Men’s Hockey: Terriers gain first win of season in 4-1 victory over Northeastern

By: Brady Gardner and Brian Lombardo

In a rematch of Thursday’s 5-5 thriller, the BU men’s hockey team (1-4-1, 1-2-1 in Hockey East) skated to a 4-1 win over Northeastern (4-3-1, 1-1-1 in Hockey East).

With the first game of the home-and-home series resulting in a tie, there was certainly an extra incentive for each team to get the victory in Game 2. Add that to the history between the Boston rivals, and the bad blood between the two sides was boiling as the puck dropped at Agganis Arena on Saturday night.

In a back-and-forth first period, it was Dante Fabbro who lit the lamp first for the Terriers at 14:02, streaking into the Northeastern and beating Huskies goaltender Cayden Primeau low to his glove side. The mark was his second goal of the season. Both teams threatened with opportunities on the man advantage late in the opening frame, but the score remained 1-0 BU heading into the first intermission.

The end-to-end action continued in the middle period, but the score remained 1-0 after the second 20 minutes. After starting on the bench in Thursday night’s matchup, BU netminder Jake Oettinger came up big with some critical saves on the penalty kill, keeping the Huskies scoreless despite numerous point-blank chances.

The game opened up in the third period, with four goals shared between the two teams. Fabbro fired in his second goal of the game less than a minute into the final frame, a rocket one-timer from the blue line that provided BU with some insurance. Fabbro’s co-captain Bobo Carpenter would push the lead to three with 13 minutes to play. Carpenter’s goal was his team-leading fourth of the year.

“We went to the net better this weekend then we did in the last couple of contests.” said BU head coach Albie O’Connell. “Really good leadership tonight from the captains. They lead the charge with some of the goals.”

Following an impressive kill of a five-minute misconduct penalty called on the Terriers, Patrick Curry put away his third goal of the campaign, adding a fourth BU goal to the scoreboard at 17:18. Northeastern would break Oettinger’s shutout with less than two minutes to play, but Matt Filipe’s first goal of the season was only a consolation prize, with the result of the game already determined.

It was a much-needed first win of the season for the Terriers, who began their year with four losses for the first time since 1999. It was also the first win of O’Connell’s tenure as the team’s head coach, and certainly a victory with a bit of additional meaning for a man who was once skated as a Terrier in this historic rivalry.

“I thought the building was great tonight. The fans were really loud, it was one of the best crowds I’ve seen in a while,” said O’Connell. “It was exciting to have them and it gave the guys a lot of energy.”

Following a week of practices, the Terriers will look to make it two in a row as they travel to the University of New Hampshire to take on the Wildcats on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.