By: Dan Shulman<\/p>\n
BU Men\u2019s Ice Hockey vs. Michigan (non-conference) November 11-12, 2016<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n ABOUT THE OPPONENT<\/p>\n Location \u2013 Ann Arbor, Michigan; Mascot \u2013 Wolverines; This Year\u2019s Record \u2013 4-3-1 (0-0-0 B1G), 2-1-1 at home, Terriers are 12-15-0 vs. Michigan all-time; Fun Fact \u2013 BU hasn\u2019t played a two-game series at Yost Arena since October 2007, when Michigan swept BU.<\/p>\n PREVIEW<\/p>\n After a successful opening weekend in Hockey East play, the Boston University Terriers Men\u2019s Ice Hockey team will travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan for a two-game series with the Michigan Wolverines.<\/p>\n \u201cThe guys are excited about heading out to Ann Arbor,\u201d said BU head coach David Quinn. \u201cPlaying a really good team in a great atmosphere. We\u2019ve had some great games with them over the past two years and I\u2019m anticipating another great weekend of hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n The Terriers settled for a 4-4 tie last Friday against Northeastern, but would rebound the following night with a 3-0 victory. Freshman forward Clayton Keller had four points on the weekend to earn Hockey East Rookie of the Week honors.<\/p>\n There was a scary moment for the Terriers when Keller went down late in the third period on Saturday with an apparent leg injury. The freshman will be missing an extended amount of time with a lower body injury but will not require surgery, per Terrier head coach David Quinn.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s week by week,\u201d said Quinn. \u201cDepending how his rehab goes and how quickly he recovers. But we\u2019re a lot more optimistic today than we were three days ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Michigan was in action for one game last weekend, defeating Arizona State 4-1 in Glendale, Arizona. Will Lockwood scored twice and Zach Nagelvoort recorded 31 saves in the win.<\/p>\n The two schools last met for a two-game series last season at Agganis Arena in Boston, with each side earning a victory. The Terriers scored three times in the third period to earn a 3-2 win on the first night. The following afternoon, BU came out slow and allowed three early goals en route to a 4-2 thumping.<\/p>\n This season, Michigan has been tasked with replacing its top seven scorers from last season, all of which left to join the NHL. Helping with production is freshman Jake Slaker. Through his first eight games, the forward has scored three goals and added four assists.<\/p>\n \u201c[Michigan] has a good team,\u201d said Coach Quinn. \u201cThey\u2019re always getting good players. They may not have the experience they\u2019ve had in the past but they do have a lot of good players. So we\u2019ve got to be ready to go from the drop of the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n Defensively, Nolan De Jong returns from last year\u2019s NCAA Tournament team to serve as co-captain. With only two points and a +1 rating, De Jong leads Michigan defenseman with 12 shots on goal.<\/p>\n In net, Michigan will likely have both Hayden Lavigne and Jack LaFontaine this weekend. Both freshman goalies have appeared in three games this season and the starting job looks like it will be shared by the tandem.<\/p>\n For the Terriers, a key component of helping replace Clayton Keller\u2019s offensive ability will be fellow freshman Patrick Harper. Leading BU in points with 11 through seven games, the fifth-round draft pick has shown he is skilled at creating space on offensive.<\/p>\n The Terriers depth will be thoroughly tested this weekend. Not only will Keller be out of the lineup but Ryan Cloonan and Nick Olsson have also been battling upper-body injuries. According to Quinn, Olsson is close to playing this weekend but Cloonan will likely be out for both games at Michigan.<\/p>\n Replacing Keller on the second line will likely be Nick Roberto. The senior forward has scored twice and added three assists this season. According to Coach Quinn, it will be a \u201cmix-and-match situation\u201d until the star freshman returns to the lineup.<\/p>\n On defense, Charlie McAvoy has assumed a huge roll as top blue-liner for this Terriers team. The sophomore has six assists this season and has only taken two penalties. He\u2019s been a major contributor on the power play and penalty killing units for BU.<\/p>\n In net, Jake Oettinger has taken the starting job in stride for BU. He missed time last Saturday following an equipment issue, but otherwise has played in 98% of the minutes for the Terriers this season. With a 1.59 GAA and a .941 SV%, the 17-year-old is playing like a seasoned veteran.<\/p>\n \u201cJake\u2019s had a great start,\u201d said Coach Quinn. \u201cHopefully he can continue to build on what he\u2019s been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Friday night\u2019s game is set to begin at 7:35 p.m. while Saturday\u2019s puck drop will be at 5:00 p.m. from Yost Arena.<\/p>\n PREDICTION \u2013 BU ties then wins<\/p>\n In what will be almost a carbon copy of last weekend, the Terriers will dominate Friday night only to find Michigan earning a tie due to lack of discipline. The following evening, BU will come out flying and earn a convincing victory.<\/p>\n BU\u2019s THREE KEYS TO THE GAME<\/p>\n BU was extremely disciplined on Saturday night, playing much of the game at even strength. By staying out of the box, not only does BU give its opponents fewer opportunities to score, but the Terriers can begin to find a rhythm to the game.<\/p>\n Michigan, like many of BU\u2019s opponents this season, have been dominant early in games but fall apart in the third period. BU will need to get out of the first period unscathed both nights to be successful.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully we get off to a good start,\u201d said Quinn. \u201cWe want to play 60 minutes of hockey and don\u2019t want to let the other dictate how we play.\u201d<\/p>\n Yost Arena is an overwhelming venue to play in for visitors. Unlike in Denver, BU needs to keep a level head in a hostile building and take the crowd out of the game as early as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Dan Shulman BU Men\u2019s Ice Hockey vs. Michigan (non-conference) November 11-12, 2016 ABOUT THE OPPONENT Location \u2013 Ann Arbor, Michigan; Mascot \u2013 Wolverines; This Year\u2019s Record \u2013 4-3-1 (0-0-0 B1G), 2-1-1 at home, Terriers are 12-15-0 vs. Michigan all-time; Fun Fact \u2013 BU hasn\u2019t played a two-game series at Yost Arena since October 2007, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17192,"featured_media":1378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1026,1028],"tags":[1053,1248],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7306"}],"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\/17192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22304,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7306\/revisions\/22304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\n