Men’s Hockey: Terriers return under new leadership with home opener against Bentley
By Sasha Abrams
With new leadership comes new direction, and that will certainly ring true for the Boston University men’s hockey team as the Terriers begin their 101st season under a new regime.
The No. 12 Terriers will return to Agganis Arena for their home opener against the Bentley University Falcons on Saturday, led by first-year Head Coach Jay Pandolfo.
“I’ve been impressed with our guys up to this point. All of them have come in prepared,” Pandolfo said. “Each and every day they’ve shown up and put the work in, and practice has been really competitive.”
The Terriers went 19-13-3 overall and 13-8-3 against Hockey East competition last season under former head coach Albie O’Connell, eventually falling 3-1 to the University of Connecticut in the conference quarterfinals.
In a preseason press conference on Thursday, Pandolfo, the Terriers’ associate head coach last season and former Boston Bruins assistant coach, made his intentions for the season clear.
“It’s about that team-first mentality that, you know, we’re in this together, that we’re going to play for each other,” Pandolfo said. “We’re going to do things the right way.”
Pandolfo will lead alongside associate head coach Joe Pereira, a member of the Terriers’ 2009 NCAA championship team, and assistant coach Kim Brandvold, the Bruins’ former skating and skills coach.
“It’s been awesome,” Pandolfo said. “I think we all have different personalities but we all work really well together.”
This season five Terriers will wear a letter for the first time — senior captain Domenik Fensore, who led the Terriers with 26 assists and 31 points last season, senior assistant captains Case McMarthy and Jay O’Brien, and junior assistant captains Drew Commesso and Luke Tuch.
The home opener also marks the first time the Terriers will take the ice without a few key contributors from last season, including captain Logan Cockerill, Max Kaufman and Joseph Campolieto. Alex Vlasic left to join the Chicago Blackhawks, and Robert Mastrosimone, Markus Boguslavsky, and Ashton Abel transferred to other universities.
Roster changes made room for six freshmen and graduate student Patrick Schena, who moves up from his position as practice goalie last season. According to Pandolfo on Thursday, freshman defenseman Lane Hutson will play with defenseman Case McCarthy to start.
“Our identity is we want to play a pressure game. I don’t think we’re a heavy team. I think we’re a fast team,” Pandolfo said. “We want to play with speed and skill.”
While the Terriers boasted a winning 9-5-2 record at home last year, Pandolfo has his eyes set on further improving that mark.
“We want to establish that we’re going to be a tough team to play against at Agganis Arena, so that’s one of our goals as well,” he said.
The last time the Terriers met Bentley was at Agganis Arena on Nov. 24, 2015, with BU defeating the Falcons 3-0. In the Atlantic Hockey preseason poll, Bentley is picked to finish eighth.
“It doesn’t matter who we play,” Pandolfo said. “We should be consistent and play the same way no matter who it is…the guys have bought into that and that’s our focus going into game one.”
Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on Comm. Ave.