Men’s Hockey: No. 1 Terriers Fail to Deliver Against Michigan State

By Ryan Owens

The No. 1 Boston University Terriers (2-1-1, 0-0-0 HE) were defeated in a potential postseason preview against the No. 3/4 Michigan State Spartans (2-1-0, 0-0-0 B1G), 4-2, Friday night.

The loss was marked by an explosive opening period for the Spartans and plenty of odd-man rushes, leaving BU trailing.

“It was just an ugly, ugly game,” BU Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said. “They executed their way; they play the game perfectly; we did not.”

The game began with quick rush chances for each team, although neither could capitalize. Defensive sticks, board plays and neutral zone turnovers dominated the early minutes of the match.

The Terriers took the first penalty when freshman defenseman Carter Amico held a Spartan behind the BU net, giving MSU a power play four minutes in. Although the man advantage itself did not generate a goal, Spartans defender Matt Basgall’s shot from the puck just as the advantage expired, allowing Charlie Stramel to deflect the puck past Terrier goaltender Mikhail Yegorov to give Michigan State an early 1-0 lead.

This was quickly followed by Spartan forward Austin Baker cross-checking forward Cole Hutson, a play that became a game misconduct and gave BU their first man advantage of the game on a major penalty. The power play was anything but fruitful, however, as a neutral zone turnover by Terrier forward Conrad Fondrk gave MSU forward Eric Nilson a breakaway for a shorthanded goal and a 2-0 lead.

BU managed to generate consistent offensive pressure during the second half of the penalty time, but its efforts remained cold, and the five-minute power play ended without a goal.

“I thought guys were trying to do it alone instead of together,” Pandolfo said of the man advantage. “We didn’t have a willingness to be direct in every area of the game.”

BU gained another power play chance after Michigan State forward Porter Martone interfered with defender Gavin McCarthy. MSU challenged the play but failed, losing their timeout as a result.

The Terriers capitalized as forward Jack Murtagh entered the puck into the offensive zone during the advantage. Murtragh dished the puck to Fondrk, who found sophomore defender Sascha Boumedienne at the point. Boumedienne rocketed the puck past Spartan netminder Trey Augustine, netting the first goal of the game for BU.

This momentum swing did not last for long as Michigan State forward Cayden Lindstrom took a long pass from forward Gavin O’Connell for another breakaway, beating Yegorov five-hole and ending the period with a 3-1 lead for the Spartans.

Each team had a series of scoring chances early in the middle frame that were stopped by crucial defensive plays by the opposition.

The Terriers had their third power play chance of the game but found themselves defending against the Michigan State rush through much of the man advantage, ultimately failing to capitalize.

Michigan State took advantage of this newfound momentum, finding itself on the offensive side of multiple odd-man rushes. But for each flurry of shots came an array of saves from Yegorov, reigniting BU for the final minutes of the period and sending the teams to the locker rooms without a change in score.

The Spartans quickly took control back in the third. Lindstrom shot a puck bouncing to forward Shane Vansagh, who poked the puck past Yegorov to extend the MSU lead to 4-1.

“They were pressing us…and we weren’t ready for it,” Pandolfo said of BU’s struggles early in the final period. “From that point, it just seemed like our group was completely deflated.”

The Terriers pulled their goalie with just over two minutes left of play and found themselves on a power play for a 6-on-4 advantage. With a minute of play remaining, forward Cole Eiserman took a shot that was tipped in by forward Ryder Ritchie, cutting the deficit to 4-2.

The Terriers pulled the netminder once again, but were unable to generate another goal.

This game ties the all-time series between the two teams at 9-9-0, and is the first match that BU has dropped to Michigan State at Agganis Arena.

The teams will wrap up their weekend series on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Agganis. The game will be available on ESPN+.