Men’s Hockey Notebook: No. 10/11 Terriers to close regular season vs. UMass Lowell
By Patrick Donnelly
The No. 10/11 Boston University Terriers (10-3) will travel north for a Saturday matinee with the University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks (7-8).
The Terriers were originally supposed to host New Hampshire at Walter Brown Arena on Thursday before Saturday’s contest. However, Hockey East announced Wednesday that the game would not be played, leaving Saturday as the only regular season game left for BU. The two games would have marked the first time this season that BU had played two different opponents in the same weekend.
BU head coach Albie O’Connell said it was definitely disappointing to have the game called off.
“We were excited to play UNH,” O’Connell said. “They have a little bit of issues on their end, and we’ve been there before. It’s a crazy year, so we’ve just got to be flexible and be ready for the next challenge.
“We’re on to Lowell.”
The River Hawks enter the weekend on a two game winning streak after sweeping Vermont. UML has won three of their last four contests after splitting their series with Northeastern the weekend prior to the Vermont series.
BU and UMass Lowell have had 10 total meetings over the last three seasons, including a best-of-three Hockey East Quarterfinal series in 2018-19, which the Terriers won. In those eight games, the Terriers are 5-3-2. The two sides skated to a hard-fought 2-2 tie at the Tsongas Center in their last matchup on Jan. 25, 2020, over a year ago. BU is 9-10-2 on the road against UML all-time.
O’Connell said his team is up for the challenge against an opponent that has played them hard recently as the Terriers look to build momentum heading into the playoffs.
“We’re excited to play Lowell,” O’Connell said. “It’s definitely a hard opponent. So we’re excited about that, and we have to play well, because we want to try to build some momentum going into the week after.”
Offensively, Lowell has been led by sophomore forward Andre Lee, who has six goals and five assists for 11 points in 15 games. Junior forward Reid Stefanson (4g, 7a in 14 games) and sophomore forward Carl Berglund (3g, 8a in 11 games) also have 11 points on the season as well.
In goal, freshman netminder Henry Welsch has taken most of the workload for the River Hawks. In nine appearances this year, Welsch has a 4-4-0 record, an .895 save percentage as well as a 2.77 goals-against average. Junior Owen Savory has also seen a decent amount of action, making six appearances, and earning a 3-3-0 record, an .829 save percentage and a 3.53 GAA.
For BU, the Terriers have three skaters scoring at, or above, a point-per-game pace. Senior assistant captain and defenseman David Farrance returned from over a month-long absence last weekend against Merrimack and potted a goal on Friday, bringing his points total to 15 (5g, 10a) in eight games on the season.
Meanwhile, sophomore forward Jay O’Brien leads the team in goals with seven and is tied with Farrance for the scoring lead with 15 points in 13 games. Senior captain and forward Logan Cockerill has nine points in nine contests with five goals and four assists.
Between the pipes, freshman goaltender Drew Commesso also returned last weekend and stopped a combined 52 saves on 55 shots in the two games against Merrimack. On the season, Commesso has a 6-1-0 record, a .923 save percentage and a 2.75 GAA in eight appearances.
After giving up three goals on six shots against Merrimack, first-year Vinny Duplessis was pulled in favor of Commesso, but he still posted strong numbers during his counterpart’s absence. This year, Duplessis has a 4-1-0 record, a .939 save percentage, a 1.66 GAA and one shutout.
O’Connell said it is likely Commesso starts against the River Hawks after a strong performance in last Saturday’s victory.
“[There’s] a pretty good chance that he would go again with winning,” he said.
BU may be without graduate forward Max Kaufman this weekend after he did not finish Saturday’s contest due to injury. O’Connell said Kaufman (1-7-8 in 13 games) is “day-to-day.”
Puck drop between the Terriers and River Hawks is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Tsongas Center.
More notes from around the rink…
It was the year without Northeastern
This season marks the first time the Terriers and Huskies have not squared off since the 1945-46 season. The cross-town rivalry has had plenty of fire in recent years from hotly-contested regular season and playoff matchups to epic showdowns in the Beanpot.
To not have the two sides play each other this year is, in a word, odd.
O’Connell knows its weird to not play a team the Terriers usually face three to four times a year, but also notes how the pandemic has affected the season.
“To not play [Northeastern] is, it’s a crosstown rival, so it’s a it’s a little unfortunate, but it’s been an unfortunate year in a lot of different ways,” he said.
Faceoffs need improvement
Merrimack crushed BU in the faceofff circle last weekend with the Terriers winning just 17 of 54 draws on Saturday after winning 26 of 60 on Friday. The Terriers have lost the faceoff battle in ten of their 13 games this season.
After Saturday’s win, O’Connell said faceoffs are a “huge concern,” and it felt like BU is “taking a knee in the faceoff circle and letting them win it.”
“Our centerman have to be better and our edges have to be better,” O’Connell said on Saturday.
This week he said his team has made it a point to improve at the dot.
“We’ve worked on faceoffs individually and collectively as a group over this week just to try to to iron some stuff out now from a coverage standpoint,” he said. We’re not winning a ton of them, but there are a lot of pucks that are lying there.”
Farrance is full go
When Farrance returned to the lineup last weekend, O’Connell said the goal was to manage his time on ice and keep him around 15 or 18 minutes. Although time-on-ice statistics are not readily available in college, Farrance seemed to exceed that restriction, at least according to the eye test.
O’Connell acknowledged Farrance played more minutes than originally planned, but he was able to handle them for the most part in his return.
“He felt very good on Friday night from a legs standpoint,” O’Connell said. “Saturday night he faded as the game went on.”
O’Connell said this week Farrance feels a lot better this week after getting a couple games under his belt,” but he also said the biggest adjustment for the Hobey Baker candidate right now is a mental one.
“The biggest challenge for him is he’s so good offensively, sometimes he can save himself in the defensive zone to play offense,” O’Connell said. “So, we just need him to play good defense, play well in front of the net and his offense will take care of itself.
“It’s just getting back to that mentality of playing games, the physical part will take care of itself overtime.”
Credit to the players
BU has fought through multiple pauses due to COVID-19, injuries as well as the odd circumstances that came with a season amid a pandemic, between scheduling, protocols and more. Despite those challenges, the Terriers should finish as one of the top three teams in the Hockey East regular season standings. Ranked tenth and eleventh in the national polls, BU has a decent chance at making the national tournament, too.
O’Connell praised his players for making the best of a tough year.
“We’ve got to give credit to the players, the attitude, the leadership, and the captains,” he said. “We have had a lot of ups and downs. Everyone has this year. We’ve seemed to master having the ups and downs, compared to some others.
“Some of the downs we’ve had have kind of brought the group a little bit closer too, so guys care about each other and what’s going on. When we’re on our game we play pretty selfless, so it’s filtered onto the ice.”
Featured Image: Senior assistant captain and defenseman David Farrance skates back on defense in a game against Merrimack College at Walter Brown Arena on Feb. 26, 2021. Photo by Patrick Donnelly.