No. 6 Terriers drop exhibition matchup against U.S. Under-18 team

The game didn’t count, but at least the No. 6 Boston University men’s hockey team has a chance to forget it in a hurry.

In their first of two games on the weekend and their last exhibition contest of the season, the Terriers hosted the U-18 U.S. National Team Development Program at Agganis Arena on Friday night, losing 7-4.

BU plays the University of Wisconsin on Saturday night, its regular-season home opener and an opportunity to bounce back from Friday evening’s performance.

According to BU head coach David Quinn, the Terriers’ problems stemmed from being too immature of a hockey team. They played high-risk and were unable to build any momentum. Even when they managed to “crawl back into it,” Quinn said his team wasn’t mentally tough enough to stay with it.

The U-18s got the scoring started just 43 seconds after the game began. Sophomore forward Robbie Baillargeon tried to get the puck out of the corner and it bounced up into the slot. Freshman center Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson managed to get a stick on it as well in an attempt to clear, but the puck bounced off his stick, ricocheting off the skate of center Trent Frederic and past sophomore goalie Connor LaCouvee.

“Some nights it jumps in the net for the other team, and it doesn’t go in the net for you, but give them a lot of credit,” Quinn said. “I thought they were very opportunistic. Right from the get-go it didn’t look like it was going to be our night after that first goal, but right now we’re just too immature.”

Exactly five minutes later, the Terriers tied it up. Senior assistant captain Danny O’Regan took the puck up the left wing boards and backhanded a pass to freshman forward Jordan Greenway. The rookie shoved the puck across the slot as he was falling and connected with senior forward Ahti Oksanen, who skated into it and beat netminder and BU commit Jake Oettinger.

Oettinger finished the game with 41 saves on 45 total shots faced, a little over double what LaCouvee and senior goalie Sean Maguire saw between the pipes. The BU tandem split time in net and surrendered seven tallies on 22 shots for a combined 68.2 save percentage.

Oksanen added that an area of concern for the team is the defense, as right now BU is fixated more on offense than anything else.

“Hit guys, just not watch the puck all the time and not be so focused on the offense,” Oksanen said.

Team USA got its second goal of the game from two future Terriers, as center Clayton Keller skated past the left circle 11 and a half minutes in and brought the puck in close to LaCouvee. Instead of shooting, though, Keller passed the puck back up the slot and found winger and BU commit Kieffer Bellows, who fired for the goal.

The pair finished with two goals and four assists between them for six total points, helping pot three of their team’s seven markers.

Senior assistant captain Matt Lane and Oksanen each added another goal, but the U-18s tacked on a trio as well, including one that BU commit and defenseman Chad Krys assisted on to ultimately take the victory.

Each of both teams’ final tallies were on the power play, with the squads combining for five third-period penalties. They both had been perfect on the penalty kill prior to their opponent’s late conversions.

Quinn said that a lot of what happened in that final frame had to do with the immaturity he spoke to before.

“They’ve got guys that, when they smell blood, they hurt you, and that’s what happened tonight,” he said.

Going into Saturday’s game, Quinn said the team hopes to build more on how it played at Union College last Saturday. The team played hard and smart against the Dutchmen, but, there’s much to learn from that game as well.

“The goals we give up are too easy,” Quinn said. “We’re not making people work for them, and that’s going to have to change.”