Photo by: Eliza Nuestro
Terriers to Face a First-Time Foe in RIT in NCAA Tournament
March 25, 2024 | Men's Ice Hockey
by Scott Weighart, GoTerriers.com
BOSTON – Over the years, Boston University's opponents almost run from A to Z.
From Air Force to Yale, Boston University has played 75 different programs since the puck dropped on its first college hockey game back on February 6, 1918.
This Thursday, that total will hit 76.
During the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday evening, BU learned that its first-round foe will be RIT, which defeated AIC on Saturday night to claim the Atlantic Hockey championship and an automatic bid to the national tournament.
The Tigers won national championships in Division II and III back in the 1980s before making the transition to Division 1 for the 2005-06 season. This marks the fourth time that RIT has qualified for the national tournament and the first time since 2016. Meanwhile, BU looks to return to the Frozen Four after getting there last year.
"When you've been there before, it certainly helps," head coach Jay Pandolfo said. "Guys know what to expect, so that's going to help us going into the tournament. This year is a little different, traveling a little further, but nothing wrong with a good road trip."
The Terriers are the No. 2 seed overall and are considered the clear favorite in Thursday's matchup. However, the proudest moment in RIT hockey history came in similar circumstances. In their first NCAA tournament appearance back in 2010, the Tigers stunned another No. 2 seed, Denver, and proceeded to rout New Hampshire for an improbable run to the Frozen Four before losing to Wisconsin.
One game after playing the team that BU has faced most in its history, Boston College, the Terriers will adjust to the opposite extreme.
"I haven't looked into them too much yet," Pandolfo said of RIT. "Obviously, we don't see them during the regular season, so we'll start watching some video on them and prepare like we do with most teams."
For those BU fans unfamiliar with RIT, here's a crash course on Thursday's opponent.
The Tigers are a much older team than the Terriers
RIT generally has 11 players in the lineup who are at least 23 years old, while BU only has two 23+ players who play regularly: graduate student Sam Stevens and junior Mathieu Caron. Here's an intriguing factoid: When BU's leading scorer Macklin Celebrini was born on June 13, 2006, three of the top six Tiger scorers were either seven years old or a week or two away from turning seven.
"They're the oldest team in college hockey," Stevens said. "They're going to play hard; we're going to respect them."
"It's been like that the whole year," Celebrini said. "Every team has their older guys and younger guys. Obviously, they're an older team; more experienced, mature. We're excited to play them and see what they bring."
"Throughout the course of the year, we've played some older teams," Pandolfo said. "This time of year with the experience our guys have gotten, I don't think we think about it too much."
One of those three wily Tiger veterans is a defenseman who has scored more goals than Lane Hutson
Gianfranco Cassaro is a UMass transfer and a fifth-year blue liner who has amassed an eye-popping total of 17 goals on top on 19 assists in 39 games this season. He leads the team in power-play goals with eight and has more goals than any defenseman in the nation.
RIT is highly ranked nationally on most team stats
While the Tigers can't remotely match the Terriers on strength of schedule, RIT is ranked sixth in the nation in team offense, averaging 3.92 goals per game. BU is just ahead in fifth. RIT is also fifth in team defense and fourth in penalty-killing percentage, keeping opposing power plays at bay over 86% of the time. Equally important, the Tigers also have an impressive six shorthanded goals. However, they have had to rely on that penalty kill more than most teams, as they are eighth in the nation in penalty minutes.
The two teams have relatively few foes in common this season
RIT split a weekend series with UNH, shut out Notre Dame, lost 5-2 to Maine and swept Bentley. While the Tigers went a combined 4-2 against those teams, BU went 7-2, losing one of three games with New Hampshire and splitting with Notre Dame. In addition to facing a new adversary, BU will be playing in the team's first-ever game in the state of South Dakota. That said, it won't be new territory for Stevens, who played juniors in Sioux Falls in the USHL.
"It's awesome," Stevens said. "Sioux Falls is a good spot; we're excited to go there. It'll be fun."
"I don't think it really matters to us," Celebrini said of heading west rather than playing closer to home. "Wherever we get put, we get put, and we just have to deal with it and bring our A game."
While the Terriers enjoyed an outstanding regular season, they are coming off a 6-2 loss to archrival Boston College in Saturday night's Hockey East championship game. After having a great special teams night in Friday's 4-1 win over Maine in the conference semifinal - scoring two power-play goals in just three opportunities - the Terriers looked better on even-strength on Saturday but allowed four power-play goals.
"You have to have a short memory this time of year," Pandolfo said. "There's still a lot of hockey to play, and we want to get it done. More for us now, it's putting it behind us. I think we understand as a group how to play and what it looks like to have success, and we've got to get back to that mindset."
BU had beaten BC in the Beanpot semifinal, only to lose 4-3 to Northeastern in overtime in the Beanpot championship. The Terriers bounced back to end the Huskies' season in the Hockey East quarterfinals, and they know similar redemption is possible on the national stage.
"You've got to use last night as motivation," Stevens said. "We've whiffed at a couple of our tries at trophies this year. We feel lucky that we had a good enough regular season to classify for this, and hopefully we can take home the big one."
