Men’s Hockey: No. 19 Terriers set for weekend clash with River Hawks

By Sasha Abrams

The No. 19 Boston University Terriers (3-3-0, 2-2-0 HE) face the UMass Lowell River Hawks (2-1-1, 0-0-0 HE) in a home-and-home series this weekend. 

The Terries split last weekend against Merrimack, after losing 3-2 on Friday night and coming back for the home win 8-6 on Saturday. Junior Wilmer Skoog leads the team in points (4g-3a-7p).

After the Warriors outshot BU 31-20 on Friday, the Terriers were quick to turn around their shooting game on Saturday night, posting eight goals against Merrimack. 

“I think the simplicity of shooting the puck at times gets lost with our guys… we had eight or nine odd man rushes on Friday night that we didn’t even get a shot off on,” BU head coach Albie O’Connell said in his weekly press conference. 

 BU looks to continue the momentum from Saturday night with UMass Lowell, which is playing in their first conference game of the season. 

O’Connell said one of their focuses this weekend is “being competitive but having discipline to, you know, stay out of the B.S. and not take penalties.”

Terriers went to the penalty box nine times in Saturday night’s game. 

For UMass Lowell, freshman Matt Crasa’s first collegiate goal in their season-opener led him to two more goals the following night, tying senior Lucas Condotta with five points this season. 

“They’ve got obviously some weapons offensively and they’ve got some size and strength and some heaviness that can pose some threats, especially at the net,” O’Connell said.

The River Hawks are 138-124 on faceoffs this season, catching O’Connell’s attention. 

“They’re very good at getting possession of the puck and putting pucks into areas to get it back, especially on the forecheck,” O’Connell said. 

BU and UMass Lowell met twice last season, with the most recent matchup ending in a 3-2 loss for the Terriers at home.

Lowell sophomore goaltender Henry Welsch stopped 27 shots in their matchup on Saturday, while BU’s sophomore goaltender Drew Commesso stopped 26 shots at Agganis.  

The Terriers host the River Hawks at Agganis Arena tonight at 7:30 p.m. The teams will continue the series Saturday at 6:05 p.m. at Tsognas Center. 

Featured Image by Carolyn Mooney