Men’s Hockey: Lackluster effort costs No. 8 Terriers against Merrimack

By Patrick Donnelly

The eighth-ranked Boston University Terriers (9-3) fell to the Merrimack College Warriors (5-10-2) by a final score of 5-2 at Walter Brown Arena on Friday evening.

BU head coach Albie O’Connell commended Merrimack’s effort in the lopsided affair.

“You’ve got to tip your cap, like I said they played really well,” O’Connell said. “They were hard on their net, and we had a lot of chances that we didn’t capitalize on.

“I thought Merrimack beat us. It’s not that we beat ourselves. Merrimack beat us.”

Freshman goaltender Vinny Duplessis got the start in goal for BU, while sophomore Jere Huhtamaa went in net for the Warriors.

Nearly all of the game’s scoring happened in the first period.

Shortly after junior assistant captain David Farrance took a slashing penalty, Merrimack got on the board with 9:51 remaining in the opening frame.

A botched clearing attempt and blown coverage by the Terriers gave Merrimack sophomore forward Regan Kimens a golden opportunity in the slot, and he made BU pay, sending a high-octane wrist shot over Duplessis’ shoulder, off the post and in.

O’Connell looked at Farrance’s penalty as a turning point in the game.

“We took a really dumb penalty, a really selfish penalty,” he said. “It kind of turned the tide a little bit.”

“Our bench was not the same after that penalty.”

Just 47 seconds later, Merrimack doubled its lead.

Three BU defenders keyed in on one Merrimack attacker in the neutral zone, giving sophomore forward Ryan Nolan and sophomore defenseman Declan Carlile a 2-on-1 chance. Nolan dished to Carlile, who had to be helped off the ice due to injury moments before, and he blasted a one-timer past Duplessis.

1:24 after Carlile’s second of the season, Merrimack made it 3-0.

Senior assistant captain and defenseman Patrick Holway took the puck at the point and skated in, catching BU flat-footed. He stutter-stepped and beat Duplessis high.

Holway’s goal marked the end of the night for Duplessis, who made six saves on nine shots, as freshman Drew Commesso came on in relief. Following the goal, O’Connell called timeout, and ripped into his group.

Coming out of the timeout, BU got on the board, just 27 seconds after Holway’s goal.

Sophomore forward Jay O’Brien won the faceoff back to Farrance, who danced around a Merrimack forward before putting a wrist shot bar-down on Huhtamma to make it 3-1. The goal marked Farrance’s fifth of the year (and 15th point) in just his seventh game as he returned from over a month-long absence.

Less than two minutes later, the Terriers cut the lead to one.

Freshman forward Nick Zabaneh sent the puck back to sophomore blueliner Alex Vlasic, who let a wrister go from the point. Junior forward Matt Quercia was parked in front of the net and got a stick on Vlasic’s shot to beat Huhtamma for his second of the year.

With 3:55 left in the first, Merrimack got another insurance tally.

Warriors sophomore forward Liam Walsh won the faceoff back to junior forward Logan Drevitch, who sent the puck to senior blueliner Dominic Dockery. Dockery unleashed a shot and found Walsh in front of the net, who deflected it past Commesso to make it 4-2 in favor of Merrimack.

O’Connell thought the Terriers responded well after the timeout before Walsh’s goal.

“I think we started to get some momentum, and then [Merrimack] scored a goal off a faceoff play.” he said, going on to say that blown defensive assignments off the faceoff led to Walsh’s goal.

“We just had the wrong coverage. We had guys in the wrong spots. They knew it, you could see them kind of hesitate. They didn’t switch it, and then all of a sudden we had two guys going on on one of there guys.”

The 4-2 score held after the first 20 minutes. The final 40 saw each team get a number of chances and surges, but no results, save for Merrimack sophomore d-man Liam Dennison’s empty-netter late in regulation to ice the game.

Commesso made 27 saves in his return to action after over a month-long absence of his own, and Duplessis was attributed the loss on the scoresheet.

“I thought Commesso played terrific,” O’Connell said.

Huhtamaa stopped 26 of 28 shots.

O’Connell said the Terriers will have to play with pride tomorrow after a tough loss at home.

“We’re gonna have to raise our level of compete real,” he said “We’re gonna have to make maybe some adjustments to our own game, but on balance, they wanted a little bit more than we did.”

“We got a whole number of guys that need to play better tomorrow. I look forward to playing tomorrow. Tonight is going to be brutal, but look forward to tomorrow.”

Entering the loss, BU had not fallen in regulation since the season-opener against Providence with the only other loss coming in overtime against Boston College. O’Connell knows the Terriers have to take the defeat in stride.

“Not a time to hit the panic button, but a time to to amp it up and raise your competitive spirit,” he said.

Puck drop for Saturday’s rematch is set for 4 p.m. at Lawler Rink in North Andover, Mass.

Featured Image: Sophomore forward Wilmer Skoog (32) battles for the puck with Merrimack defenseman Patrick Holway (2) during a game at Walter Brown Arena on Feb. 26, 2021. Photo by Patrick Donnelly.

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