The Terriers' road to a national championship begins with an unfamiliar foe in a part of the country where the team has never played. If all goes well, they will have a chance to end up where they have been 23 times before: the Frozen Four.
BOSTON – Over the years, Boston University's opponents almost run from A to Z.
From Air Force to Yale, Boston University has played 75 different programs since the puck dropped on its first college hockey game back on February 6, 1918.
This Thursday, that total will hit 76.
During the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday evening, BU learned that its first-round foe will be RIT, which defeated AIC on Saturday night to claim the Atlantic Hockey championship and an automatic bid to the national tournament.
The Tigers won national championships in Division II and III back in the 1980s before making the transition to Division 1 for the 2005-06 season. This marks the fourth time that RIT has qualified for the national tournament and the first time since 2016. Meanwhile, BU looks to return to the Frozen Four after getting there last year.
"When you've been there before, it certainly helps," head coach Jay Pandolfo said. "Guys know what to expect, so that's going to help us going into the tournament. This year is a little different, traveling a little further, but nothing wrong with a good road trip."
The Terriers are the No. 2 seed overall and are considered the clear favorite in Thursday's matchup. However, the proudest moment in RIT hockey history came in similar circumstances. In their first NCAA tournament appearance back in 2010, the Tigers stunned another No. 2 seed, Denver, and proceeded to rout New Hampshire for an improbable run to the Frozen Four before losing to Wisconsin.
One game after playing the team that BU has faced most in its history, Boston College, the Terriers will adjust to the opposite extreme.
"I haven't looked into them too much yet," Pandolfo said of RIT. "Obviously, we don't see them during the regular season, so we'll start watching some video on them and prepare like we do with most teams."
For those BU fans unfamiliar with RIT, here's a crash course on Thursday's opponent.
The Tigers are a much older team than the Terriers
RIT generally has 11 players in the lineup who are at least 23 years old, while BU only has two 23+ players who play regularly: graduate student Sam Stevens and junior Mathieu Caron. Here's an intriguing factoid: When BU's leading scorer Macklin Celebrini was born on June 13, 2006, three of the top six Tiger scorers were either seven years old or a week or two away from turning seven.
"They're the oldest team in college hockey," Stevens said. "They're going to play hard; we're going to respect them."
"It's been like that the whole year," Celebrini said. "Every team has their older guys and younger guys. Obviously, they're an older team; more experienced, mature. We're excited to play them and see what they bring."
"Throughout the course of the year, we've played some older teams," Pandolfo said. "This time of year with the experience our guys have gotten, I don't think we think about it too much."
One of those three wily Tiger veterans is a defenseman who has scored more goals than Lane Hutson
Gianfranco Cassaro is a UMass transfer and a fifth-year blue liner who has amassed an eye-popping total of 17 goals on top on 19 assists in 39 games this season. He leads the team in power-play goals with eight and has more goals than any defenseman in the nation.
RIT is highly ranked nationally on most team stats
While the Tigers can't remotely match the Terriers on strength of schedule, RIT is ranked sixth in the nation in team offense, averaging 3.92 goals per game. BU is just ahead in fifth. RIT is also fifth in team defense and fourth in penalty-killing percentage, keeping opposing power plays at bay over 86% of the time. Equally important, the Tigers also have an impressive six shorthanded goals. However, they have had to rely on that penalty kill more than most teams, as they are eighth in the nation in penalty minutes.
The two teams have relatively few foes in common this season
RIT split a weekend series with UNH, shut out Notre Dame, lost 5-2 to Maine and swept Bentley. While the Tigers went a combined 4-2 against those teams, BU went 7-2, losing one of three games with New Hampshire and splitting with Notre Dame. In addition to facing a new adversary, BU will be playing in the team's first-ever game in the state of South Dakota. That said, it won't be new territory for Stevens, who played juniors in Sioux Falls in the USHL.
"It's awesome," Stevens said. "Sioux Falls is a good spot; we're excited to go there. It'll be fun."
"I don't think it really matters to us," Celebrini said of heading west rather than playing closer to home. "Wherever we get put, we get put, and we just have to deal with it and bring our A game."
While the Terriers enjoyed an outstanding regular season, they are coming off a 6-2 loss to archrival Boston College in Saturday night's Hockey East championship game. After having a great special teams night in Friday's 4-1 win over Maine in the conference semifinal - scoring two power-play goals in just three opportunities - the Terriers looked better on even-strength on Saturday but allowed four power-play goals.
"You have to have a short memory this time of year," Pandolfo said. "There's still a lot of hockey to play, and we want to get it done. More for us now, it's putting it behind us. I think we understand as a group how to play and what it looks like to have success, and we've got to get back to that mindset."
BU had beaten BC in the Beanpot semifinal, only to lose 4-3 to Northeastern in overtime in the Beanpot championship. The Terriers bounced back to end the Huskies' season in the Hockey East quarterfinals, and they know similar redemption is possible on the national stage.
"You've got to use last night as motivation," Stevens said. "We've whiffed at a couple of our tries at trophies this year. We feel lucky that we had a good enough regular season to classify for this, and hopefully we can take home the big one."
The Terriers' road to a national championship begins with an unfamiliar foe in a part of the country where the team has never played. If all goes well, they will have a chance to end up where they have been 23 times before: the Frozen Four.
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