Men’s Hockey: BU Secures Key Road Win Over River Hawks

By Abigail Stocker

The Boston University Men’s Ice Hockey team (12-10-1, 8-7-0 HE) blanked the UMass Lowell River Hawks (9-14-0, 5-8-0 HE) 3-0 on Saturday at Tsongas Center, earning a critical split in the home-and-home after Friday’s loss.

The bounce-back victory—powered by goaltender Mikhail Yegorov’s 25-save shutout and goals from defenseman Cole Hutson, forward Nick Roukounakis and defenseman Ben Merrill—halted a troubling skid and vaulted the Terriers four points clear of Lowell in the Hockey East standings.

“It was a great effort by our group, great response,” BU Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said, crediting the way his team weathered Lowell’s early forecheck pressure.

The first period quickly settled into a grind, with special teams dictating much of the pace. Hutson’s boarding minor at 10:10 gave the River Hawks the first man advantage of the night, and forwards Dominic Payne and David Adaszynski generated looks from the perimeter, but Yegorov tracked the puck well while freshman forward Kamil Bednarik slid into shooting lanes to break up second chances.

Momentum swung back and forth as River Hawks forward Diego Buttazzoni was whistled for tripping at 18:27 and forward Dalyn Wakely took a hooking minor shortly after, creating 4-on-4 and then BU power-play time to close the frame.

Even with that late pressure, shots from Terriers forward Jack Harvey and defensemen Malte Vass and Charlie Trethewey were turned aside or missed the net, leaving the opening 20 minutes scoreless despite plenty of whistles and little sustained 5-on-5 rhythm.

The Terriers controlled much of the final 40 minutes.

The second period opened much the same way, with both teams struggling to break through in a tightly checked neutral zone. River Hawks forward Jacob MacDonald’s cross-check at 7:08 briefly handed BU the edge, but Terriers defenseman Gavin McCarthy’s interference minor soon after canceled the opportunity and shifted the focus back to the penalty kills, which continued to clog up the middle and limit clean looks.

As the period wore on, though, BU began to tilt the ice and string together longer possessions.

“We found our legs, especially later in the second period,” Pandolfo said. The increase in pressure finally paid off in the closing seconds when forward Josh Mori took a roughing penalty to set up a late faceoff for BU in the offensive zone.

With just 0.1 seconds remaining, the Terriers executed the kind of set play they had been searching for all night. Hutson jumped down from the blue line off a clean draw, took a pass from McCarthy through a seam and snapped his eighth goal of the season past goaltender Austin Elliott to break the deadlock and give BU a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission. P

“I knew the puck was going to come to me” said Hutson while explaining how he managed to get the shot off through traffic.

Carrying that jolt into the third period, BU tightened up defensively and started to lean more heavily on its depth up front.

Just past the midway point of the frame, Hutson again triggered the offense with a shot from the point, and Roukounakis crashed the crease to clean up the rebound at 11:38, burying his fourth of the season to extend the lead to 2-0.

From there, Lowell threw its best punch in an effort to claw back into the game. Forward Dillan Bentley rang the post at 9:30 and later fired multiple attempts on net, while defenseman TJ Schweighardt peppered the slot with wrist shots and forwards Nate Misskey and Jay Ahearn hovered around the blue paint looking for tips and loose pucks. Yegorov, however, stayed composed, swallowing rebounds and relying on timely blocks in front of him to preserve the two-goal cushion.

In the closing minutes, the River Hawks pulled Elliott for an extra attacker, but the Terriers’ structure held firm.

After BU disrupted a Lowell entry and cleared the zone, Merrill stepped into a loose puck and sent a long, accurate shot into the empty net at 17:45 for his fourth goal of the season, effectively putting the game out of reach at 3-0.

The Terriers gear up for a home-and-home series against Providence on Jan. 23 and 24. The game is available to stream on Hockey East Online platforms.