Resilient Terriers Ready to Roll in Frozen Four
April 7, 2025 | Men's Ice Hockey
by Scott Weighart, GoTerriers.com
BOSTON – This year's Boston University men's ice hockey team has had to bounce back from inconsistent efforts more often than anyone would like.
While the Terriers have had a great many big wins and highlight-reel moments, they also were dogged by off nights and painfully slow starts. In several games, they had to survive a brutal first period before getting untracked.
All of that said, it's starting to feel like that bug has turned into a feature.
Having to battle back from adversity again and again has forged a Terrier team that does not give in when they have a rough period or if they surrender a big goal. When you're playing high-stakes games in the NCAA Tournament, that quality is crucial.
Consider what we saw in the Toledo Regional two weekends ago:
- Ohio State outshot BU by a stunning 15-2 margin in the first period of the opening game.
- The Terriers fell behind 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 before scoring a staggering six goals to win that game in a runaway.
- In the regional final against Cornell, BU had to come from behind yet again and had to survive a late game-tying goal in the third period before winning it overtime.
"It was definitely a roller coaster of emotions, for sure," junior Devin Kaplan said after Saturday's practice. "I think it was just managing the setbacks in the Ohio State game, getting back to our game, getting our feet going, figuring out our game plan, what we needed to do best. In between periods, it was coming back in the locker room, regrouping and then going back right back after it. It shows the resiliency of our group, and it's definitely something to learn from going forward, so it's good."
Senior Matt Copponi scored perhaps the biggest goal to turn the tide against Ohio State. Just 30 seconds after junior Quinn Hutson tied the game 2-2 with less than three minutes left in the second period, the Buckeyes regained the lead. It was a potentially deflating goal, until Copponi equalized it yet again just 12 seconds later with help from a pair of Jacks, linemates Jack Harvey and Jack Hughes.
"Just playing with good players like Harvey and Hughes, they know where you are, and you know where to find them on the ice," Copponi said. "I've been playing with Hughes for most of my life, so I know where he's going to be and where he wants to go with the puck."
Hughes went after a loose puck behind the goal line, and Copponi headed toward the net.
"The puck goes down below the goal line, and you hope that your guys win the battle," Copponi said. "If they win the battle, you know where to go, and they'll find you. It's pretty nice that that puck was able to find me."
Like Kaplan, Copponi cited the moment as reflective of the team's resiliency.
"We talked a lot about responding as a group this year," Copponi said. "That has been a big thing for our team—being able to respond whether it's a bad practice or a bad gym session, whatever it is, just being able to respond better the next time."
In the nail-biter against Cornell, Copponi was once again the guy who got the goal to tie things up - and once again, the team never trailed again.
You certainly couldn't fault the Big Red defense on the play. Freshman phenom Cole Hutson carried the puck all the way up the ice and into a scrum that included four Cornell defenders as well as Copponi. Somehow Hutson nudged the puck through the crowd and Copponi was able to bury it.
"With Cole, when the puck's on his stick, good things happen," Copponi said. "When you see a player with the puck on his stick going to the neutral zone, you want to be able to support them and give them an option for whatever he wants to do. I tried to give him an option, and the puck ended up finding me. Luckily, I got a bounce, and the puck ended up in the back of the net."
Hockey East had six teams make the national tournament, tying an all-time high. Going into the regional championships, there was a possibility of an all-Hockey East Frozen Four. Instead, the Terriers were the only conference team to move on to St. Louis. Yet Kaplan sees it as the nature of postseason play.
"You never really know what's going to happen in these one-game situations," Kaplan said. "In the playoffs, any team can win at any time, it's just managing mistakes and capitalizing on the other side. So, we weren't too surprised."
The team's next test of resilience will come against Penn State, playing in its first Frozen Four. There are some parallels between the two teams: The Nittany Lions had a shaky fall before playing much better in the second semester. They also have some real offensive firepower. Copponi and his teammates had the opportunity to check them out in their win over UConn two weekends ago.
"They're a really skilled team, and they've got a lot of good players that can put the puck in the back of the net," Copponi said. "We watched some film on them, and they're a really good team, a really good program. They play the right way, and they do things the right way, and so we're going have to really have our 'A' game if we're going to want to be able to get the job done."
"They're a run-and-gun team; they play man to man," Kaplan said. "They have guys who can score and love to go in transition, so we're just setting up for that."
Now Kaplan gets to enjoy the rare privilege of playing in the Frozen Four three years in a row. He was quick to credit head coach Jay Pandolfo, who made it the Frozen Four all four years as a BU player now has led the team there in each of his three years as head coach.
"It's awesome. Obviously, we're really lucky to have Pando, an awesome coach to get us there every year, but I think it shows how the leaders have done a good job just maintaining the group's poise and confidence throughout the end of the year."
How would Kaplan compare the different experiences on the big stage?
"I think Tampa was a little weird, just playing hockey in April and Tampa being warm outside and then going into the rink to play hockey. Then St. Paul last year was just the opposite side of that, where it's just all hockey in Minnesota, so it was a great environment. Now, we're looking forward to going to St. Louis this year, so it should be fun."
Meanwhile, Copponi is one of the few Terriers who will be playing in their first Frozen Four, as he transferred to the team after playing for three years for conference opponent Merrimack. The Warriors managed to make it to the NCAA tournament in 2023, but this has given Copponi an opportunity to go further.
"I'm really excited to play for the whole BU program," Copponi said. "Everyone in the program is going to be watching. BU really stood out for me because I knew we'd have a chance to win something big, and so now the opportunity's there. We've had some guys that have gone through it, and so just leaning on them and asking them little things, but it's just being ready for whatever gets thrown at you. You want to make the most of your opportunity in the moment and be ready to roll."
The resilient Terriers will be ready to roll in St. Louis on Thursday night, where they hope that the "Gateway to the West" will also be the gateway to a sixth national championship.
