Men’s Hockey: Terriers head to Belfast, Northern Ireland for Friendship Four Tournament

Featured image by Joe Eachus

By Devora Slonim

For the Terriers, Thanksgiving looks a little different this year.

Boston University Men’s Ice Hockey (6-5-1, 3-2-1 HE) is set to take on the Merrimack College Warriors (3-7-1, 2-4-1 HE) in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the Friendship Four tournament.

The Terriers are coming off a 6-3 win against the Warriors last Saturday and boast a 97-25-8 all-time record against their conference counterparts.

Former Warrior Matt Copponi scored two goals in the victory, extending BU’s win streak to five against Merrimack.

Freshman standout Cole Eiserman continues to excel for the Terriers, netting two goals against the Warriors. Eiserman leads all NCAA rookies and is tied for fourth amongst all skaters with nine goals.

Mathieu Caron will get the nod in net after playing in his 100th career game last weekend, putting 36 saves up in the process.

Four different goaltenders have started a game for the Warriors, with freshman Max Lundgren starting seven of the eleven games so far this season. Lundgren holds a .879 save percentage and a 3.49 goals-against average.

Currently riding a two-game losing streak, Merrimack will look to their leading scores, Ethan Bono, Caelan Fitzpatrick and Antonio Venuto, for an offensive push against the solid BU defense.

The winner between the two teams will advance to Saturday’s championship game against the winner of the Harvard (2-3-1, 2-2-1 ECAC) and Notre Dame (5-9-0, 1-7-0 B1G)
matchup.

The Terriers are set to play the Warriors at 9 A.M. ET/2 P.M. GMT at the SSE Arena in Belfast. The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+, NESN, and TSN+.