Men’s Hockey: No. 9 Terriers Remain Winless in Series Openers After 2-1 Loss to No. 18 UMass Lowell

By Miranda Lemus

No. 9 Boston University Men’s Hockey (3-3-0, 1-2-0 HE) saw a penalty-filled night as they fell to 0-3 in series-opening contests after falling 2-1 against No. 18 UMass Lowell (5-2-0, 2-0-0 HE).

The Terriers opened up the first period with an unsuccessful power play, then were forced to kill a penalty as senior defenseman Case McCarthy took his fifth minor penalty in the sixth game of the season. BU’s penalty kill was able to keep the game scoreless.

The Terriers were able to generate good offense in the first frame, as they collected a total of nine shots on goal, but junior goaltender Henry Welsch stopped every shot. Junior goaltender Vinny Duplessis stopped all four of the shots he faced from the River Hawks.

With 48 seconds remaining in the first, junior forward Dylan Peterson, senior forward Sam Stevens, and Lowell senior forward Brian Chambers all found themselves in the box after a series of penalties. The first period closed out before the River Hawks were able to gain control in the offensive zone.

“I thought we had a pretty good first period. We didn’t find a way to score a goal, so I think that hurt us,” BU Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said.

Starting the second period, the Terriers still had 44 seconds of 5-on-4 play left to kill. The Terriers finished the penalty kill without letting Lowell get a shot off.

At 4:57 of the middle frame, freshman forward Devin Kaplan was thrown out of the game for hitting from behind. Kaplan’s penalty gave the Terriers a full five minutes shorthanded.

“Against a team like Lowell who’s really structured, really disciplined… you gotta make sure you don’t make any costly mistakes and tonight a couple of mistakes really cost us,” Pandolfo said.

26 seconds into the River Hawks’ power play, junior defenseman Ben Meehan received a pass from senior forward Zach Keiser. Meehan walked the blue line, opening up new lanes for freshman forward Scout Truman to secure a wide-open shot for his first collegiate goal.

The River Hawks’ lead was short-lived, as the Terriers capitalized on a power play of their own after sophomore forward Stefan Owens was called for hooking less than five minutes later. Captain Domenick Fensore shot the puck with enough traffic in front of the net for senior forward Ethan Phillips to tip the puck past Welsch.

Back at even strength, graduate defenseman Jon McDonald and sophomore forward Matt Crasa combined to get Truman his goal thanks to a cross-crease pass.

Unlike the first and second periods, the third period was filled with even strength play. With the Terriers pushing for the tying goal, they got a power play when Lowell senior forward Blake Wells was called for holding. Before the Terriers were able to complete their power play, freshman forward Jeremy Wilmer was put in the box to serve a too-many-men penalty, ending the Terriers’ power play early.

After a successful penalty kill, Duplessis was called to the bench with 1:58 remaining to add an extra attacker for the Terriers. Despite outshooting the River Hawks 33-21, Welsch held off the Terriers in the final seconds and kept the score at 2-1 in favor of Lowell.

In preparation for another game against Lowell, BU hopes to capitalize on their power play over anything.

“We know they’re coming, you know we watch what they do, and I just don’t think we were hard enough on pucks,” Pandolfo said. “You have to win pucks when you’re on the power play. It’s five against four.”

BU will look to get their revenge on Lowell on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Agganis Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm.