Men’s Hockey: Terriers bounce back in second half of back-to-back against UMass Lowell

Featured image by Joe Eachus

By Lydia Murray

No. 9 Boston University Men’s Ice Hockey (5-4-0, 2-1-0 HEA) snapped an ugly three-game skid Saturday night, taking down the No. 17 University of Massachusetts-Lowell Riverhawks (6-2-0, 2-1-0 HEA), 5-2, to split the weekend series.

“We bought into playing a certain way tonight,” coach Jay Pandolfo said. “I liked our effort from start to finish, it was probably [the first] overall effort since the start of the season.”

Pandolfo made a surprising lineup change to start this one by giving sophomore goaltender Max Lacroix his first career start, but it paid off, and he earned his first career win. 

“He played the exhibition game against Harvard [and] played very well,” Pandolfo said. “He came in against North Dakota, played very well, so we thought it was a good opportunity to give him a game tonight and he played great.”

The first period was relatively quiet. BU was the more dangerous team and got some good chances, but Lowell goaltender Henry Welsch was up to the task. At the other end, the Riverhawks didn’t get a shot through to Lacroix until 12:13. In the back half, each team got a turn on the advantage, but neither converted. So, the period ended with the game still scoreless and BU holding an 8-4 shot advantage.

Where the first period was sleepy, the second was explosive. 

Barely a minute in, forward Matt Copponi headed down the ice with Quinn Hutson 2 v. 2, and after Hutson snuck past his defender, Copponi fed him the puck. Hutson kept crashing the net hard before roofing it over Welsch to give BU the lead.

A mere 44 seconds later, Copponi tallied one of his own, deking around a defender and doing a give-and-go with Jack Harvey before sending it home.

However, just over a minute later, the good times looked like they’d come to a screeching halt for the Terriers. 

Freshman defender Sascha Boumedienne got a five-minute major and game misconduct for grabbing a Lowell skater’s facemask. The Terriers managed to kill off three minutes without much trouble, but then Riverhawk defender Isac Jonsson walked the blueline and lasered a puck through traffic and past Lacroix to pull his team back within one.

Lowell looked like they might pull even near the halfway point when Pierson Brandon got sprung on a breakaway opportunity. However, Lacroix made a huge save to keep his team ahead. 

A few minutes later, Copponi fed Tom Willander down low, who then sent a great feed over to Harvey, which he poked past Welsch to reinstate the two-goal lead.

BU kept the pressure on, and it soon paid off again. Fresh off a face-off, Cole Hutson fired a shot from the top of the slot through traffic and past Welsch to give the Terriers their first three-goal lead. 

Despite the Terriers looking solidly in control of the game, the Riverhawks refused to go away quietly. Not long after BU took a too-many-men penalty, Scout Truman made a phenomenal no-look, behind-the-back pass over to Libor Truman, who found the back of the net to pull Lowell back within two.

However, the Terriers wasted little time responding. After a sloppy Riverhawks turnover, Aiden Celebrini fed Quinn Hutson on a breakaway, and he ripped it far-side past Welsch. That ended the second-period goal bonanza, and the Terriers took a 5-2 lead and 18-11 shot advantage back to the locker room.

Lowell put junior goaltender Beni Halasz to start the third period. The Terriers continued to control the game and didn’t allow the Riverhawks a shot until 12:15. Lowell picked it up towards the end, but it was not enough to crack Lacroix again. So, after a sloppy home showing Friday night, the Terriers had the bounceback game they needed to get back in the win column.

“It’s a great way to respond from our guys,” Pandolfo said. “We had a tough stretch at home the last few games, and to play the way we did tonight was great to see. We had much more o-zone time, we were coming back [and] blocking shots, [and] we just played a more desperate game and that’s what we needed.”

Next weekend, the Terriers head to Maine for a two-game showdown with the No. 5 University of Maine Black Bears. The puck drops on the first game at 7 p.m. ET on Nov. 15, and streaming will be available on ESPN+ (U.S.) and TSN+ (Canada).