Men’s Hockey: Special teams power No. 3 Terriers to win and split weekend series with No. 7 UND

Featured image by Spirit Veron

By Lydia Murray

The No. 3 Boston University Men’s Ice Hockey Team (4-1-0, 1-0-0 HEA) rode an excellent special teams performance to a 4-3 win over the No. 7 University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks (3-2-0, 0-0-0 NCHC) on Saturday. This concluded their season series, with the teams splitting it 1-1. 

UND entered the game with the best power play in the nation, while BU sported the seventh best. Since neither has an equally strong penalty kill, it’s no surprise the Terriers converted on two of their five chances while the Fighting Hawks broke through on one of their three.

The series began on a low note for the Terriers Friday night, with a 7-2 blowout loss. It can be hard to bounce back in under 24 hours while playing in a tough road environment, but Coach Jay Pandolfo credited his leaders for holding the group accountable and helping remind each other of the team they want to be.

“Our leadership group’s very good, holding themselves accountable, holding the group accountable,” Pandolfo said. “I think we all understand, you have to play a certain way and have a certain effort, especially against really good hockey teams in a really tough environment. This is a fun place to play but they can get some momentum going pretty quickly and our guys hung in there right until the end. So it’s a great win for us, no question.”

The Terriers looked like a team with something to prove to start this one. They were in control and had a 4-1 shot advantage through the first five minutes.

Both teams got some good opportunities as the period wore on, but BU goaltender Mathieu Caron and Fighting Hawks netminder T.J. Semptimphelter were sharp. 

The Terriers got the game’s first power play at 16:02. Just over a minute later, the captains gave their team the lead. Junior forward Ryan Greene sniped one home from the blue line while sophomore forward Shane Lachance set up a vital screen out front to take away Semptimphelter’s eyes (with some help from a UND defender).

The goal sparked the Fighting Hawks, and they got some great looks through the rest of the frame. However, BU weathered the storm and returned to the locker room leading 1-0 while tied with UND in shots at eight.

The Fighting Hawks had a hot start to the second period and forced Caron to make a few big saves early. However, their pressure finally paid off just over 7:30 in, as defender Caleb MacDonald sniped one past Caron off the rush to tie the game.

Each team’s power play soon got an opportunity to give their team the lead, but the penalty kills did their job. At 5v5, the Fighting Hawks continued to control most of the play.

Defensive breakdowns were the story of the final two minutes. UND’s Jackson Kunz got the first breakaway, but Caron denied him. Less than a minute later, Matt Copponi corralled the puck after a failed 3-on-2 for the Fighting Hawks and sprung sophomore Terrier forward Jack Harvey on a breakaway. He deked out Semptimphelter to put one five-hole and retake the lead for BU with 44.1 seconds remaining in the second frame. So, the Terriers again got to take the lead back to the locker room despite now being outshot 23-17.

UND had another strong start in the final frame, but BU refused to break at 5v5. However, not much of the period was played that way, and giving the nation’s top power play any opportunities is playing with fire. So, when Brandon Svoboda headed off to kick off the Terriers’ second penalty kill of the night, UND made them pay. Cameron Berg lasered one from the circle short side over Caron’s shoulder to retie the game.

BU soon returned to the box despite sophomore defender Mick Frechette animatedly disagreeing with his holding call. This time, however, it was the Terriers who scored. Harvey and Devin Kaplan got a 2v1 shorthanded, and Kaplan battled through heavy backcheck pressure to cut to the middle and sneak it past Semptimphelter to give the Terriers their third lead. It was the first shorthanded goal the Fighting Hawks conceded this season, and the first BU scored.

“What an effort by him,” Pandolfo said. “Again, he’s one of our assistant captains…for him to step up there [after] we end up giving a power play goal, and then we take another penalty, the individual effort on that one was incredible by him, and he was excellent tonight.”

The Terriers got another power play after Andrew Strathmann kneed Kaplan at 14:26. They did a good job of creating chaos and getting shots off throughout, but they didn’t break through until the final 30 seconds. Sophomore defender Tom Willander took advantage of traffic in front of the net and used a UND player as a screen to sail one past Semptimphelter and give BU its first two-goal lead.

The Fighting Hawks pulled Semptimphelter at 17:15. Not quite a minute later, Jake Livanavage made a good pinball shot that deflected twice off BU skaters before getting past Caron to make it 4-3. 

Once they regained possession, UND pulled Semptimphelter again, but it wasn’t enough. The Terriers redeemed themselves after Friday’s brutal outing and snapped the Fighting Hawks’ home win streak at 11, with their last home loss coming back in January.

While Pandolfo says there are still a lot of things to work on so early in the season, he was pleased with their overall response and effort.

“Real happy with the response from our group,” Pandolfo said. “After the way we played last night…we somewhat got embarrassed you could say, and for our guys to respond the way they did today is a credit to them… just great overall effort, [I’m] really happy with our guys.”

BU will be back in action Friday, Nov. 1, when they take on the No. 13 University of Michigan Wolverines at Agganis Arena. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.