{"id":35275,"date":"2022-12-04T09:17:25","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T14:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=35275"},"modified":"2022-12-04T09:17:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-04T14:17:25","slug":"mens-hockey-duplessis-earns-shutout-terriers-sweep-series-against-unh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2022\/12\/04\/mens-hockey-duplessis-earns-shutout-terriers-sweep-series-against-unh\/","title":{"rendered":"Men’s Hockey: Duplessis Earns Shutout, Terriers Sweep Series Against UNH"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gracie Davenport<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

No. 9\/7 Boston University Men\u2019s Hockey (10-4-0, 7-3-0 HE) completed the home-and-home series sweep against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (3-13-1, 0-11-1 HE) Saturday night with a 3-0 win. After a high-scoring 6-3 game on Friday night, both teams cleaned up their games in a tense rematch at Agganis Arena.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a weekend that we needed to get six points, and we accomplished that,\u201d BU Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said. \u201cI give our guys a lot of credit. We played really well tonight.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers dominated play in the first period, leading in shots on net 15-5, but the score remained tied at 0-0 heading into the second.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sophomore defenseman Ty Gallagher recorded the game\u2019s first shot on net early, but senior goaltender David Fessenden stood strong. The Wildcats did not test junior goaltender Vinny Duplessis until the 11:12 mark. Duplessis made starts on consecutive nights for the first time since Oct. 21 and 22 against UConn, as BU\u2019s starting goaltender Drew Commesso was unavailable this series due to illness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI obviously don\u2019t get to play that often, so when I do it\u2019s always a battle,\u201d Duplessis said.<\/span><\/p>\n

BU largely kept the puck in UNH\u2019s end through the first 20 minutes. When the puck did trickle into their end, the Terriers sacrificed their bodies to block shots in front of Duplessis. They led in blocked shots 7-2 this period.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI always want to do the best for my team and stand for the guys in front of me because they\u2019ve been blocking shots like crazy all year,\u201d Duplessis said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers found themselves short-handed twice in the first half of the second period, but they were able to kill off both penalties. Their penalty kill was a perfect 4-for-4.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTonight we took a couple that I\u2019m not sure were definitely penalties, but that\u2019s to the ref\u2019s discretion,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cWe did a good job. Our penalty kill was excellent tonight, so that was important.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With 2:26 remaining in the scoreless middle frame, UNH headed to the penalty box for hooking. Every Terrier was active on the man advantage, and senior defenseman Domenick Fensore capitalized one minute into the power play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Extending his goal streak to four games, Fensore now touts a new season-high in scoring with six goals. Over that four-game stretch, the BU captain has seven points, with five goals and two assists. Senior forwards Jay O\u2019Brien and Wilmer Skoog picked up the assists to give the Terriers the 1-0 lead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDom\u2019s always great on offense. It\u2019s something he works on,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cRight now he\u2019s got some confidence, and the puck\u2019s going in.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the third period, the Terriers found the back of the net two more times. With less than five minutes to play in regulation, UNH sophomore forward Conor Lovett headed to the penalty box for the second time. BU\u2019s top line was in UNH\u2019s end for a full 90 seconds, and it paid off.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a talented group,\u201d UNH Head Coach Mike Souza said. \u201cWe can\u2019t take that penalty late in the game when [we\u2019re] pressing to come back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien received a pass from Fensore and showed his patience with the puck as he shook off a UNH defender. Opening space in the slot, O\u2019Brien\u2019s wrist shot beat Fessenden to make it 2-0. Fensore and senior forward Matt Brown had the assists. O\u2019Brien also has himself a four-game point streak, but this is his first goal over that period (1g, 4a).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of hockey sometimes. Just got to battle through it,\u201d O\u2019Brien said on his recent puck luck. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to just get that goal for the team and just give us a little bit of insurance.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wildcats pulled their goaltender with three minutes to play, and freshman forward Quinn Hutson sent the puck into the empty net to give the Terriers a 3-0 lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers peppered Fessenden with shots all night and led in final shots on net 43-22. Duplessis picked up his fourth career shutout and the Terriers\u2019 first shutout of the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[Vinny\u2019s] a gamer. He enjoys playing in big games,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cWe know if Drew\u2019s not going to play, Vinny\u2019s going to step in. He\u2019s always going to be good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

BU now has seven wins in their last eight games as they climb the rankings in their conference and on the national stage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody in the locker room is committed to winning,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have that kind of confidence as a group going into the third knowing that we know what to do and how to do it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Picking up a much-needed six Hockey East points against an unranked-UNH team this weekend, the Terriers will prepare for a conference road trip next weekend against historic rival Boston College. It will be the first matchup without Jack Parker or Jerry York behind the bench for either team in over 50 years as both sides usher in new eras of coaching.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be exciting,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cAnytime it\u2019s BU-BC it\u2019s awesome. It\u2019s a great experience for the players.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BU will head to BC Friday for the Battle of Comm. Ave at Conte Forum. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gracie Davenport No. 9\/7 Boston University Men\u2019s Hockey (10-4-0, 7-3-0 HE) completed the home-and-home series sweep against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (3-13-1, 0-11-1 HE) Saturday night with a 3-0 win. After a high-scoring 6-3 game on Friday night, both teams cleaned up their games in a tense rematch at Agganis Arena.\u00a0 \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21299,"featured_media":35277,"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\/35275"}],"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\/21299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35275"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35279,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35275\/revisions\/35279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}