Men’s Hockey: Veteran leadership, special teams propel Terriers to sweep of UNH

By Owen Gund

DURHAM, N.H. — Good teams find a way to win, and that’s precisely what the Boston University Terriers (6-9-2, 5-5-2 HEA) did in a 2-1 overtime victory over the University of New Hampshire (7-9-1, 3-7-1 HEA) on Saturday night. 

Playing in front of a hostile UNH crowd at the Whittemore Center, the Terriers completed their first series sweep of the 2021-22 season and improved to sixth in the Hockey East standings.

Veteran forwards Matt Brown and Max Kaufman scored for BU, and sophomore goaltender Drew Commesso made 28 saves in the victory.

“Our leaders won us the game,” Terrier head coach Albie O’Connell said in his postgame press conference. “They led us last night, and they did it again, and we’re going to need them to continue to do that if we want to make sure we get some W’s.”

All season long, O’Connell has talked about “playing the right way,” but now the Terriers seem to have found a formula that leads to results: steady team defense and timely goals from their leaders.

Brown, a junior forward who has a history of scoring clutch goals, broke the 0-0 deadlock midway through the second period. The Terriers had a five-on-three power play, and junior defenseman Dom Fensore fed Brown down low, where the junior forward rifled a wrist shot past UNH goaltender Mike Robinson. Brown celebrated his goal with a wave to the Wildcat student section.

“Their goalie was kind of cheating a little bit, and Brownie shot one, and we were fortunate it went in,” O’Connell said.

Brown’s tally was BU’s third power play goal of the weekend, a big improvement for a team that went 0-for-5 with the man advantage against Cornell last weekend.

“I’m excited that our special teams produced this weekend, O’Connell said. “If you have good goaltending and good special teams, and at 5-on-5 if you break even, you give yourself a good chance.”

The Terriers goaltending and special teams were particularly sharp later in the game. BU killed off three penalties after Brown’s goal, and Commesso made 21 stops in the third period.

The Wildcats made a strong push late in the game, and with seven minutes to go, freshman forward Liam Devlin tied the game.

A UNH shot from the point was blocked by BU senior captain Logan Cockerill, but popped right to Devlin in the slot, who chipped one over Commesso’s right shoulder for his fourth goal of the season.

“In the third period, they had a lot more energy than we did,” O’Connell said. “We just really looked like we ran out of gas, but in the 3-on-3 overtime, we kind of came to life.”

Both teams found their second wind in the extra session and had some quality chances. The game appeared headed for a shootout, but in the final seconds of overtime, junior defenseman Case McCarthy made a gutsy pinch in the left-wing corner, stole the puck, and fed Kaufman, who was alone in the slot. The 25-year-old graduate student pulled the puck onto his backhand and roofed it over Robinson’s left shoulder. 

“Kaufman probably had his best weekend as a Terrier. He was a pretty dominant player tonight,” O’Connell said.

The Terriers have one more meaningful game before the holiday break, and it’s a big one. They’ll take on the Boston College Eagles on Friday night at Agganis Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.

Featured Image: BU junior defenseman Dom Fensore (23) skates with the puck during the first period of a 3-1 win against New Hampshire at Agganis Arena on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. Photo by Hannah Yoshinaga.

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