Men’s Hockey: No. 3 Terriers stomped on by No. 7 North Dakota

Featured image by Spirit Veron

By Ryan Owens

The No. 3 Boston University Terriers Men’s Ice Hockey (3-1-0, 1-0-0 HEA) were shut down by the No. 7 North Dakota Fighting Hawks (3-1-0, 0-0-0 NCHC) at Ralph Engelstad Arena on Friday night.

For BU, the loss is the first of their season and an unfortunate road debut marred by a slow start, poor performance by starting goaltender Mathieu Caron, and an inability to take advantage of UND’s penchant for penalties.

“It’s been a bit of a common theme for us these first three games, not being ready to play from the start,” Coach Jay Pandolfo said following the loss. “That can certainly be deflating.”

The game opened with a costly tripping penalty less than a minute in by senior Jack Hughes, giving the Fighting Hawks momentum to build upon early in the game. UND took advantage, as Jayden Perron weaved through the Terriers’ defense to find Jackson Kunz, who beat Caron backhand for an early 1-0 lead.

The Fighting Hawks continued to build on this momentum, with BU failing to maintain any of their scattered offensive zone time, creating frustration from the players on the ice and Pandolfo.

This frustration culminated in a costly interference penalty called on Gavin McCarthy, which gave Carter Wilkie the open ice to pass to Mac Swanson backdoor, allowing the freshman to redirect the puck past Caron’s pad to keep the onslaught going and up the deficit to 2-0.

Just over 30 seconds later, Jake Schmaltz carried the puck into the Terriers’ zone, dishing it to captain Louis Jamernik V, whose skate was in the right position to deflect the puck into the goal for a commanding 3-0 lead.

The ice continued to tilt in UND’s favor following the back-to-back scores, as the Fighting Hawks forced turnovers and had near-miss shots on the BU goal, controlling the vast majority of possession time and quality chances.

Abram Wiebe was rewarded for these efforts, one-timing a puck at the faceoff dot to increase the Terriers’ deficit to 4-0. This finally led Caron to be pulled for the backup goaltender, Max Lacroix.

“I just think he was under siege,” Pandolfo said when asked about his decision to pull Caron. “I wanted to get him out of there.”

Less than three minutes later, Schmaltz collected a loose puck in the slot and took a shot which, in part, thanks to the netfront presence of freshman Cade Littler, trickled five hole and past Lacroix to make the score 5-0 for UND.

Despite several penalties taken and quality chances, the first ended with BU down by nearly five insurmountable goals.

The second frame began with Quinn Hutson generating the best chance for the Terriers thus far, beating the goaltender but not the iron in the dying seconds of a power play. The Terriers continued to generate momentum early in the period to no avail, in large part thanks to the work of goaltender T.J. Semptimphelter.

As the period progressed, BU again became trapped in their zone, with UND generating pressure before alternate captain Devin Kaplan took matching minor penalties alongside the Fighting Hawks’ EJ Emery for roughing to reset the momentum on the ice.

The Terriers continued to generate power plays during this period but failed to find a goal despite numerous high-quality chances from Cole Eiserman and Matt Copponi.

UND nearly had another goal credited to them that was waived off thanks to the Terriers challenging it for offsides, calming down the rest of the period and ending the second frame without a change in score.

The final period began much like the first, as Kunz scored his second of the game on a one-timer from Caleb McDonald to increase the deficit to 6-0.

Quickly after, BU finally got on the board as Copponi entered the zone off the rush and found senior Tristan Amonte in front of the net, who was able to knock the puck past Semptimphelter and cut the lead to 6-1.

This goal allowed the Terriers to build momentum, leading to another BU powerplay that Quinn Hutson managed to capitalize on, shrinking the deficit to 6-2.

Lacroix continued to make difficult saves for the Terriers as the clock winded down but could not stop the snapshot from Ben Strinden off the rush, who increased the Fighting Hawks’ lead to 7-2.

The teams broke into violence with just over two minutes left in the game following a save, leading to four minor penalties and McCarthy being ejected from the match. BU remained on the penalty kill up to the final buzzer.

The Terriers’ loss has worsened their record at Ralph Engelstad Arena, where they played for the first time since 2012. The Fighting Hawks have dominated the matchup with a 7-1-1 record at home.

“We’ve gotta come back here and play tomorrow, it’s not gonna be any easier,” Pandolfo said. “We’ve gotta see what type of group we have and how they respond.”

BU will attempt to bounce back in the second game of the weekend series. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday at Ralph Engelstad Arena, with streaming available on NCHC.tv.