Men’s Hockey: No. 7/6 BU Takes on No. 8 UConn in Top-10 Matchup

By Itai Merlin

7/6 Boston University’s Men’s Hockey (10-5-0, 7-4-0 HE) will travel to Hartford, Connecticut, where they will face off against the No. 8 University of Connecticut Huskies (11-4-3, 8-3-2 HE) on Sunday afternoon. Despite the higher ranking, BU faces one of their biggest tests of the year, as the Huskies remain the best team in Hockey East while the Terriers are currently in fifth.

Entering the weekend on a four-game win streak after a sweep of New Hampshire on Dec. 2 and 3, the Terriers lost to archrival Boston College by a final score of 9-6. It was a challenging defensive effort for the whole team as they seemingly conceded way too many high-danger offensive chances to the Eagles. 

“That’s certainly not the way we drew it up,” BU Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said postgame. “For whatever reason, it was our worst defensive game of the year, and you can’t win playing that type of hockey.”

Sunday’s starting goalie is unknown, as junior goaltender Drew Commesso came into the BC game after missing time with an illness and gave up seven goals through two periods before getting pulled for junior goaltender Vinny Duplessis.

Senior Matt Brown added to his team-leading 22 points after putting up four on Friday against the Eagles. Seniors Domenick Fensore and Jay O’Brien extended their respective point streaks to five games.

Expect the Terriers to play a much more defensive-orientated game Sunday after Pandolfo said that the team will go over defensive structure after Friday’s loss. 

“I’ve never seen that many pucks go through from the slot area,” Pandolfo said.

The Terriers will look to change the narrative when facing UConn’s leading scorer, junior Ryan Tverberg (10-7–17), and the Huskies on Sunday.

Puck drop is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum. After Sunday’s matchup in Hartford, the Terriers will enjoy a lengthened break of over two-and-a-half weeks before returning to the ice on Dec. 30 against Harvard, giving them 19 days to recover before their next matchup.