Photo by: Kyle Prudhomme
Level-Headed Terriers Refuse to Get Ahead of Themselves
March 14, 2023 | Men's Ice Hockey
by Scott Weighart, GoTerriers.com
BOSTON – When your coach's playing days included winning an NCAA championship and a Stanley Cup, it makes sense that no one in the Boston University men's ice hockey program is getting overexcited about what the Terriers have accomplished thus far this season.
Yes, first-year head coach Jay Pandolfo's team won the Hockey East regular-season title, earning its first No. 1 seed in the conference tournament since 2015. With a 25-10-0 record despite a very tough strength of schedule, the Terriers are fifth in the PairWise Rankings and the only Hockey East team assured of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament regardless of what happens this weekend at TD Garden, beginning with a semifinal contest against Providence on Friday at 4 p.m.
And yes, BU has also had three Hobey Baker Award nominees this year: senior captain Domenick Fensore, senior forward Matt Brown and freshman defenseman Lane Hutson. The first-year blue liner also pulled off an unprecedented feat this season: This is the first time a defenseman has ever led Hockey East in scoring. Hutson scored 12 goals and added a league-high 25 assists for 34 points in just 24 league games.
Regardless, there was no talk of the national tournament or even the conference championship after Saturday's resounding 7-3 win over Vermont in a Hockey East quarterfinal at Agganis Arena.
"Right now we're just going to enjoy this win," senior assistant captain Case McCarthy said. "Monday, we'll get back to business. For Friday, I think we'll be going in just focusing on the way we've got to play. I think that's the biggest thing; if we don't vary from our game, we'll be able to put ourselves in a good position."
The team is also now riding a five-game win streak after a season-high four-game losing streak that unfortunately included a Beanpot washout. Likewise, the team doesn't seem overexcited about those lows, either.
"I don't know if it was particularly anything going wrong," junior forward Dylan Peterson said. "I think just everybody goes through that during the season. We'd been so hot to start the season, so it was kind of inevitable to go through something like that. It just happened the way it did, and then we just bounced back."
"Every team's going to go through a stretch like that at some point of the year," Pandolfo said. "Hopefully you don't, but sometimes they make you better at the end. So that was a time that we just weren't at our best. It came at a tough time of year because it was around the Beanpot, but it seems like we're on the other side of it."
Indeed, that was then. This is now. This five-game win streak underscores why this team causes so many problems for opposing defenses. On a given night, any of the four forward lines might have a big night.
"100%, we've got a lot of depth in that lineup," McCarthy said. "Anybody can play anywhere. Obviously, we have some high-end skill players, but even the guys on the third and fourth line are not necessarily 'bottom-six' guys. The third line put up nine points (Saturday night). We've got a special group in here. It's tough to match up against us on any given night. Obviously, you need depth scoring down the stretch."
"Yeah, the depth of our forward group is really good," Pandolfo said. "All four lines can score and that certainly helps us. We're not really concerned too much about matchups, so we trust all our lines to play against anyone. We trust all our lines in both the defensive zone and offensive zone. That helps us a lot, too."
Most lines also bring an interesting blend of qualities into a complementary mix. That third line is a prime example.
"I think we have the ability to be a grit line, but at the same time we have a ton of skill on that line," Peterson said. "Wilmer is probably one of the best playmakers on the team. I've got size and the ability to shake guys down low, and Zabby's the fastest man alive. So put those together, and we're due for a couple special nights here and there."
That combination worked to perfection three times, and the first goal of the night was an especially noteworthy example. Peterson simply blew by a Catamount defender on the right wing before crossing to Zabaneh for the easy tap-in.
"We've been harping—me and Zabby—on just using our speed as much as we can," Peterson said. 'So with that guy, I knew I had enough speed to beat him, and I knew Zabby's fast enough to get to the back door."
Consider also that BU's fourth line on Saturday night was Jamie Armstrong (four goals, six assists), Sam Stevens (seven goals, eight assists), and Devin Kaplan (nine goals, 11 assists). You would be challenged to find a higher-scoring fourth line in the nation right now.
"It's got to be tough for other teams; I can't imagine," Peterson said. "I think in the beginning of the season we relied on top-six scoring a lot. We relied on certain guys to put the puck in the back of the net. Now it's kind of spread out. We've all found our game, and we're all in stride. It just tough it seems to keep up with us."
And then there is all of the scoring from the blue line, starting with Hutson's team-best total of 44 points. With Hutson, it's not just the production. There is the sheer merriment of watching him play hockey. He changes direction with the puck like an elite basketball point guard, often leaving his foes flat-footed with his inventive, spontaneous style. He has an uncanny knack for maneuvering his way out of jams and into prime playmaking or shooting real estate.
