Men’s Hockey: BU ends regular season on high note in thrashing of Vermont

By Joe Eachus

One would think that playing three different goalies would mean BU was run out of their own building in their regular season finale against the University of Vermont.

Instead, a four-goal cushion late in the third period let coach Jay Pandolfo give senior Henry Graham and graduate student Nick Howard some well-deserved ice time on Senior Night at Agganis Arena.

“They’ve been great all year long. They do extra, they mean a lot to our team. Really happy to give those guys a chance to get in the lineup,” Pandolfo said.

It wasn’t all about the seniors though, as the underclassmen came to play. The Terriers (24-8-2, 18-4-2 HEA) quickly pulled away with a pair of tallies in the first period, both on the power play, and both Quinn Hutson from Macklin Celebrini and Lane Hutson. The Catamounts (13-18-3, 7-14-3 HEA) had no answer for BU’s top-ten power play (and a sneaky-dangerous short-handed unit) throughout the night, with not a single goal scored in 5-on-5 action during the 6-1 blowout on Saturday night.

In a surprise to no one, Celebrini stunned yet again with his feed to Quinn Hutson. The 17-year-old accidentally tripped up linemate Shane Lachance at the blue line, still received a pass from Lane Hutson one-handed, and slid it to Quinn.

The same combo dazzled again, as Lane found his brother in the exact same spot, and Quinn picked the corner of Vermont’s Axel Mangbo.

Vermont had their best opportunity of the night in the second period, as Jeremy Wilmer received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for contact to the head. Vermont’s Simon Jellus got the Catamounts on the board at 5:52 of the second, but short-handed menace Nick Zabaneh answered back less than a minute later.

“I thought [special teams] was really good. It’s always great when you score on your first two power-plays. Shorthanded was good… killing off most of the five-minute major was good for our group,” Pandolfo said.

“It’s a four-man unit out there, it’s not just me,” Zabaneh said. “There’s a little more room out there, I guess, so I can use my speed a bit more.”

The Terriers put the game to bed halfway through the third, with Celebrini scoring his 29th goal of the year, all but securing his second-place rank among all NCAA skaters. It also capped off another multi-point night for the wonderkid, who now leads all skaters in points per game with 1.74.

Jack Harvey joined the party 39 seconds later after Tom Willander battled on the forecheck, forcing a quick UVM turnover and sent Harvey in alone on Mangbo, who scored for the second straight game.

Following the extension of BU’s lead, Graham was subbed in for Caron, as the senior transfer from UMass Amherst tallied his second appearance of the year. Graham went a perfect 2-for-2 on saves.

With just six seconds remaining in regulation time, Quinn Hutson capped off his stellar night by completing his hat-trick. All three goals came on the power play from the exact same spot on the ice.

“[Quinn] continues to get better in all areas… we know he can finish. He could easily have over 20 [goals], hopefully he’s getting hot at the right time,” Pandolfo added.

Following Hutson’s goal, Howard entered the game for the final six seconds for the St. Anselm transfer’s first Division 1 action of his career.

BU wraps up their regular season with a statement win over a conference opponent and secures their best conference record since the 1997-98 season. They finish second in Hockey East behind top-ranked Boston College.

“We’re going into the playoffs playing pretty well… that’s a good recipe [for success],” Pandolfo noted.

As the two-seed in the Hockey East Tournament, BU will play the second-highest-remaining seed after the opening round next Wednesday. They’ll host their Hockey East quarterfinal game next Saturday at Agganis Arena, with puck drop scheduled for 4 p.m.

 

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