. Winger Devin Kaplan also had a goal and assist. Altogether, the first-year players had 13 points in the game, while everyone else had 11.

"Yeah, they've been great," Fensore said. "They play with a lot of swag and confidence, and they're playing the right way. It's good for them get confidence right away. I remember when I was a freshman being like a little nervous out there, but not them. Hopefully they keep it going."

For good measure, Quinn Hutson followed up that first game with a hat trick against Waterloo. One Terrier who was not surprised was McCarthy, whose brother played alongside Hutson for the Muskegon Lumberjacks last season. Hutson led the team with 33 goals and 40 assists in just 59 games, which was eighth-best in the league. Meanwhile, Wilmer was the USHL scoring champion with 98 points.

Greene, Lane Hutson, and Kaplan received more attention over the summer after getting picked in the second and third rounds of the NHL Draft, but Quinn Hutson looks to be another great recruit.

"He's been great in the locker room," McCarthy said. "Obviously, his younger brother is coming as the draft pick, but I know that he played with my younger brother actually last year and that's all my brother could talk about was him putting the puck in the back of the net for Muskegon."

So far, so great for the Terriers, but the stakes will rise in a hurry this weekend when they travel to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan for a pair of games. With the Wolverines ranked No. 6 and the Terriers No. 9 in both national polls, it should be everything you could want in an early-season series against two legendary programs.

"I know it's going to be a great atmosphere up there in Michigan," Fensore said. "It'll be a good test for us. I know that they're highly rated team and so we so it should be good matchup. It's a statement weekend for us; we want to go out there and get two wins.

"They're a great team," Pandolfo said. "They're really talented, but we're looking forward to the challenge. This is what you want. It's two great programs. Great history, great tradition. I think it's going to be a great weekend. It's a good opportunity to see where we're at early in the year, so it's going to be a lot of fun."

Everything matters this season. As the Terriers turn over this new leaf this fall, BU fans can hope it will lead for better things to bloom this spring.

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Domenick Fensore

Ryan Greene

Lane Hutson

Quinn Hutson

Devin Kaplan

Case McCarthy

Jeremy Wilmer

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