Men’s Hockey: Freshmen class powers BU past UConn in the shootout, 2-2
Featured image by Holly Gustavsen
By Lydia Murray
No. 9 University of Connecticut Huskies (17-10-4, 9-8-4 HE) battled it out in as evenly matched a game as the Terriers have seen in a while. Led offensively and in goal by their freshmen, BU managed to secure the extra point in the Hockey East standings with a 2-2 shootout victory.
“I thought it was a great hockey game,” BU Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said postgame. “Both teams competed hard…They’ve got a fast team, and I really like the way our team competed tonight. We got down there in the third, found a way to come back which was huge.”
Discipline issues quickly cost the Terriers a goal. Quinn Hutson headed to the box for slashing at 2:43, and just five seconds later, Jack Richard sent a Joey Muldowney rebound past Mikhail Yegorov to give his team the early lead.
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More penalties filled the first half of the period, with BU heading off once more before two UConn infractions gave them over three minutes of uninterrupted power play time, including 28 seconds of a 5v3. However, neither team could bury another with the advantage.
Less than two minutes after returning to even strength, Ryan Greene fed a slick pass to Sascha Boumedienne, which he one-touched past Tyler Muszelik from below the right circle. It was Boumedienne’s second tally of the season, which have both come in the past four games.
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After lots of back-and-forth play, the buzzer sounded on an intense opening frame with the teams tied at one and the Huskies leading 11-9 in shots.
The second period was much tamer. Both teams traded chances, but it was an overall disciplined, even period. No one managed to crack either goaltender, so the teams returned to their locker rooms after they each notched seven more shots.
The third period opened with more looks at special teams, but the penalty kills remained strong. However, less than a minute after a BU power play expired, UConn’s Ethan Gardula deflected a puck past Yegorov to retake the lead at 4:21.
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The teams traded chances for the next several minutes until Ryan Tattle took one too far in the Terriers’ eyes. He tried to poke the puck away from Yegorov, who had it covered and soon had to answer to Gavin McCarthy. Both players headed to the box, with Tattle getting a slashing minor and McCarthy heading off for roughing at 8:48.
With 45 seconds to go in the 4v4, Cole Hutson auditioned for an appearance in tonight’s SportsCenter Top 10. Starting from behind the center ice line, he carried the puck into the zone, passed it to himself to deke past a Husky defender 1v1, and then sailed it past Muszelik to tie the game back up at two.
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The rest of the period passed uneventfully, so to overtime the clubs went with UConn holding a 25-22 shot advantage.
Cole Hutson got a chance to pull off another highlight-reel goal about halfway through overtime, but he couldn’t quite get the shot off.
Tattle then got the best chance of overtime with 1:09 remaining, but Yegorov pulled the puck off the line in the nick of time to keep the game going. The usually even-keeled netminder exchanged pleasantries with Tattle after.
Overtime still wasn’t enough for these clubs, so off to a shootout they went for the first time in Yegorov’s young career.
Luckily for him, BU made it as painless as possible. Quinn Hutson and Cole Eiserman both beat Muszelik, while Yegorov turned aside Richard and Ethan Whitcomb to secure the extra point for the Terriers.
It was a big win for the Terriers, who have struggled at times this season unless they were on the second half of a back-to-back. Eight of their 12 losses have come on Friday nights, which typically kick off a weekend series, so there was some concern over which BU team was going to show up for a standalone, midweek game. Yet tonight, they showed up and took care of business to stretch their unbeaten streak over UConn to six games.
When asked postgame about how his team can build on this win to close out the season strong, Pandolfo kept it simple.
“We just need to be competitive,” Pandolfo said. “That’s when we’re a good hockey team and we were that tonight.”
The Terriers are off this weekend but will be back in action on Thursday, March 6 for their Senior Night against the Providence College Friars. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET at Agganis Arena, and you can find the game on ESPN+ and TSN+.