{"id":27972,"date":"2021-10-01T11:58:28","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T15:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=27972"},"modified":"2022-05-16T12:47:16","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T16:47:16","slug":"mens-hockey-no-10-terriers-to-open-2021-22-season-in-home-exhibition-vs-holy-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2021\/10\/01\/mens-hockey-no-10-terriers-to-open-2021-22-season-in-home-exhibition-vs-holy-cross\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Hockey: No. 10 Terriers to open 2021-22 season in home exhibition vs. Holy Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Joe Pohoryles<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

It may just be an exhibition, but when the No. 10 Boston University Terriers take the ice this Saturday, it will be their first game since getting bounced in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 27. It will also be the first of the program\u2019s 100th season.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers will face the Holy Cross Crusaders of the Atlantic Hockey Association. The Crusaders started last season 4-2, but finished the year on a 10-game losing streak to finish 4-12.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Crusaders return three of their top five point scorers, including junior forward Alex Peterson (4g-5a-9p) who paced the team. Holy Cross also brings back starting netminder Erik Gordon for his senior campaign. Gordon was in net for all four victories last season and posted a 2.62 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage, each ranking sixth in Atlantic Hockey.<\/span><\/p>\n

Improving offensive production will be a focal point for the Crusaders this year, who finished dead last in Atlantic Hockey in 2020-21 after scoring 1.88 goals per game. The power play wasn\u2019t much of a boost either, as they scored on just seven of 53 opportunities for a league-worst 13.2 conversion percentage.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers, meanwhile, will look to lead off on a strong note before getting into the official season. While the team will miss the contributions of two-time All-American David Farrance, the other 11 of the team\u2019s top 12 scorers from last season are all returning, plus all three goaltenders.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know the group\u2019s excited. We\u2019ve got kind of a veteran group coming back,\u201d BU head coach Albie O\u2019Connell said at Hockey East Media Day.<\/span><\/p>\n

While this team is a veteran-heavy group, it will also look for contributions from the freshman class headlined by Tyler Boucher, a U.S. National Team Development Program product and 10th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft to the Ottawa Senators.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers will look to take a step up from their 3.25 goals per game and 2.81 goals allowed per game, both of which ranked fourth in Hockey East. O\u2019Connell says it will be important to be speedy if they want to reach the next level.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that we can play at a high pace as a team and be aggressive, as aggressive as we can,\u201d O\u2019Connell said.<\/span><\/p>\n

This exhibition will be played at Walter Brown Arena, but home games return to Agganis Arena at the start of the regular season, signaling a return to an atmosphere the Terriers have not experienced in over a year-and-a-half.<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell says practicing in Agganis and playing in Walter Brown last season was not ideal given the difference in the ice dimensions, but he\u2019s glad every aspect of the game from the arena to the band and fans in the crowd are making a return.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna mean everything to our guys,\u201d O\u2019Connell said, referencing how much the crowd of roughly 200 people impacted the energy of the Red-White intersquad scrimmage on Sept. 25.<\/span><\/p>\n

The crowds will only get bigger as the season goes on, and it all starts at 7:30pm on Oct. 2. Make sure to follow along on Twitter and the WTBU website to stay up to date with all the coverage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Featured Image: BU skaters gather at the bench during a TV timeout at the NCAA Northeast Regional Semifinal againts St. Cloud State at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. Photo by Patrick Donnelly.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Joe Pohoryles It may just be an exhibition, but when the No. 10 Boston University Terriers take the ice this Saturday, it will be their first game since getting bounced in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 27. It will also be the first of the program\u2019s 100th season. The Terriers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20928,"featured_media":27973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1026,1028,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20928"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27972"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27974,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27972\/revisions\/27974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}