Men’s Ice Hockey: No. 5 BU Looks for Bounce Back Vs. No. 20 Merrimack

By Stevie Potter

Cover Photo Credit: Joe Eachus

No. 5 Boston University Men’s Hockey (20-8-0, 14-4-0 HE) is gearing up for a home-and-home weekend series against the No. 20 Merrimack College Warriors (16-12-1, 11-8-0 HE). The Terriers will enter this weekend coming off their first set of back-to-back losses so far this season.

“The most important thing is that we get back to playing our game with the right attitude, the right attitude, and enthusiasm,” BU Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said.  “I just thought that was missing the last two games.”

Coming into this weekend, the Warriors will play their first game in the past two weeks. They will also be attempting to snap a losing streak of their own, which is currently at three games.

Junior goaltender Drew Commesso is expected to get the start in goal, according to Pandolfo, after a shaky performance against Boston College in last week’s Beanpot consolation game.

“We can look at the last goal versus BC, and yeah does he [Commesso] want that one back? Of course he does,” Pandolfo said. “But overall I think he’s been really well as of late, and you have to trust your number one guy, and we do.”

Merrimack has been splitting time in the net this season between sophomore goaltender Hugo Ollas and junior goalie Zachary Borgiel. However, with time ticking down on regular season play, it’s more likely that Ollas will be Merrimack Head Coach Scott Borek’s first choice. Between the two netminders, the sophomore has the edge in games played this year with a total of 21.

Historically, BU has a commanding series lead over Merrimack and has won 92 of their 123 matchups. While the two teams have not yet met this season, last year BU and Merrimack split their series. The Terriers earned their win in an 8-6 game while at home at Agganis Arena. Multiple BU players saw firsts during the contest. Junior forward Dylan Peterson recorded his first collegiate hat trick, and junior forward Nick Zabaneh tallied his first goal for the Terriers. 

The first of the weekend home-and-home will take place Friday at 7 p.m. at Merrimack at J. Thom Lawler Rink. Then, the following day, the Terriers will return to Agganis Arena on City of Boston Day for the second game of the weekend. Puck drop for that match-up will take place at 6 p.m.