Men’s Hockey: Terriers open second half of season with crushing loss to Yale University
Featured image by Holly Gustavsen
By Hannah Connors
The Terriers opened the second half of the season with a brutal loss.
Boston University Men’s Hockey (9-7-1, 5-3-1 HE) fell to the Yale University Bulldogs (3-7-1, 2-3-1 ECAC) 7-5 on Sunday night in New Haven.
“Disappointed with our effort, our attention to detail,” Coach Jay Pandolfo said post-game. “Everything we talked about that we needed to get better at and learn from the first half [of the season], nothing changed.”
There was a notable change in the lineup as BU was without four key players, Cole Eiserman, Cole Hutson, Brandon Svoboda, and Tom Willander, who were representing their respective countries in the World Junior’s Championship.
The Terriers gained early momentum against the Bulldogs. Breaking out of the neutral zone, Alex Zetterberg found defenseman Quinn Hutson across the slot and went top shelf, putting BU up just one minute into the game.
After five minutes of majority Terrier possession, Yale answered back. Ronan O’Donnell passed to the top of the slot, where Will Richter unleashed a one-timer, allowing the Bulldogs to tie the game.
Shortly after, a deft pass from Quinn Hutson across the circle set up Zetterberg, who sent a snapshot into the net, putting the Terriers back in the lead.
Halfway through the first frame, David Chen capitalized on a BU penalty to tie the game up.
However, the Terriers answered in a similar fashion.
A hooking penalty from Yale put BU on a power play with three minutes left in the frame.
Matt Copponi capitalized on a hooking penalty, finding Ryan Greene in an opportune position who snapped a wrist shot for the Terrier’s third goal and repossession of the lead.
After relatively even play between both teams in the middle frame, the Bulldogs found an opening.
A shot from the blue line from defenseman Micah Berger went through goaltender Mathieu Caron’s legs, tying the game yet again.
Shortly after, Kalen Szeto found the back of the net on a shorthanded opportunity just eight seconds into the Terrier man advantage.
BU switched goalies, putting sophomore Max Lacroix in net.
The Terriers found some short-lived momentum.
Quinn Hutson scored top shelf on the power play for his second of the night, retying the game at 4-4.
The Bulldogs followed suit in their goaltender change, substituting freshman Noah Pak for Jack Stark.
Ill-timed penalties continue to be an issue for BU. With seven minutes left in the period, the Terriers earned a penalty, and just 10 seconds before the penalty expired, they found themselves back in the box.
Yale used back-to-back power plays to push ahead of the Terriers. After two and a half minutes of having a man advantage, Chen netted his second of the night and scored what would be the game-winning goal.
Just under three minutes left in the period, Tristan Amonte earned a game misconduct, resulting in a five-minute major and an ejection from the game.
BU opened the third period with over two minutes left on the major penalty.
For the first ten minutes of the third period, neither team generated much momentum.
However, Yale broke this trend with seven minutes left in the game. O’Donnell put the Bulldogs up by 6-4, backhanding one past Lacroix.
Momentarily after this goal, BU got their seventh penalty of the night, leaving the Bulldogs on the powerplay.
William Dineen used the advantage to net Yale’s seventh goal of the game, marking the first time since 2018 that the Bulldogs scored seven goals.
In a last-ditch effort, the Terrier pulled Lacroix from the goal.
Zetterberg scored a final goal too late with under a minute left, resulting in a 7-5 loss.
The Terriers will return home for a weekend series against the University of Vermont Catamounts on Jan. 10-11 at Agganis Arena for a Hockey East matchup. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. with streaming available on ESPN+.