Photo by: Kyle Prudhomme
BU Does More than Get By with Bye
November 16, 2022 | Men's Ice Hockey
by Scott Weighart, GoTerriers.com
BOSTON – Boston University was just getting by until they got the bye.
The first seven games this season followed a pattern: Win, loss, win, loss, win, loss, win. Every two-game series had resulted in a Friday loss followed by a Saturday or Sunday win. Granted, every loss had come against quality opponents in Michigan, UConn, and UMass Lowell, but that was small consolation.
Then the Terriers had a rare bye week. With no games scheduled for the first weekend of November, the team had almost two full weeks off to tinker with all aspects of their game.
It certainly paid off. Last weekend was a real statement for BU, as the Terriers swept No. 11/10 UMass. On Friday, they broke open the game with two goals in 10 seconds on their way to a 7-2 win. The Minutemen figured to be a desperate team on Saturday night, especially as Friday's loss meant that they fell to 1-4 in Hockey East action. Regardless, the Terriers responded with another decisive win, a 5-1 triumph that pulled their record up to 6-3-0 overall as well as 4-2-0 in league play.
"We've gotten off to slow starts on Friday," acknowledged senior defenseman and assistant captain Case McCarthy, "so it was definitely a message in the bye week, getting everybody healthy; competing in practice has been great the last two weeks. I think that showed this weekend."
First-year coach Jay Pandolfo admitted that the team needed to work on a litany of areas.
"I think the bye weekend probably did come at a good time," Pandolfo said. "It gave us an opportunity to work on some things in our game that I thought were a little bit inconsistent. It was all parts of our game, and we took advantage of the time we had to practice these things."
Asked to specify, Pandolfo had quite a list. "I could start from our end out. Our breakouts had to get better. Our D-zone coverage had to get better. One of the things we really talked about was our forecheck. We needed to turn more pucks over to create some offense, and no question we were better with that this this weekend. And then special teams had to be better, and I thought the power play was better this weekend."
The first act on Friday night came in an NESN-televised game in front of a loud crowd of 5,197 fans out at Amherst. The Minutemen looked strong in the first few minutes, but the Terriers were unfazed and came out of the period with a 1-0 lead.
That set the stage for a Wilmer Skoog goal that was the top play on ESPN's SportsCenter. Skoog has become renowned for "lacrosse goals," and this was one of his best. Mike Legg of Michigan was the first player to earn notoriety for picking up the puck with his stick before lifting it over the shoulder of an unsuspecting goaltender, but Skoog can do so much, much faster, and on Friday the literal upshot was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it, highlight-reel goal. Swooping behind the net, he scooped up the puck and put it in over the goalie's right arm for a jaw-dropping moment and a huge momentum boost for the team.
"It was quick," BU captain Domenick Fensore said. "I was on the ice, and I was like, 'He's not gonna have time to do it.' And then it was, 'Oh my God, here we go!' He's a great player and he's got crazy skills. I don't think anyone else on our team can do that."
"I was on the bench," McCarthy recalled. "You can see him separate, and he's done it a million times in practice. I think that's his third or fourth of his college career, so it's no surprise. You give him time and space, he's gonna do that to you. It's a huge lift. It's his first goal of the year, too, so to see him get fired up got the bench fired up. It brought some energy, some life to that period, and obviously we kept it going for the rest of the game."
Skoog's goal set the stage for the next three goals, all scored by freshmen. Quinn Hutson scored the first two, and Ryan Greene added the third just 10 seconds after Hutson's second tally.
Three of the team's top four scorers are first-year players. Senior Matt Brown leads BU in scoring with 13 points in the first nine games, but Greene is second with 11 points. Freshman Lane Hutson, Quinn's younger brother, is third with 10 points, and Quinn has eight.
"It's awesome," Fensore said of the freshmen. "They came in and had a great training camp. They're great hockey players and even better people. So I'm happy for them and hopefully they keep it going because they're big parts of this team."
"I don't know if it's a big surprise," Pandolfo said of his first-year scorers. "I expected that Lane was going to come in and produce, just from watching him. I knew Quinn was a goal scorer, and he's as advertised; he can put the puck in the net. And Greenie's a complete 200-foot center, so I've been really impressed with him. He's been great for us; he's been probably one of our most consistent forwards, so it's really good to see. There will be guys with hot streaks, cold streaks. You need everyone, and that's where we're getting right now."
Skoog and fellow senior Jay O'Brien were two guys who started a little colder on the score sheet, so it was encouraging to see them each get their first goal of the season this weekend. As noted earlier, Skoog's could not have been any more dramatic. On Saturday, O'Brien got his first. It had to be especially exciting because he clanged a shot resoundingly off a post earlier in the game.
"They just kept playing the right way," McCarthy said of his snake-bitten classmates. "Sometimes the game has bounces like that and stuff you can't control, so it's good to see those two guys get on the board early and then keep it rolling the next couple weeks."
Pandolfo had a recent conversation with O'Brien about his tough luck. "He's been frustrated, but him and I talked about it. He's getting his chances. That's the main thing. We knew it was gonna go in at some point, and now he hopefully starts rolling off this. So he's stuck with it and it was nice to see him rewarded tonight."
As the expression goes, a couple of snowflakes doesn't make a blizzard. This weekend features yet another challenge against a familiar foe.
"You don't have to say much when you're playing Northeastern because we have a big rivalry with them with the Beanpot and stuff," Fensore said. "Those games are always fun, exciting, good atmosphere, so I think our guys will be juiced up for that one. It's gonna be a great, great weekend."
