Men’s Hockey: Terriers Outmuscle Friars, 2-1

Back after a long Thanksgiving hiatus of 10 days, the No. 6 Boston University Terriers took to the ice in Providence, RI against the Providence College Friars. In a rematch of the 2015 National Championship, the Terriers would change history, and ended up with a gritty 2-1 win.

The Friars broke the scoring ice first, when on a Charlie McAvoy turnover, Kasper Bjorqvist snapped a one-timer past Oettinger to put PC up 1-0. The Terriers got themselves into tremendous penalty trouble in the first period, including a five-minute major to Nick Roberto for contact to the head of Jake Walman, ending Roberto’s night. Kieffer Bellows, John MacLeod and Brandon Hickey also went to the box for BU, MacLeod’s penalty making Roberto’s major a partial 5-on-3. An interference to Vinny Desharnais with 13 seconds left in the period game BU a man advantage going into the second frame.

Unfortunately, they wouldn’t convert, but they would get the equalizer on a rush when Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson backhanded a soft shot past Friars netminder Hayden Hawkey. Then, on sustained offensive pressure, Nikolas Olsson’s spinning forehand shot snuck past Hawkey’s glove side to give BU a 2-1 lead.

In the third, Terriers netminder Jake Oettinger faced 16 shots, including a quality semi-breakaway from Brian Pinho, but it wouldn’t be enough for the Friars, as BU would hold on for a 2-1 victory.

The two squads face off Saturday night at 7p.m. at Agganis Arena to finish off the weekend series.