Men’s Hockey: Terriers narrowly defeat UNH on the front end of the back-to-back, escaping with a 6-3 victory

Featured image by Spirit Veron

By Alexa Podalsky

The Turbulent Terriers New Year’s luck could be running out. 

The 11th-ranked team (12-7-1, 8-3-1 HE) nearly lost the chance to earn the top spot in the Hockey East standings after a disciplined first period quickly devolved into their usual parade to the penalty box, ending with a major penalty against Gavin McCarthy. 

But, the Terriers overcame the self-afflicted adversity to defeat the No. 19 University of New Hampshire (10-7-3, 2-6-2 HE) in a dirty 6-3 win.  

“For good stretches of the game, we played well,” coach Jay Pandolfo said. “[I] thought we got away from it, especially in the second period, turning some pucks over. Obviously, took another 5 minute major, we got to cut that out of our game.”

Devin Kaplan shot the Terriers into the lead 1:15 into the game off an assist from freshman Sascha Boumedienne. UNH followed closely behind as Connor Sweeny narrowly slipped the puck past goaltender Mathieu Caron. 

BU answered two minutes later after captain Ryan Greene collected an assist from Jack Harvey and tipped the puck past two UNH defenders to close the first period with a 2-1 lead. 

Their reign stretched into the start of the second period while Cole and Quinn Hutson connected to extend the Terriers’ lead, but the momentum quickly shifted into UNH’s favor. Cole Eiserman got called for boarding, giving the Wildcats’s Nick Ring a power-play goal. 

The Terriers completely lost strength after Mick Frachette got sent to the penalty box for tripping, brewing the perfect conditions for UNH’s third and final goal to get themselves right back in the game. With their two-goal lead gone, Gavin McCarthy grabbed Liam Devlin’s face mask during a fight with a minute remaining in the second period and received BU’s fifth major penalty this season. 

The Terriers entered the locker room with the odds stacked against them after losing a two-goal lead and would start the third period on the penalty kill. But Caron and Greene shifted the momentum back in BU’s favor. 

UNH made multiple attacks on BU’s net, but Caron slid across the blue zone to prevent the Wildcats from taking the lead. On the reset, Greene collected the puck from Matt Coponi and fired the puck towards the left goalpost, which ricocheted into the net. 

Greene’s goal made way for Jack Hughes to score off Quinn Hutson’s assist. UNH grew frustrated, and Cole Hutson was cross-checked from behind by Nikolai Jensen, who earned the game’s second major penalty with 5:58 remaining. 

Cole Hutson wasted no time in getting revenge and slipped the puck through a small opening in traffic to give the Terriers a 3-goal lead to end the game. But, despite the win, trouble is on the horizon for the Terriers if they can’t contain their aggression. 

“I could talk about this until I’m blue in the face,” Pandolfo said. “I don’t know what to do. That’s our second or third face mask [penalty], so we have to stop.”

Ranked last in the conference, UNH stepped down from 17th place in the USCHO standings heading into Friday’s game and could fall out of the top 20 next week. Meanwhile, the Terriers share the top spot in the Hockey East with No. 3 Boston College, who they will face next week. 

The Terriers have the opportunity to sweep UNH at Agganis Arena on Saturday night at 6 p.m. The game is available to stream on ESPN+ and TSN+.