Men’s Hockey: Terriers close series vs. BC with 3-1 win

By Carolyn Mooney

The No. 15 Boston University Terriers (6-2-0) defeated the top-ranked Boston College Eagles (11-3-1) by a final score of 3-1 at Walter Brown Arena on Saturday night to close out a home-and-home series.

BU’s head coach, Albie O’Connell was very happy with his team’s overall effort to close out the weekend with a win.

‘They played their heart out all weekend,” said O’Connell. “We got what we wanted, and our guys were determined to put a good game together.”

Freshman forward Luke Tuch led the way in scoring for the Terriers with two goals, while freshman goaltender Vinny Duplessis made 40 saves for the win in his first career start.

O’Connell was impressed with the freshman’s performance against the Eagles.

“Not the easiest thing to come in and play against one of the top teams in the country,” said O’Connell. “But, he stood tall and was very poised. He played really well.”

The Terriers were once again without key players. Senior captain Logan Cockerill, freshman goaltender Drew Commesso, senior assistant captain David Farrance, sophomore forward Ethan Phillips, junior forward Jake Wise, and senior forward Jake Witkowski were all out.

Yet, BU was able to prevail, as O’Connell praised the depth that his team has, which allowed the Terriers to keep up with BC.

“We’ve got a lot of team players,” he said. “We don’t necessarily have guys that can take charge, but no one really plays that role . . . Our freshmen are big and heavy, and competitive and fast.”

BC got the scoring started once again 11:41 into the opening period. Eamon Powell, a freshman defender, was able to sneak the puck through traffic and under Duplessis. The play needed further review, but was evidently called a good goal.

While the call on the ice stood, Duplessis said he felt as if the puck had stayed under him.

“I was hoping it wasn’t in the net, but I did all I could to hide it,” he said. “It didn’t end up going our way, but we bounced back pretty well.”

Less than two minutes after BC had opened the scoring, BU sophomore defenseman Alex Vlasic tied the game up for the Terriers while on the power play.

Eagle freshman forward Harrison Roy was called for holding 12 minutes into the first period, giving BU their second power play of the game.

Vlasic kept the puck in the attacking zone after a failed clearing attempt by BC, then skated to the hash marks of the face-off circle. He wristed the shot over the stick side of sophomore goaltender Spencer Knight to tie the game at one goal apiece.

After that, it was all Tuch. The freshman scored in both the second and third periods of the game to solidify the win for the Terriers.

Just over halfway into the second period, sophomore forward Wilmer Skoog found himself on a 2-on-1 with Tuch. Skoog saucer-passed the puck over the Eagle defender’s stick to Tuch who was open in the slot.

Tuch one-timed the shot into the back of BC’s net to put the Terriers ahead.

Twenty-three seconds into the third period, Skoog and Tuch would connect once again to give BU an insurance goal.

Skoog picked up a turnover by the Eagles in the neutral zone and carried the puck to the attacking zone face-off dot. He back-handed a pass to a crashing Tuch, who redirected the pass into the net to give the Terriers a two-goal cushion.

After a week off due to COVID cases rising on BU’s campus, the Terriers were able to finally get more games under their belt.  The break had come when the Terriers were on a hot streak, having won five straight games prior to this series against the Eagles.

But O’Connell believes that his team has finally found the game that they want to play.

“We’re starting to get better and better each week when we get an opportunity to play.,” said O’Connell. “I think we are starting to figure out what our game is.”

Featured Image: The Terriers celebrate Alex Vlasic’s goal in a win against Boston College at Walter Brown Arena on Feb. 6, 2021. Photo by Carolyn Mooney.

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