Now it's goodbye to byes for a while for the Terriers, but hopefully hello to consistency - a good byword.
BOSTON – Boston University was just getting by until they got the bye.
The first seven games this season followed a pattern: Win, loss, win, loss, win, loss, win. Every two-game series had resulted in a Friday loss followed by a Saturday or Sunday win. Granted, every loss had come against quality opponents in Michigan, UConn, and UMass Lowell, but that was small consolation.
Then the Terriers had a rare bye week. With no games scheduled for the first weekend of November, the team had almost two full weeks off to tinker with all aspects of their game.
It certainly paid off. Last weekend was a real statement for BU, as the Terriers swept No. 11/10 UMass. On Friday, they broke open the game with two goals in 10 seconds on their way to a 7-2 win. The Minutemen figured to be a desperate team on Saturday night, especially as Friday's loss meant that they fell to 1-4 in Hockey East action. Regardless, the Terriers responded with another decisive win, a 5-1 triumph that pulled their record up to 6-3-0 overall as well as 4-2-0 in league play.
"We've gotten off to slow starts on Friday," acknowledged senior defenseman and assistant captain Case McCarthy, "so it was definitely a message in the bye week, getting everybody healthy; competing in practice has been great the last two weeks. I think that showed this weekend."
First-year coach Jay Pandolfo admitted that the team needed to work on a litany of areas.
"I think the bye weekend probably did come at a good time," Pandolfo said. "It gave us an opportunity to work on some things in our game that I thought were a little bit inconsistent. It was all parts of our game, and we took advantage of the time we had to practice these things."
Asked to specify, Pandolfo had quite a list. "I could start from our end out. Our breakouts had to get better. Our D-zone coverage had to get better. One of the things we really talked about was our forecheck. We needed to turn more pucks over to create some offense, and no question we were better with that this this weekend. And then special teams had to be better, and I thought the power play was better this weekend."
The first act on Friday night came in an NESN-televised game in front of a loud crowd of 5,197 fans out at Amherst. The Minutemen looked strong in the first few minutes, but the Terriers were unfazed and came out of the period with a 1-0 lead.
That set the stage for a Wilmer Skoog goal that was the top play on ESPN's SportsCenter. Skoog has become renowned for "lacrosse goals," and this was one of his best. Mike Legg of Michigan was the first player to earn notoriety for picking up the puck with his stick before lifting it over the shoulder of an unsuspecting goaltender, but Skoog can do so much, much faster, and on Friday the literal upshot was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it, highlight-reel goal. Swooping behind the net, he scooped up the puck and put it in over the goalie's right arm for a jaw-dropping moment and a huge momentum boost for the team.
"It was quick," BU captain Domenick Fensore said. "I was on the ice, and I was like, 'He's not gonna have time to do it.' And then it was, 'Oh my God, here we go!' He's a great player and he's got crazy skills. I don't think anyone else on our team can do that."
"I was on the bench," McCarthy recalled. "You can see him separate, and he's done it a million times in practice. I think that's his third or fourth of his college career, so it's no surprise. You give him time and space, he's gonna do that to you. It's a huge lift. It's his first goal of the year, too, so to see him get fired up got the bench fired up. It brought some energy, some life to that period, and obviously we kept it going for the rest of the game."
Skoog's goal set the stage for the next three goals, all scored by freshmen. Quinn Hutson scored the first two, and Ryan Greene added the third just 10 seconds after Hutson's second tally.
Three of the team's top four scorers are first-year players. Senior Matt Brown leads BU in scoring with 13 points in the first nine games, but Greene is second with 11 points. Freshman Lane Hutson, Quinn's younger brother, is third with 10 points, and Quinn has eight.
"It's awesome," Fensore said of the freshmen. "They came in and had a great training camp. They're great hockey players and even better people. So I'm happy for them and hopefully they keep it going because they're big parts of this team."
"I don't know if it's a big surprise," Pandolfo said of his first-year scorers. "I expected that Lane was going to come in and produce, just from watching him. I knew Quinn was a goal scorer, and he's as advertised; he can put the puck in the net. And Greenie's a complete 200-foot center, so I've been really impressed with him. He's been great for us; he's been probably one of our most consistent forwards, so it's really good to see. There will be guys with hot streaks, cold streaks. You need everyone, and that's where we're getting right now."
Skoog and fellow senior Jay O'Brien were two guys who started a little colder on the score sheet, so it was encouraging to see them each get their first goal of the season this weekend. As noted earlier, Skoog's could not have been any more dramatic. On Saturday, O'Brien got his first. It had to be especially exciting because he clanged a shot resoundingly off a post earlier in the game.
"They just kept playing the right way," McCarthy said of his snake-bitten classmates. "Sometimes the game has bounces like that and stuff you can't control, so it's good to see those two guys get on the board early and then keep it rolling the next couple weeks."
Pandolfo had a recent conversation with O'Brien about his tough luck. "He's been frustrated, but him and I talked about it. He's getting his chances. That's the main thing. We knew it was gonna go in at some point, and now he hopefully starts rolling off this. So he's stuck with it and it was nice to see him rewarded tonight."
As the expression goes, a couple of snowflakes doesn't make a blizzard. This weekend features yet another challenge against a familiar foe.
"You don't have to say much when you're playing Northeastern because we have a big rivalry with them with the Beanpot and stuff," Fensore said. "Those games are always fun, exciting, good atmosphere, so I think our guys will be juiced up for that one. It's gonna be a great, great weekend."
Now it's goodbye to byes for a while for the Terriers, but hopefully hello to consistency - a good byword.
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