Men’s Hockey: Terriers down USNTDP in Exhibition Tilt

Featured image by Holly Gustavsen

By Claire Smieszny

Luckily for the Terriers on Friday the 13th, they avoided any black cats, didn’t spill any salt, and no mirrors were harmed in the making of a high-flying, high-scoring exhibition tilt against the vaunted Program.

Boston University Men’s Ice Hockey (9-6-1, 5-3-1 HEA) defeated the U.S. National Team Development Program, 7-5 in an exhibition game Friday night at Agganis Arena, despite being without several of their top contributors.

“I thought it was great to get guys a little bit more ice time and maybe don’t play as much,” said coach Jay Pandolfo. “That was a positive, and I thought those guys played well with the extra ice time.”

Notable missing faces such as freshmen Brandon Svoboda, Cole Eiserman and Cole Hutson, as well as sophomore Tom Willander, were held out of the meaningless-for-the-standings exhibition in advance of their appearances with Team USA and Team Sweden at the 2025 World Juniors in Ottawa.

The Terriers came into the game hot; senior forward Matt Copponi struck quickly at 1:15 into the game off a pass from sophomore Shane Lachance, redirecting the puck through the goalie’s legs and into the net.

After the early goal, BU struggled to build momentum behind the puck and establish a dominant offense. 12:21 into the period, USNTDP defenseman Licoln Kuehne headed to the box for a tripping minor, sending BU on the man advantage for a chance to get on their feet. 

The Terriers managed to sustain pressure in the o-zone and capitalize, even with an unsuccessful power play. Less than two minutes after its expiration, a behind the net pass from Alex Zetterberg to a waiting Quinn Hutson outside the crease was sniped over Boettiger’s left shoulder to double the lead.

The USNTDP was quick to respond, as Jacob Kvasnicka set up Jake Stuart from behind the net in similar fashion. Stuart deked in front of Max LaCroix to get the puck backhand and flick it over the glove for a 2-1 score. 

The Program was sent to the box again for holding with just under three minutes to go in the first, and it was clear tensions between the two teams were rising. The physicality of the game increased heading into intermission.

The USNTDP came into the second period fiery looking for the equalizer, and were rewarded for their efforts shortly at 3:16 into the period. Stuart got a pass in front of the net and stalled with the puck, distracting Lacroix and the Terrier defense before sending the puck back to Will Horcoff to put it in. 

BU got themselves back on top quickly, as Jack Harvey swung close by the net to get Boettinger’s attention, passing it back to an incoming Tristan Amonte to bury it just over four minutes later. 

The Terriers continued to build on their lead, as at 9:17 Nick Roukounakis circled around back of the USNTDP’s net and turned around to wrist it into the net, which deflected off Bednarik and in to make it 4-2. 

“When [Roukounakis] moves his feet, he’s tough to contain because he’s a big body,” said Pandolfo. “I thought in the first period, he wasn’t skating as much as he started to skate the second, and then got rewarded which was great.”

Kamil Bednarik headed to the box on a minor for interference which gave the Program a chance to get back on the board, but the score remained in a stalemate until Alex Zetterberg flew down the Program’s end of the ice and snapped one past Boettinger’s glove to extend the Terrier’s lead.

The Program wasn’t going to let BU run away with it, and responded in kind less than a minute later with a goal from Richard Gallant in front of the net. The score remained 5-3 heading into the second intermission. 

The Terriers had taken the reins of the game at the start of the third. Zetterberg whipped one past Boettinger in similar fashion to his first goal to pull ahead even more, and their domination continued throughout the period as Jack Hughes hit the back of the net on the powerplay at 9:50 off a shot from Bednarik.

“I mean, this team is amazing, so I got a lot of pucks to work with,” said Zetterberg about his two goals. “I found the net today, so it was good.”

The USNTDP still would not give up yet, as after the puck pinged around BU’s net Gallant would get it in front again to send it past Lacroix. They struck again with just over one second left in the game on an odd man rush, but the final score remained with them in the deficit at 7-5. 

As one of the team’s last games before heading into a packed schedule of Hockey East competition in January, there’s still a lot of work to be done to have success in that stretch according to Pandolfo.

“I don’t think we really fully got into a rhythm as a team,” said Pandolfo of the team’s struggles in the first half of the season. “There were good moments…But overall, the consistency and the discipline is going to have to be better if we want to do some damage in the second half.”

BU has over two weeks off before traveling to New Haven to face the Yale Bulldogs on Dec. 29 at 4 p.m. with streaming available on ESPN+.