"It's special," McCarthy said. "When we're on the bench, we start laughing at a bunch of the stuff he does."
"Not much you can say about it anymore," Peterson added. "It's just simply incredible, I don't know how he does it; we just need him to keep going."
The only downer on Saturday night was that Fensore left the game with a lower-body injury just 12 seconds into the action. Unluckily, the team had dressed an extra forward rather than an extra defenseman, so the rest of the night featured a five-man rotation.
"We said, keep it simple," McCarthy said. "Keep plays in front of us and win it for him. We wanted to make sure he gets another shot next week."
Meanwhile, Hutson amassed over 30 minutes of ice time by this writer's count, seeming no worse for wear as a result.
"Not surprised," Pandolfo said of Hutson. "Even when Dom's in the lineup, he plays anywhere between 25 and 28 minutes. So with Dom out, he's certainly going to play a little more. He was playing pretty much the whole power play, so that's going to bring his minutes up. He's in tremendous shape; he can handle it."
Given that two of the Hockey East quarterfinal games did not finish until hours after the BU-Vermont game, the Terriers had no idea who they were playing when we discussed that after their win. No one was getting too excited about that, either.
"I think Pando has been harping on not worrying about other teams and just worrying about ourselves," Peterson said.
"I just think we build off of this game," Pandolfo said. "We've kind of tried to have the mindset all year where we're just worried about the next game. That's what we'll do now."
If you're a Boston University fan, you may be faithfully tracking the PairWise Ranking and ruminating about bracketology prognostications. You might be imagining a Hockey East Championship banner and mulling whether your future travel plans will lead you to Manchester, Bridgeport, Allentown, or Fargo for the NCAA Regionals. Maybe you have booked your trip to Tampa for the Frozen Four.
This is all understandable. We're just one game into the postseason, and BU has already won more games since the 2014-15 season. The Terriers should be a relatively high seed in the national tournament. It's an exciting time to be a Boston University hockey fan.
Just don't expect the coaches and players to focus on getting excited about anything beyond their next opponent.
BOSTON – When your coach's playing days included winning an NCAA championship and a Stanley Cup, it makes sense that no one in the Boston University men's ice hockey program is getting overexcited about what the Terriers have accomplished thus far this season.
Yes, first-year head coach Jay Pandolfo's team won the Hockey East regular-season title, earning its first No. 1 seed in the conference tournament since 2015. With a 25-10-0 record despite a very tough strength of schedule, the Terriers are fifth in the PairWise Rankings and the only Hockey East team assured of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament regardless of what happens this weekend at TD Garden, beginning with a semifinal contest against Providence on Friday at 4 p.m.
And yes, BU has also had three Hobey Baker Award nominees this year: senior captain Domenick Fensore, senior forward Matt Brown and freshman defenseman Lane Hutson. The first-year blue liner also pulled off an unprecedented feat this season: This is the first time a defenseman has ever led Hockey East in scoring. Hutson scored 12 goals and added a league-high 25 assists for 34 points in just 24 league games.
Regardless, there was no talk of the national tournament or even the conference championship after Saturday's resounding 7-3 win over Vermont in a Hockey East quarterfinal at Agganis Arena.
"Right now we're just going to enjoy this win," senior assistant captain Case McCarthy said. "Monday, we'll get back to business. For Friday, I think we'll be going in just focusing on the way we've got to play. I think that's the biggest thing; if we don't vary from our game, we'll be able to put ourselves in a good position."
The team is also now riding a five-game win streak after a season-high four-game losing streak that unfortunately included a Beanpot washout. Likewise, the team doesn't seem overexcited about those lows, either.
"I don't know if it was particularly anything going wrong," junior forward Dylan Peterson said. "I think just everybody goes through that during the season. We'd been so hot to start the season, so it was kind of inevitable to go through something like that. It just happened the way it did, and then we just bounced back."
"Every team's going to go through a stretch like that at some point of the year," Pandolfo said. "Hopefully you don't, but sometimes they make you better at the end. So that was a time that we just weren't at our best. It came at a tough time of year because it was around the Beanpot, but it seems like we're on the other side of it."
Indeed, that was then. This is now. This five-game win streak underscores why this team causes so many problems for opposing defenses. On a given night, any of the four forward lines might have a big night.
- In a sweep at Vermont a few weekends ago, the first and second lines stood out the first night, while the second and third lines scored all of the forward points the following evening.
