{"id":45762,"date":"2025-01-23T22:17:43","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T03:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=45762"},"modified":"2025-01-23T22:18:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T03:18:24","slug":"mens-hockey-return-of-the-comm-ave-rivalry-set-to-begin-in-front-of-sold-out-agganis-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2025\/01\/23\/mens-hockey-return-of-the-comm-ave-rivalry-set-to-begin-in-front-of-sold-out-agganis-crowd\/","title":{"rendered":"Men’s Hockey: Return of the Comm. Ave rivalry set to begin in front of sold out Agganis crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured image by Spirit Veron<\/em><\/p>\n

By Alexa Podalsky<\/em><\/p>\n

The Battle of Commonwealth Avenue is around the corner, and more than bragging rights are on the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a really good challenge for our group,\u201d coach Jay Pandolfo said. \u201cPlaying against a huge rival\u2026 but also they\u2019re the number one team in the country. It\u2019s a great opportunity for us to see where we\u2019re at as a team.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Boston University (13-7-1, 9-3-1 HE) is looking for revenge on Friday night at Agganis Arena after losing twice to Boston College (16-4-1, 9-3-1 HE) last year, but their penalty habit could put them behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The No. 8 Terriers\u2019 four-game win streak has boosted them to the top of the Hockey East and the top 10 of the USCHO standings. Meanwhile, BC is the USCHO\u2019s top-ranked team, despite being ranked second in the conference, and has won the past three non-exhibition games against BU.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Eagles\u2019 strong offense, led by Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault, and Teddy Stiga, could pose a problem if the Terriers continue their parade to the penalty box.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping [penalties are] not a big factor, we obviously want to stay out of the box,\u201d captain Shane Lachance said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be disciplined in all areas of the game, and I think that\u2019s going to be a huge key to winning this weekend.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

BC\u2019s offense has outscored their opponents 68-38, while their defense ranks third in goals scored and second in the penalty kill. Sophomore forward Ryan Leonard is ranked third with 15 goals scored this season, and Gabe Perreault is ranked second in assists.<\/p>\n

BU has the seventh-worst penalty kill in Division 1 (75%) and allowed 21 power-play goals against in 84 attempts. With 347 penalty minutes on the season, the Terriers face the challenge of remaining disciplined in front of a sold-out crowd coming off two penalty-heavy games against New Hampshire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a challenge for us this year, there\u2019s no question about it,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cSaturday\u2019s UNH game, in a tight game like that, it\u2019s very difficult if you take three penalties in the third period. And that\u2019s what we did.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

BU swept last weekend despite taking 11 penalties against No. 18 UNH, including one major penalty against Gavin McCarthy last Friday. Pandolfo believes that his players understand the stakes their lack of discipline causes but aren\u2019t \u201cshowing it quite yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all know, you don\u2019t want to get into penalty trouble with the team we\u2019re playing this weekend,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cThey have dangerous players and they\u2019ll make you pay.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The annual rivalry matchups will begin at a sold-out Agganis Arena on Friday and end at the Conte Forum on Saturday. Both games start at 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+ and NESN. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured image by Spirit Veron By Alexa Podalsky The Battle of Commonwealth Avenue is around the corner, and more than bragging rights are on the line.\u00a0 \u201cI think it\u2019s a really good challenge for our group,\u201d coach Jay Pandolfo said. \u201cPlaying against a huge rival\u2026 but also they\u2019re the number one team in the country. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21300,"featured_media":45695,"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\/45762"}],"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\/21300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45762"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45764,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45762\/revisions\/45764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}