Men’s Hockey: Terriers fall to tenth place Vermont in overtime

By Owen Gund

BOSTON — Despite carrying the play for most of the night and firing 43 shots on goal, the Boston University Terriers (10-10-2, 5-5-3 HEA) came up empty on their home ice in a 2-1 overtime defeat to the University of Vermont Catamounts (4-14-2, 3-7-2 HEA).

It was particularly crushing for a Terrier team that was riding a seven-game unbeaten streak to have that streak come to an end against a UVM team that had just two wins in Hockey East play.

“Last week we were happy we won in overtime. Tonight, obviously, it stings. Tough way to lose a hockey game,” BU head coach Albie O’Connell said after the game. “Offensively, we weren’t sharp tonight. You’ve got to tip your cap to their goalie. He played well, but we’ve got to bear down on some of the chances. A lot of them, we just hit him in the belly. We’ve got to be a little bit hungrier around the net”, O’Connell said

For BU, the game started off well with a first-period effort that O’Connell was pleased with.

“In the first period, we were really good,” O’Connell said. The majority of the play early on took place in Vermont’s end. Still, the Terriers could not light the lamp until junior forward Robert Mastrosimone got things started with a little under four minutes to go in the opening frame.

Behind the Catamounts’ net, junior forward Matt Brown stole the puck for BU and attempted to jam in a wraparound goal. UVM goaltender Gabriel Carriere (42 saves) was quick to beat Brown to the post, but the rebound ricocheted across the crease, where Mastrosimone tapped in his seventh goal of the season.

“It was a hard play on the back door, and we had a little traffic,” O’Connell said of the goal.

The Terriers shut down the Catamounts with a flawless defensive performance in the first period. BU killed off two back-to-back Vermont power plays with ease. The Catamounts registered only three shots on goal in the opening stanza.

Unfortunately for the home crowd, the Terriers failed to match their intensity in the second period, and the Catamounts knotted things up halfway through the middle stanza.

Freshman forward Luke Mountain peeled off the left-wing wall and just missed his classmate, Timofei Spitserov, on a cross-ice back-door feed. Spitserov retrieved the puck in the corner, cut to the top of the right-wing circle, and fired a high shot through traffic that Terrier sophomore netminder Drew Commesso (19 saves) was never able to see. The goal was Spitserov’s first career collegiate point.

Later in the second period, the Terriers had two chances to take the lead on the power-play but failed to convert either time.

The Terriers peppered Carriere with 16 shots in the third period, but could not solve the sophomore netminder.

Carriere’s biggest moment of the night came just over a minute into overtime, when he stoned Terrier junior forward Jay O’Brien on a partial break. O’Brien toe-dragged around UVM defenseman Andrew Lucas and appeared to have Carriere beat with a deke to his forehand, but the UVM netminder snatched O’Brien’s attempt with a highway robbery stop.

One minute later, the Catamounts secured their first victory over BU since 2016 when junior forward William Lemay banged home a fortunate UVM bounce off the rebound for his first career game-winning goal.

The Terriers and Catamounts will meet again on Saturday afternoon at Agganis Arena. Puck drop is at 4 p.m.

Featured Image by Patrick Donnelly

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