Men’s Hockey: Terriers Return to Hockey East Play Against The Huskies

By Jenny Chen

After a shaky start to the season, Boston University Men’s Hockey (5-6-1, 3-3-0 HEA) looks to steady the ship as it opens a weekend series with cross-town rival Northeastern (7-3-0, 3-2-0 HEA).

The Terriers had started correcting early-season woes with a sweep of Merrimack, but their most recent outing—a 6-2 loss to Quinnipiac in which they were outshot 49-33—showed there is still work to do.

BU was outshot 49-33 by the Bobcats, and fell 6-2 in a game where they looked nothing like a team with 19 NHL draft picks.

“It’s the details in our game that are really lacking right now,” BU Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said.

Northeastern enters the matchup off a disappointing weekend against UConn, falling 4-2 and 4-3 (OT).

To find the back of the net, BU will have to solve Huskies junior goaltender Lawton Zacher, who is in his first season in Boston after transferring from Brown.

Zacher boasts a 1.80 goals against average and a .943 save percentage, and was named the National Goaltender of the Month for October. He is also tied first in the NCAA for most shutouts, having posted three this season.

Sophomore forward Nick Roukounakis has provided a spark since returning to BU’s lineup. After missing the season’s first 11 games due to injury, he tallied his first career goal against Quinnipiac and brought a physical presence.

“He brings a little bit of different identity to our group with his size and his strength,” Pandolfo said.

The Terriers will be without sophomore forward Sacha Boisvert and freshman forward Conrad Fondrk, both sidelined with injuries.

Defensively, BU looks to address areas exposed in last weekend’s loss.

“We’ve been very bad at blocking shots. We have not been very good at moving people away from our net [and have] left our slot open way too often,” Pandolfo said.

They will be facing the Huskies’ point-per-game players, junior forward Dylan Hryckowian and freshman forward Jacob Matheiu.

Northeastern is also led by its captain, senior defenseman Vinny Borgesi. He will join Terrier captain and junior defenseman Gavin McCarthy later this year on the United States Collegiate Selects team at the Spengler Cup.

This weekend marks the 255th and 256th all-time meetings between the Terriers and Huskies. BU leads the series, which dates back to the 1930-31 season, with 93 wins, 42 losses, and 11 ties in official NCAA records. (School records may differ based on exhibition and early games; clarify locally if possible.)​

Both games are set for 7 p.m. puck drops with streaming available on ESPN+. Saturday’s contest will also stream on TSN+.