Men’s Hockey: O’Brien scores twice as BU rolls over PC, 4-1

By Carolyn Mooney

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Junior forward Jay O’Brien scored two goals in a 4-1 Boston University (16-10-3, 11-6-3 HE) victory over Providence College (18-12-2, 9-10-1 HE) Thursday night at Schneider Arena.

Freshman forward Brian Carrabes and junior forward Matt Brown also scored for the Terriers, while sophomore goaltender Vinny Duplessis made 24 saves to earn his third straight win. 

“[I’m] just really happy with the effort,” said BU head coach Albie O’Connell. “We’ve got great leadership. We’ve got good goaltending. Our power play was good tonight.” 

After a hard-hitting first period that resulted in no goals scored by either team, PC’s Patrick Moynihan opened the scoring on the power play at the halfway point of the second period. Sophomore forward Brett Berard assisted to Moynihan who was open in the backdoor. 

It was the only tally the Friars would score all night as the Terriers put up four unanswered goals.

O’Brien, who spent his freshman year at Providence, tied the game for the Terriers on the power play with less than 10 minutes to go in the second period. Shooting from the top of the right face-off circle, O’Brien managed to get the puck over the stick side of junior goaltender Jaxon Stauber  (24 saves) to even the game at one goal apiece.

“Jay is a competitor no matter where we play,” said O’Connell. “Obviously coming back here, he definitely gets up for certain games…I’m just really happy for him. He played well, I thought he responded well. He’s driven offense, but he’s driven play in how he’s played.”

Providence’s junior assistant captain Parker Ford received a five-minute major and game misconduct for hitting from behind at 17:24 into the second period, and the flood gates opened for BU.

10 seconds later, Brown shot top-shelf to put the Terriers ahead and extend his point streak to nine games.

51 seconds into the third period, O’Brien scored again while still on the major power play. He shot the puck five-hole, adding to BU’s lead to make it 3-1. 

“We’ve got guys in the right seats,” said O’Connell on the power play’s success. “We’ve got two of our best scorers in shooting positions…I think that [Ford’s penalty] was a major factor in the game, and obviously scoring on that five-minute major was the difference of the game.”

About eight minutes later, BU found the back of the net again as Carrabes broke into the offensive zone, skating past two PC defenders and backhanded a shot past Stauber extending the Terrier’s lead to three goals. 

The Friars failed to answer in return, solidifying a BU victory with the Terriers improving to 12-1-1 in their last 14 games. 

Their next matchup is Feb. 14 against Northeastern in the 69th Beanpot Championship. 

“It was a hard-fought game, was really physical,” said O’Connell on what the message is leading up to the big day. “We have to get guys physically ready. Mentally, I think that’ll take care of itself playing on Monday night especially [with] the way the Beanpot’s back.”

Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at TD Garden.

Featured Image by Patrick Donnelly

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