Men’s Hockey: No. 8 Terriers fall to No. 1 Eagles in front of home crowd in first half of the weekend rivalry

Featured image by Matthew Allen

By Devora Slonim

Every BU fan has the same nightmare: being out-chanted with “Let’s go Eagles” in their home den.

Unfortunately for the sold-out crowd at Agganis Arena, their nightmares became a reality.

Despite outshooting their Comm. Ave rivals, the No. 8 Boston University Terriers (13-8-1, 9-4-1 HE) were trounced on by the No. 1 Boston College Eagles (17-4-1, 10-3-1 HE) 6-2.

“Disappointing,” Coach Jay Pandolfo said post-game. “Lot of self-inflicted stuff from our team tonight. You know, turning pucks over, giving them transition plays which we know they’re good at… just disappointing with some of our mistakes that are gonna cost you against that team.”

As anticipated, tensions were high off the face-off draw, and the Eagles were buzzing early.

A penalty call three minutes into the opening frame on Ryan Leonard gave the Terriers an advantage, but it was BC who capitalized.

Will Vote cleaned up a disastrous turnover from Matt Copponi in the neutral zone, beating goaltender Mathieu Caron five-hole shorthanded for an early 1-0 lead.

A dangerous giveaway shortly after in the neutral zone left offensive prowesses Gabe Perreault and Leonard wide open on a 2-on-0, but Caron made the stop, keeping the Terriers from drowning in a 2-goal deficit.

The Terriers were on their heels, and frustration ensued.

Matt Copponi and Michael Hagens exchanged jabs, with Hagens earning a five-minute major for face-masking, giving the Terriers the opportunity to capitalize on the man advantage.

On cue, BU demonstrated why they are ranked No. 4 nationally on the power play.

Quinn Hutson capitalized early, burying a rebound after the initial shot from captain Ryan Greene was stopped by netminder Jacob Fowler for the equalizer.

Just over a minute later, Cole Eiserman found a bouncing puck and put it past Fowler for another power-play goal and a 2-1 lead.

The second period determined the fate of the Terriers.

A seemingly missed penalty call on a hold to Jack Harvey gave the Eagles’ numbers, leaving room for Teddy Stiga to tip the puck out of mid-air on a saucer pass from Perreault to tie the game up at 2-2.

Shortly after, a cross-checking penalty to Gavin McCarthy was negated on an Eagles’ interference call, and Leonard capitalized with the open ice, streaking through the neutral zone and dancing around three Terriers to give BC a 3-2 lead.

While discipline continues to be an issue for BU, it was not their typical excessive penalties that got them in trouble tonight.

“The discipline from a penalty standpoint was good, but discipline is more than just taking penalties,” Pandolfo said. “Discipline is playing a certain way… you can’t make lateral passes because you just feed their transition, and we did that too often tonight… we’re not disciplined enough as a team to play a certain way shift after shift, and it’s been a problem.”

The Eagles kept their momentum going as Brady Berard found a loose puck in the crease and put it past a sprawling Caron, who could not get across the blue paint in time, putting BC up 4-2 and tallying 12 shots on goal to BU’s eight in the middle frame.

Difficulty setting up in the O-zone and keeping up with the speed of the Eagles continued to plague the Terriers in the final frame despite outshooting their rivals 14-3.

An unsuccessful tripping call to Aidan Hreschuk saw the most sustained offensive pressure, as BU tallied three shots on the power play including a wrister from Eiserman that rang off the post.

BU went to the power play one last time on Mika Posma’s face-off violation, but it was the Eagles that capitalized, with Leonard finding the empty net from deep in his own zone for the 5-3 lead.

Caron was pulled for an extra attacker as a last-ditch effort, but yet again, Leonard potted one into the empty net for his second collegiate hat trick and a 6-3 BC victory.

The Terriers have a fast turnaround as they prepare for the second half of the weekend rivalry tomorrow night at the Conte Forum.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” Pandolfo said. “They’re not going to let off the gas tomorrow night at home, so we gotta make sure that we push a little harder… against a team like that, it’s managing the puck, managing the game, managing the situation, so we gotta learn from it.”

BU will look for redemption in the Eagles’ home den as they travel down the green line for a 7 p.m. puck drop, with streaming available on ESPN+ and NESN.