PREVIEW: BU men's hockey readies for home-and-home series with rival Boston College
Yesterday at 09:26 PM
Even in the days leading up to this weekend's series with Boston College, head coach Jay Pandolfo hasn't said much to the newcomers on the Boston University men's hockey team about what it's like to play in the storied rivalry.
When they take the ice Friday night at a sold-out Agganis Arena, they'll understand.
"There's only so much you can say. You have to live it, really," Pandolfo said in his weekly media call Thursday. "First shift to warmups, all these things. Once you see that, you can just tell there's a different buzz in the building."
There has always been a "different buzz" in the building when the two teams square off — even when one or both programs haven't been nationally relevant. But the rivalry has had an extra jolt since the start of last year, with both blue-bloods consistently near the top of the national polls.
Not only are both BC and BU ranked in the top 10 of the USCHO.com poll and the PairWise coming into this weekend, but each team appears to be peaking just in time to face one another.
After an inconsistent fall semester that featured four home losses and a 7-5 defeat to 5-11-1 Yale, the Terriers have enjoyed a 4-0-0 start to 2025. The wins (sweeps of New Hampshire and Vermont) haven't been perfect, but they've provided a boost of confidence and 12 Hockey East points, which puts BU atop the league standings with 28 points.
The Eagles — second in Hockey East with 26 points — have also won four straight, including last weekend's convincing home-and-home sweep of No. 7 Providence.
"They obviously have a really good top line that we've got to make sure we contain to the best of our abilities," said sophomore captain Shane Lachance. We just have to make sure we have all of our guys back. They have super skilled players that can finish."
Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. for both nights of the highly-anticipated home-and-home between No. 8 Terriers (13-7-1, 9-3-1 Hockey East) and No. 1 Eagles (16-4-1, 9-3-1 HE). After Friday's showdown at Agganis, the teams will face off on Saturday at BC's Conte Forum.
Here's what you need to know.
Limiting penalties will be critical
By now, the Terriers' penalty-box problem is well documented. BU leads the nation with 347 penalty minutes, which includes nine major penalties. Bringing those numbers down has been a point of emphasis for months.
Nonetheless, the issues remain mostly unsolved. In last weekend's sweep of New Hampshire, BU took 11 penalties, including a face-masking major and game misconduct on Gavin McCarthy.
"I feel like we've gotten a little better recently, but there's still some games that we're taking penalties that are unnecessary," Pandolfo said. "It's something that we're still trying to improve on. Our guys have an understanding of that, but they're not showing it quite yet, game in and game out."
Poise and discipline will be paramount against BC, which has perhaps the most talented roster in the country. The Eagles' power play has been mediocre at 19.6%, but it still features several surefire NHLers (Ryan Leonard, James Hagens, Gabe Perreault, etc.) who are more than capable of finding the back of the net.
"I think we all know you don't want to get into penalty trouble against the team we're playing this weekend," Pandolfo said. "They have some dangerous players, and they'll make you pay."
Mikhail Yegorov is with the team, but Mathieu Caron will start in net on Friday
The Russian netminder joined the squad from the USHL's Omaha Lancers this week, which Pandolfo attributed to a "number of reasons."
Omaha has had a turbulent stretch. The team (6-23-4) is the worst in the USHL, and has gone through three coaches in the last year. One of those coaches, Lennie Childs, lasted just four games before getting fired. Pandolfo said those circumstances contributed to Yegorov's arrival at BU.
"We thought best thing for his development if we can get him in here now," Pandolfo said, noting the benefit of Yegorov working with BU goalie coach Brian Daccord and practicing against NCAA skaters. "It gives him a head start for next year, and I think it's important for a goalie to get comfortable at this level."
It's unclear whether Yegorov will be in the mix for significant playing time — or where he stacks up against backup Max Lacroix on the depth chart. But Pandolfo did say the ability to "strengthen our goaltending position" was another factor in plucking the 6-foot-5 Yegorov from Omaha.
Still, Pandolfo said there is "no question" Caron will get the start against BC on Friday.
"He's coming off two really solid weekends for us, but he played excellent Saturday night against UNH, especially in the third there when we took three penalties," Pandolfo said. "Made some big saves on the penalty kill."
Scouting the Eagles
BC lost star forwards Cutter Gauthier and Will Smith to the NHL, but the Eagles reloaded with a roster just as talented as last year's national runner-up squad — if not more so.
Sophomores Leonard and Perreault, who played on the top line with Smith last year, have continued to develop and improve. Perreault leads the team with 28 points (8 goals, 20 assists), and Leonard has seven assists and 15 goals, tied for the third-most in the nation.
Those two found instant chemistry playing on a line with freshman James Hagens (6-19-25), who is projected as a high-first rounder at the 2025 NHL Draft, although the Eagles have shuffled their lines of late.
BC has plenty of other standouts, too, including freshman forward Teddy Stiga (7-11-18), junior Andre Gasseau (8-7-15) and junior Oskar Jellvik (4-7-11).
The Eagles also have a potential Richter Award winner in net: sophomore Jacob Fowler, who has a .934 save percentage and a 1.70 goals against average. He's a key component to BC's lights-out penalty kill, which is 2nd-best in college hockey at 90.7%.
