Men’s Hockey: Terriers close regular season with shootout win vs. UMass Lowell

By Patrick Donnelly

LOWELL, Mass. – The No. 10/11 Boston University Terriers (10-3-1) took down the UMass Lowell River Hawks (7-8-1) by a final score of 4-3 in a shootout to conclude the Hockey East regular season.

The game is officially marked as a tie, although BU technically took the extra point. Needing a win of any kind or to at least get the game into overtime, the Terriers locked up the second seed for the Hockey East playoffs, which begin next week.

BU head coach Albie O’Connell thought the group did enough to win a hard-fought game.

“I thought it was one of the toughest games we played all year,” O’Connell said. “We had to grind it out. We didn’t have the sharpness that we would like, but second place [in the league], solidifying that is huge.

“I’m happy for the players, who work hard to put ourselves in that spot.”

Freshman goaltender Drew Commesso got the start in net for BU, making 35 saves. For Lowell, junior Owen Savory stopped 25 of 28 shots.

The River Hawks got the scoring started with a power play goal just after the midway point of the first.

After BU took a “too many men on the ice” penalty, UML got to work with crisp puck movement. Junior forward Reid Stefanson dished to junior defenseman Chase Blackmun, who blasted a one-timer from the top of the circle past Commesso for his sixth of the season with 7:31 remaining in the opening frame.

Nearly five minutes later, the Terriers got on the board with a power play goal of their own.

Lowell junior forward Lucas Condotta went to the box for elbowing, then Stefanson illegally used his hands to win a faceoff, affording BU a 5-on-3 power play opportunity. While on the advantage, BU senior assistant captain and defenseman David Farrance sent a cross-zone feed to sophomore forward Jay O’Brien, who ripped a one-timer past Savory for his team-leading eighth goal of the season.

Just 1:27 later, the River Hawks took back the lead.

UMass Lowell worked the puck back to the point, where junior blueliner Jon McDonald fired a shot towards goal. Parked in front of the crease, senior captain and forward Charlie Levesque got a piece of McDonald’s shot, and the deflection beat Commesso to the five hole to make it 2-1 with 1:28 remaining in the first.

However, BU answered in the last second of the period.

McDonald took the puck around the Lowell goal and sent a careless pass up the middle of the ice. BU freshman forward Luke Tuch was right there to pick off the pass, and he turned and fired on Savory to tie the game at two apiece with 0.3 seconds remaining on the clock in the first period.

Just 5:01 into the second period, BU earned their first lead of the game.

Sophomore forward Wilmer Skoog skated the puck into the Lowell zone and attempted a shot, but it was blocked away by the River Hawks defender. Sophomore defenseman Dom Fensore, who had jumped up in the rush, was right there to collect the rebound and shoot, beating Savory to make it 3-2 in favor of the Terriers with his second of the year.

The Terriers had two opportunities to extend their lead on the man advantage before the end of the second, but could not convert.

The one-goal advantage held entering the final 20 minutes of regulation.

Early in the third, BU took their second “too many men on the ice” minor of the game. While on the penalty kill, Commesso was forced to make a pad save off a shot from the point, but could not control the rebound. UML freshman forward Ben Meehan was right there to shoot the loose puck, but Commesso made an incredible, sprawling desperation save to miraculously keep the puck out of the net.

O’Connell had high praise for Commesso in his postgame remarks.

“I thought Drew Commesso was tremendous,” he said.

However, just seconds later, UMass Lowell found an answer on the power play.

Off the rush, senior defenseman Seth Barton dished to McDonald in the slot, and he fired a one-timer on Comesso, who made the initial save. But Levesque was right there to clean up the loose change and bury the rebound, tying the game with 17:01 left in regulation with his second of the night.

O’Connell said the Terriers cannot afford to take penalties like that on a regular basis.

“We can’t take two ‘too many men on the ice’ penalties,” he said. “[We’re] going to have a little bit more level of alertness because those can cost us, and that can cost you a potential championship.”

Lowell had plenty of pressure, but could not convert, and neither could the Terriers as they squandered a power play opportunity of their own before the horn sounded at the end of the third.

In overtime, sophomore forward Robert Mastrosimone got an early shooting chance on the rush, but rang the crossbar. The River Hawks got an opportunity of their own after sophomore defenseman Case McCarthy coughed up the puck in the defensive zone, but Commesso smothered the opportunity.

In the closing seconds of the extra frame, sophomore forward Markus Boguslavsky came inches away from ending the game for BU, but nailed the post on a breakaway.

After 65 minutes of action was not enough, the Terriers and River Hawks had to settle things in a shootout.

In the first round of the shootout, Skoog scored first for BU before UML junior forward Sam Knoblauch missed the net.

Then, Farrance beat Savory to give BU a 2-0 lead in the shootout, but Levesque answered for Lowell.

In the third round, O’Brien could not get one by Savory before sophomore forward Andre Lee scored for the River Hawks to make it 2-2.

During the fourth and eventual final round, Mastrosimone made a pretty move to score on Savory, and Commesso came up with a big five hole stop on Stefanson to win the game for the Terriers.

O’Connell said the shootout was exciting, especially since it was the first that BU has officially been a part of.

“There were some terrific moves from both sides,” O’Connell said. “So you saw some skill on display for sure.”

The Terriers have battled through multiple COVID-19 pauses and injuries on top of all the other odd circumstances of this season. After earning the second seed in the conference, O’Connell said his players made the most of the opportunities they were given this season.

“I think we’ve proven that we’re one of the best teams in the league,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but I’m just proud of the way our leadership has performed and then the guys underneath. It hasn’t been easy. It hasn’t been perfect.

“We’ve had a lot of stops and starts, more so than almost everyone else. But the guys have stuck with it.”

The BU bench boss thought his group did not do a good enough job of establishing a forecheck and offensive pressure, but said the biggest area of focus for the next couple of days will be to rest and recover.

“We didn’t really look like we had terrific legs tonight,” O’Connell said. “It was good game and now we’re just happy to get a couple days off here, and reassess.”

The Terriers will host a Hockey East quarterfinal matchup next Sunday (March 7), and will either play UMass Lowell again, UNH, or Maine, depending on the results of this weeks’s play-in round.

Featured Image: Sophomore defenseman Dom Fensore (23) goes to make a pass in a game against Merrimack College at Walter Brown Arena on Feb. 26, 2021. Photo by Patrick Donnelly.

Share this: