by Scott Weighart, GoTerriers.com

BOSTON – On opening night of the 2025-2026 Boston University men's ice hockey season, you could understand if Terrier fans were spending more time than usual focused on their programs and line sheets.

Exactly half of the 20 Terriers who saw action in the 4-2 win over LIU on Saturday night were playing their first game for BU. Two were North Dakota transfers - sophomore Sacha Boisvert and senior Owen McLaughlin - and eight were freshman seeing their first collegiate action.

And that didn't even represent every new Terrier, as the team has five other players who have yet to play in a regulation game—although two more got a chance to show what they could do in Sunday afternoon's exhibition contest against RPI.

All of that said, here are some extremely early observations about this year's team.

The good news is that despite losing a ton of firepower from the team that made it all the way to the national championship game last season, there is such a long list of intriguing recruits and proven transfers that the team was ranked No. 2 in both national preseason polls. And at key moments in Saturday's win, we could see why, as the team's top three returning players looked to be in midseason form for the most part.

Sophomore Cole Eiserman scored two goals Saturday, including a signature one-timer from the right-wing circle on a power play. Classmate Cole Hutson flashed his typical dazzling skating and stickhandling skills, most notably early in the third period, when he fetched a pass at the left point, skated toward the net, and fired a pinpoint shot that hit the net high on the glove side.

Sophomore goaltender Mikhail Yegorov stopped 36 of 38 shots, picking up right where he left off when he arrived last January and proved to be a critical factor in the team's Beanpot win as well as their third straight trip to the Frozen Four.

"Those guys were awesome for us tonight," assistant captain Jack Harvey said. "Eisy scored a couple of big goals, and Hutty had one. Eisy was a dog: He was leading the charge tonight all over the ice and I thought he was great for us."

Beyond that, there were also flashes of brilliance from the new kids in town:

Boisvert, who was the NCHC Rookie of the Year at North Dakota last year, centered the top line and immediately contributed a goal and two assists. The sophomore got a little banged up early in Sunday's exhibition game and didn't play after the first period, but that was purely for precautionary reasons. Freshman Ryder Ritchie played on the top line with Eiserman and Boisvert and added two assists, doing all of the heavy lifting on the final Terrier goal as he fought off a defender to get a shot on net before Eiserman poked home the rebound for a nicely greasy goal. Ritchie is a good buddy of former Terrier superstar Macklin Celebrini, who played a pivotal role in his decision to come to BU.

McLaughlin, the other North Dakota transfer, added another pair of assists. Perhaps more importantly, he comes into his season as a senior with 114 collegiate games under his belt. Terrier captain Gavin McCarrthy entered the year with the next most game experience (79 games).

Many other first-year players had some excellent moments. The penalty killing was perfect all night, and forwards Ben Merrill and Jonathan Morello very nearly converted a shorthanded opportunity. Almost all of the new skaters are over six feet tall, and 6-foot-5 defenseman Carter Amico did a good job of planting some good hits on people. Asked whether the arrival of many big bodies was by design or chance, head coach Jay Pandolfo said, "A bit of both," noting that while Morello and Merrill are big - 6'2 and 6'4 respectively - they can really skate.

The North Dakota veterans are already winning big fans in the locker room, too.

"Those guys have been huge for us," Harvey said. "They're great players and great people. Having so many new guys, it's nice having a couple guys come in with some experience and even a little bit of a different background. North Dakota is obviously a prestigious program, and seeing things from a different angle sometimes is nice. Just having their experience has been great."

Yet Saturday also showed that there is a lot of work to be done to become a cohesive unit. LIU played a scrappy and smart game, but giving up 38 shots to them—or any opponent, really—seemed unforgivable. In the press conference afterwards, Pandolfo groused about the team's even-strength play and poor puck management. Perhaps all of the player turnover led to all the turnovers.

Pandolfo also noted the team's immaturity on Saturday night. This is not terribly surprising, as BU is literally the youngest team in the country with an average age of 19.9 years compared to 21.1 years in each of the last two seasons. On Saturday, the lineup featured only one senior and four juniors; everyone else is a freshman or sophomore.

The upshot is a world of potential but a long list of details to iron out over the course of the first semester.

"Obviously, not the cleanest hockey, but at the end of the day, we got the job done," Terrier captain Gavin McGarthy said after Saturday's win. "Pretty much sold-out crowd out there, a lot of emotions going into it, especially for first games. There are some little details we have to clean up, but we're looking forward to getting after it again tomorrow."

Despite the mixed bag in terms of process and outcome on Saturday, McCarthy is encouraged at how the many new players are integrating into the team.

"We have a quite a few new guys, and I think a lot of them have stepped into bigger roles that we needed them to fill, and I think they've all done a great job at that so far. It's a long season, and the baby steps are gonna matter for them. It's just trying to keep moving forward, keep progressing, keep developing."

That mentality of "keep progressing, keep developing" seemed to pay off the next day, when the Terriers followed up Saturday night's win with a more satisfying 3-0 win over RPI. The first period seemed uncomfortably similar to the night before, but then BU really clamped down. After allowing nine shots in the first frame, BU held the Engineers to three shots for all of the second period and a good part of the third.

Pandolfo was pleased to have the opportunity to give backup netminder Max Lacroix early-season action, and the junior responded with a 21-save shutout. After scoring twice in the opener, Eiserman assisted on all three BU goals, unselfishly giving up an empty-netter at the end so Morello could bury one.

Last year's motto was "Pound the Stone." Inspired by a book of the same name by Joshua Medcalf, the emphasis was on relentlessness and continuing to battle through tough times.

This year's team has a slightly different emphasis, albeit not with a pithy slogan.

As Harvey said, "I don't remember it word for word yet, but it's just being committed to doing things the right way and doing it together. That's a big thing for our team—just making sure that we really have that buy-in and everyone's connected, and we're all doing it together as a team, not as individuals."

As far as team culture goes, McCarthy reflected a philosophy of not fixing what isn't broken.

"I think honestly we're just trying to bring along those new guys as quick as we can into our culture," McCarthy said. "The last couple years we've done a great job of building something really special at this program. The past captains along with Pando have brought that in. We're not changing much. We've done well the past couple years. Obviously, we haven't gotten the big trophy, but I think our culture is what it needs to be, and I think we just need to grab those new guys and bring them along."

Even though last year's team ended up one win away from a national championship, they were a work in progress in the early going with some high highs and low lows in the first semester. It's hard to say how long it will take this year's squad to gel and reach their full potential, but there is reason to believe that the new kids in town eventually will prove to be the talk of the town.