Men’s Hockey: No. 9 Terriers Host No. 19 UMass for Home Opener 

By Justin Davids

After a decisive victory against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this past Saturday, No. 9 Boston University Men’s Hockey (2-2-0, 0-1-0 HE) will look to build more momentum against the No .19 University of Massachusetts Minutemen (4-1-0, 0-0-0 HE).

“Looking forward to our home opener, back to hockey east action against a good UMass team after a really good start.” said coach Jay Pandolfo.

The Terriers, playing in their first home Hockey East contest of the regular season, will look to end the Minutemen’s current three-game win streak, defeating No. 6 Michigan and sweeping No.19/20 Minnesota State last weekend. 

BU has won five straight games against the Minutemen and are 7-0-1 over the last 8 games against UMass. The Terriers have a .74 win percentage against UMass at Agganis Arena. 

In order to end the Minutemen’s hot streak, The Terriers will have to stop freshman forward Jack Musa and freshman goaltender Michael Hrabak. Musa leads UMass with eight points and Hrabak has posted a .933 save percentage through three games.

However, UMass will have to get past freshman defenseman Aiden Celebrini who is looking to continue his fantastic start to the regular season after posting one goal and three assists through four games. “Coming from a less than ideal production year last year, I really wanted to develop that game in the offseason,” said Celebrini.

BU will need to rely on the rest of their blueline as well to stop the Minutemen. As of right now, Sophomore defenseman Lane Hutson and senior defenseman Cade Webber are considered to be game-time decisions, however, coach Pandolfo expects them both to play in the weekend home-and-home.   

No. 9 Boston University Men’s Hockey begin their double-header weekend at Agganis on Friday night. BU will then travel to Amherst for their second game against the Minutemen at Mullins Memorial Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 8 pm and 7 pm respectively and will be available to stream on ESPN+.