{"id":51006,"date":"2025-11-06T19:13:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T00:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=51006"},"modified":"2025-11-06T19:13:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T00:13:45","slug":"mens-hockey-no-12-terriers-return-home-to-face-unranked-merrimack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2025\/11\/06\/mens-hockey-no-12-terriers-return-home-to-face-unranked-merrimack\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Hockey: No. 12 Terriers Return Home to Face Unranked Merrimack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured Image by Jenny Chen<\/p>\n

By Ethan Pott<\/p>\n

No. 12 Boston University Men\u2019s Ice Hockey (3-5-1, 1-3-0 HEA) returns home to Agganis Arena to face the unranked Merrimack Warriors (3-3-0, 2-2-0 HEA) on Friday.<\/p>\n

The Terriers look to bounce back from a crushing away weekend series at the University of Maine that ended in 5-4 and 8-5 defeats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole team has to step up this weekend,\u201d BU Head Coach Jay Pandolfo said. \u201cWe all have to step up, including me. That\u2019s the only way you\u2019re going to win hockey games, if you\u2019re connected as a group.\u201d<\/p>\n

BU will look to rebound this weekend, focusing on improving its defense and goaltending. Sophomore goalie Mikhail Yegorov was pulled from the Nov. 1st game after conceding three early goals.<\/p>\n

\u201c[In] the last six games, it\u2019s close to 30 goals we\u2019ve given up,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cThat\u2019s not a very good recipe for winning hockey. We have to get better at defending, keeping the puck out of our net, so we\u2019re working on that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In total, Yegorov allowed Maine eight goals in just over 70 minutes of play. This season, Yegorov has a 3.63 goals-against average and a .887 save percentage, both of which are down from his debut semester in 2025.<\/p>\n

Pandolfo said Yegorov may be \u201cputting too much pressure on himself\u201d and \u201coverthinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, [he came] in and everything is a whirlwind,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cYou\u2019re going out there and playing and enjoying the moment. He\u2019s got to get back to enjoying the moment, stop putting pressure on himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The matchup against the Warriors will be the Terriers\u2019 first time seeing an unranked opponent since they beat the Colgate Raiders in a shootout on Oct. 11.<\/p>\n

Sophomore defenseman Cole Hutson is a player to watch for the Terriers. Hutson was named Hockey East Defender of the Month for October, notching three goals and 10 points during the month. He followed that up with a three-point game on Nov. 1 against Maine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a guy who, if it\u2019s not going too well for us, he feels like he has to put his team on his back,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cThat\u2019s how competitive he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freshman forward Ben Merrill and sophomore forward Brandon Svoboda each collected their first two goals of the season during the Terriers’ losing effort against the Black Bears.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Svoboda] and Ben Merrill together, they found some chemistry,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cThose two play with an identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pandolfo credited Merrill and Svoboda for using their speed and size to the team\u2019s advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m another forward on our team, I\u2019m knocking on my door asking if I can play with those two,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cWhoever plays with them seems to have a pretty good game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the losses, BU produced offensively even without sophomore forward Cole Eiserman, who still leads the team in goalscoring with six goals on the season.<\/p>\n

Eiserman was kept out of the series by an injury, but Pandolfo said he would \u201cbe back sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pandolfo does not expect Eiserman to appear in the series against the Warriors. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just don\u2019t want to push it too much,\u201d Pandolfo said.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the ice, Merrimack is also looking to recover from back-to-back losses, having fallen to Long Island University and to UConn in its last two games.<\/p>\n

Freshman forward Parker Lalonde leads the Warriors in goalscoring, netting five this season. Lalonde and sophomore forward Trevor Hoskin both lead the team with six points to their names.<\/p>\n

Merrimack junior goaltender Max Lundgren started the Warriors\u2019 two previous losses, allowing three goals in each. Before the two losses, Lundgren was solid in the net. He currently sports a 2.18 goals-against average on the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMerrimack plays hard; they forecheck very well,\u201d Pandolfo said. \u201cThey\u2019re a bigger, heavier team. So they\u2019re going to be physical, just like everyone has been against us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two Hockey East rivals will match up at Agganis Arena on Nov. 7 and on the Warriors\u2019 home turf in North Andover on Nov. 8. Streaming will be available on ESPN+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured Image by Jenny Chen By Ethan Pott No. 12 Boston University Men\u2019s Ice Hockey (3-5-1, 1-3-0 HEA) returns home to Agganis Arena to face the unranked Merrimack Warriors (3-3-0, 2-2-0 HEA) on Friday. The Terriers look to bounce back from a crushing away weekend series at the University of Maine that ended in 5-4 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24794,"featured_media":50503,"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\/51006"}],"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\/24794"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51006"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51008,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51006\/revisions\/51008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}