Men’s Hockey: Stage is set for Hockey East Quarterfinal Round against UMass

Featured image by Holly Gustavsen

By Claire Smieszny

Boston University Men’s Ice Hockey (20-12-2, 14-8-2 HE) will face off against the UMass Minutemen (20-12-5, 10-9-5 HE) in the quarterfinal round of the Hockey East Championship on Saturday afternoon.

In their home-and-home series in December, the teams split with one win each. Since then, both teams have struggled with ups and downs within conference competition, unable to get a handle on their game. UMass may have an edge in that they are already in the tournament mindset, as they beat Vermont in the play-in round of the tournament 2-1 on Wednesday.

“They have their top two lines that are very good, they can score, they have D that are active offensively… They do a real good job of keeping you to the outside,” Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said of the UMass team. “Their goaltender is playing very well, so they’re clicking on all cylinders right now… We got to make sure we’re at our best on Saturday.”

The Terriers will face their biggest challenge in junior forward Cole O’Hara, the Minutemen’s leading scorer with 50 points on the season and recently named a Hockey East First Team All-Star.

UMass’s sophomore goaltender Michael Hrabal was also given All-Star honors, as through 29 games played, he boasts a 2.36 goals against average and .926 save percentage. Despite his skill level, Hrabal will face quite the challenge squaring up against BU’s dynamic offense.

Hockey East All-Star Quinn Hutson will be one to look out for as he looks to add to his team-leading 46 points in the postseason.

“[Quinn’s] been one of our leading scorers the last three years, especially from a goal scoring standpoint,” Pandolfo said. “He hit the 20 goal mark the other night, so he’s been a very productive player for us over the last three years. And he’s really rounded out the rest of his game too.”

Q. Hutson will have assistance on the offensive side from linemate and senior forward Ryan Greene, who has 32 points on the season and received All-Star honors along with the younger Hutson, Cole. The freshman defenseman was named to both the All-Star and All-Rookie teams and trails only his brother in the points column with 39.

The Terriers’ talent doesn’t stop there, as freshman goaltender Mikhail Yegorov joined the team in January and has been posting impressive performances since then. He currently holds a 1.82 goals against average and a .936 save percentage through 12 games played.

The game determines who gets to move on and fight for the trophy on the big stage at TD Garden next Thursday. The quarterfinal will be held at Agganis Arena on Saturday, with puck drop set for 4:30 p.m. and streaming available on NESN+ and ESPN+.