- In the final two contests of the regular season against Providence, the first game featured at least three points each by the first, second and fourth lines. The fourth line then pitched in both goals the second night.
- On Saturday, the third line of Jeremy Wilmer, Nick Zabaneh, and Peterson took center stage. Zabaneh had his first career hat trick, while Wilmer and Peterson notched three assists each.
"100%, we've got a lot of depth in that lineup," McCarthy said. "Anybody can play anywhere. Obviously, we have some high-end skill players, but even the guys on the third and fourth line are not necessarily 'bottom-six' guys. The third line put up nine points (Saturday night). We've got a special group in here. It's tough to match up against us on any given night. Obviously, you need depth scoring down the stretch."
"Yeah, the depth of our forward group is really good," Pandolfo said. "All four lines can score and that certainly helps us. We're not really concerned too much about matchups, so we trust all our lines to play against anyone. We trust all our lines in both the defensive zone and offensive zone. That helps us a lot, too."
Most lines also bring an interesting blend of qualities into a complementary mix. That third line is a prime example.
"I think we have the ability to be a grit line, but at the same time we have a ton of skill on that line," Peterson said. "Wilmer is probably one of the best playmakers on the team. I've got size and the ability to shake guys down low, and Zabby's the fastest man alive. So put those together, and we're due for a couple special nights here and there."
That combination worked to perfection three times, and the first goal of the night was an especially noteworthy example. Peterson simply blew by a Catamount defender on the right wing before crossing to Zabaneh for the easy tap-in.
"We've been harping—me and Zabby—on just using our speed as much as we can," Peterson said. 'So with that guy, I knew I had enough speed to beat him, and I knew Zabby's fast enough to get to the back door."
Consider also that BU's fourth line on Saturday night was Jamie Armstrong (four goals, six assists), Sam Stevens (seven goals, eight assists), and Devin Kaplan (nine goals, 11 assists). You would be challenged to find a higher-scoring fourth line in the nation right now.
"It's got to be tough for other teams; I can't imagine," Peterson said. "I think in the beginning of the season we relied on top-six scoring a lot. We relied on certain guys to put the puck in the back of the net. Now it's kind of spread out. We've all found our game, and we're all in stride. It just tough it seems to keep up with us."
And then there is all of the scoring from the blue line, starting with Hutson's team-best total of 44 points. With Hutson, it's not just the production. There is the sheer merriment of watching him play hockey. He changes direction with the puck like an elite basketball point guard, often leaving his foes flat-footed with his inventive, spontaneous style. He has an uncanny knack for maneuvering his way out of jams and into prime playmaking or shooting real estate.
"It's special," McCarthy said. "When we're on the bench, we start laughing at a bunch of the stuff he does."
"Not much you can say about it anymore," Peterson added. "It's just simply incredible, I don't know how he does it; we just need him to keep going."
The only downer on Saturday night was that Fensore left the game with a lower-body injury just 12 seconds into the action. Unluckily, the team had dressed an extra forward rather than an extra defenseman, so the rest of the night featured a five-man rotation.
"We said, keep it simple," McCarthy said. "Keep plays in front of us and win it for him. We wanted to make sure he gets another shot next week."
Meanwhile, Hutson amassed over 30 minutes of ice time by this writer's count, seeming no worse for wear as a result.
"Not surprised," Pandolfo said of Hutson. "Even when Dom's in the lineup, he plays anywhere between 25 and 28 minutes. So with Dom out, he's certainly going to play a little more. He was playing pretty much the whole power play, so that's going to bring his minutes up. He's in tremendous shape; he can handle it."
Given that two of the Hockey East quarterfinal games did not finish until hours after the BU-Vermont game, the Terriers had no idea who they were playing when we discussed that after their win. No one was getting too excited about that, either.
"I think Pando has been harping on not worrying about other teams and just worrying about ourselves," Peterson said.
"I just think we build off of this game," Pandolfo said. "We've kind of tried to have the mindset all year where we're just worried about the next game. That's what we'll do now."
If you're a Boston University fan, you may be faithfully tracking the PairWise Ranking and ruminating about bracketology prognostications. You might be imagining a Hockey East Championship banner and mulling whether your future travel plans will lead you to Manchester, Bridgeport, Allentown, or Fargo for the NCAA Regionals. Maybe you have booked your trip to Tampa for the Frozen Four.
This is all understandable. We're just one game into the postseason, and BU has already won more games since the 2014-15 season. The Terriers should be a relatively high seed in the national tournament. It's an exciting time to be a Boston University hockey fan.
Just don't expect the coaches and players to focus on getting excited about anything beyond their next opponent.
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