Men’s Hockey: No. 5 Terriers Head to Maine for Halloween Weekend Series

By Marianne Zemmes

No. 5 Boston University Men’s Ice Hockey (3-3-1, 1-1-0 HE) travels to Orono, Maine, this weekend for a crucial Hockey East series against the No. 12 University of Maine Black Bears (3-2-1, 0-0-0 HE).

The Terriers head north looking to build on their split against the University of Connecticut last weekend, which marked their first Hockey East action of the season. After falling 8-4 last Friday night at Agganis Arena, BU responded with a 3-1 victory on Saturday at UConn’s Toscano Family Ice Forum.

BU will face this weekend’s challenge without sophomore forward Cole Eiserman due to injury.

“He provides a lot of offense for us from a goal-scoring standpoint,” said Head Coach Jay Pandolfo. “He’s really good on the power play, so other guys are just gonna have to step up.”

With Eiserman sidelined, BU will look to its emerging players to provide offensive production.

Senior transfer Owen McLaughlin has made a mark, recording his first two goals for the Terriers and adding a power-play tally last weekend. The back-to-back multi-point efforts were McLaughlin’s first since Jan. 2024.

Sophomore forward Jack Harvey delivered a breakthrough performance in Saturday’s victory with two goals, marking his first multi-goal game since Feb. 2024.

“I think you saw Jack Harvey step up last game,” Pandolfo said. “Obviously, he was snake bitten a little bit the first five or six games of the year, and to see him get two goals certainly is going to help his confidence.”

Freshman forward Conrad Fondrk, returning from a broken leg that required surgery in February, has shown improvement.

“He didn’t really start skating until September,” Pandolfo said. “He’s made huge steps in the last couple of weekends. He’s continuing to improve every week, and I think you’ll see another jump in his game this weekend.”

Sophomore Cole Hutson continues to lead the defensive corps and is tied for second among defensemen in points in the NCAA.

In net, sophomore goaltender Mikhail Yegorov bounced back from last Friday’s difficult outing with a stellar 24-save performance on Saturday.

“He was excellent on Saturday,” Pandolfo said. “He just had a presence there in the net where he was just in a great position, read the play really well.”

The Black Bears arrive having split their series with Colgate University last weekend. Head Coach Ben Barr guided Maine to their first Hockey East Tournament title in 20 years last season.

Maine junior forward Josh Nadeau is one to look out for, leading the Bears offensively after posting 29 points in 2024-25. Junior goaltender Albin Boija provides defense for the team with a 2.18 goals-against average this season.
Pandolfo expects Maine to play into their strengths at Alfond Arena.

“They have an identity with the way they play,” Pandolfo said. “They’re a really good forechecking team. They gain momentum by forechecking and getting that crowd into the game. For us, it’s going to be really important to make sure that we’re breaking pucks out and we’re having clean exits out of our zone. They’re a really good defensive team, too. It’s tough to get to their net.”

BU holds a 76-56-14 (.568) all-time record against Maine with series dating back to 1924. At Maine’s home rink, BU holds a 27-27-2 record through 56 contests.

“It’s going to be new for a lot of our guys playing in that environment,” Pandolfo said. “It’s a great place to play, it’s a lot of fun.”

This weekend’s series offers BU an opportunity to build momentum in Hockey East play.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. both Friday and Saturday at Alfond Arena, with both games available to stream live on ESPN+. Saturday’s contest will also be broadcast on ESPN+.