Men’s Hockey: Cockerill, Terriers stifle No. 6 Massachusetts

By Patrick Donnelly

AMHERST, M.A. – The Boston University Terriers (2-1-0) upset the sixth-ranked University of Massachusetts Minutemen (9-4-1) by a 4-2 final on Sunday evening, thanks to three unanswered goals and two tallies from senior captain Logan Cockerill.

“Overall it was just a terrific team win,” BU head coach Albie O’Connell said. “A lot of gutsy things, guys were physical, guys were blocking shots, and guys were sacrificing themselves.”

In the win, the Terriers ended UMass’ seven-game win streak.

“Big props to guys for going out and executing, simplifying our game,” Cockerill said. “[UMass] is a good team, who plays hard over there, so you can’t give them too much and you’ve got to play hard.”

“As the game wore on, it seemed like we started working on them a little bit, they got a little tired and we capitalized our chances.”

Freshman goaltender Drew Commesso got the start for the Terriers, stopping 33 of 35 shots he faced, while senior netminder Matt Murray went for Greg Carvel’s Minutemen, making 13 saves on 17 shots.

First year forward Dylan Peterson got the scoring started for BU less than halfway through the opening period. Sophomore forward Jamie Armstrong found Peterson in front off a UMass turnover, and the St. Louis Blues third-rounder beat Murray high, glove side for his first collegiate goal.

“[The freshmen] have been really good,” O’Connell said. “We have high expectations for those guys, and we’re gonna play them. They’ve performed pretty well.”

Later in the period, UMass junior defenseman Ty Farmer notched his first of the year to even the game at one apiece. Commesso lost track of the puck behind the net as UMass freshman forward Josh Lopina found Farmer with a slick feed, and Farmer put it home.

With 44 seconds left in the first, Minutemen graduate forward Carson Gicewiz tallied his ninth of the season on the power play. UMass set up in the Terriers’ zone with quick puck movement before senior forward Oliver Chau found Gicewiz, who rifled a one-timer past Commesso from the high slot, putting UMass up 2-1 heading into the second period.

“The first period was a little sloppy,  and I think [UMass] came out with a lot of jump,” Cockerill said.

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The middle stanza opened with BU and UMass trading minor penalties, none of which turned up successful for either side.

Just past the midway point of the period with 8:01 remaining, Cockerill picked off a stray UMass feed and walked in on a breakaway, scoring to tie things up at two apiece. Cockerill went forehand, backhand and beat Murray to the five hole for his third of the season.

The Terriers immediately went on the man advantage after Cockerill’s tally as he drew a slashing penalty against Farmer.

“One of the turning points of the game is when Cockrill scored [his first] goal, during that breakaway and drew a penalty,” O’Connell said. “So that was a big moment and momentum shift for our team.”

BU could not convert on the power play, and Commesso was immediately forced to come up with a big save.

UMass junior captain Marc Del Gaizo slipped a cross-ice feed to Chau, who sent a one-timer towards Commesso, but the netminder was up to the task, keeping things tied 2-2.

“Commesso played really well,” O’Connell said. “[He was] very solid, very calm, very poised.”

“He kind of carried that over from the third period in the Providence game and into this game. He was very sharp tonight.”

Shortly after killing a penalty of their own, BU got another opportunity on the man advantage. While on the power play, senior assistant captain David Farrance let a wrist shot go from the point. The puck had eyes and beat Murray short side, putting BU up 3-2 with 6:36 left in the second.

With the goal, Farrance moved to two goals and four assists for six points in three games on the season.

The Terriers held on to the 3-2 advantage heading into the final 20 minutes of regulation.

Just over five minutes into the third with BU on the penalty kill, Cockerill struck again to give the Terriers a 4-2 lead. The captain forced a turnover and beat two UMass defenders in a footrace, shielding the puck on his backhand before letting go a quick forehand snapshot to beat a sliding Murray five hole.

For Cockerill, the goal marked his fourth of the season, all in his last two contests, and second of the game. It was also his third breakaway goal and second shorthanded breakaway goal in two games.

“I’m really happy for [Cockerill] because he’s been he, [Farrance], [Jake Witkowski] and [Ty Amonte] have been the glue that’s kind of held these guys together,” O’Connell said. “He’s using his speed now as a weapon to get away from people and and get them into foot races, and he’s got breakaway speed.

“I thought he led really well tonight.”

The Terriers were not in the clear quite yet as shortly after, freshman defenseman Thomas Jarman took a boarding penalty. Immediately after killing Jarman’s penalty, BU took a too many men on the ice minor, giving a potent UMass attack another opportunity.

BU managed to kill that penalty as well, and quickly resorted to staving off a final push from the Minutemen as Murray went to the bench for the extra attacker with just under three minutes remaining in regulation.

Commesso was forced to come up with a handful of big saves in the closing moments with the 4-2 score holding as the final buzzer sounded.

The the Terriers and Minutemen held each other to one goal on six power play opportunities apiece. O’Connell was pleased with what he saw from his team on the penalty kill.

“That’s one of the areas that we want to we wanted to make sure we improved on,” he said. “That was that was an area of focus through video and a little bit in practice.”

In total, the Terriers blocked a whopping 19 shots to UMass’ eight. O’Connell said it was a “selfless effort” from his team in the win. Cockerill agreed with O’Connell’s sentiments.

“I think that’s what we’ve been kind of harping on for the past four or five months, even though we haven’t been playing games,” he said. “Today in the third and those last two minutes, it looked like guys wanted to block shots.”

“It speaks to our character as a team and how much trust we have in each other.”

BU and UMass will reconvene tomorrow afternoon at Walter Brown Arena. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m.

Featured Image: Senior captain Logan Cockerill (9) skates the puck into the Providence College zone in a game at Walter Brown Arena on Jan. 8, 2021. Photo by Patrick Donnelly.

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