Not much has changed since my last Terrier update. The No. 4 Boston University men’s hockey team is still one of the top five teams in the nation. The Terriers (4-2-1, 1-0-1 Hockey East) opened up Hockey East Play this past weekend with a home-and-home series against Northeastern University.
Friday night’s game at Northeastern’s historic Matthews Arena ended in a 4-4 tie, an outcome BU fans should not be thrilled about. Although the Terriers controlled play for most of the game, outshooting the Huskies (3-3-3, 0-2-1 Hockey East) 36-30 in the process, they blew a one-goal lead on three separate occasions.
Although Terriers rebounded quite nicely with a 3-0 victory against Northeastern the following night, their weekend should have included two victories over an unranked opponent. Now let’s ask, where do they stand in the mix of the nation’s best teams?
The Good
Goaltending: Freshman goaltender Jake Oettinger continues to impress. He currently maintains a .941 save percentage and a 1.59 goals against average, good for sixth and fifth in the nation, respectively. He continues to be the team’s best penalty killer, despite being thrust into that position far too many times each game.
Defense: While Oettinger has been a rock in net for the Terriers thus far, the defense in front of him has been superb. The Terriers’ defense currently ranks No. 5 nationally, and it continues to pitch in offensively as well. Sophomore defenseman Charlie McAvoy quarterbacks the BU power play, and senior defenseman and captain Doyle Somerby anchors the defensive end.
Room for Improvement
Discipline: The BU penalty kill has been dominant to start the year, but the Terriers will lose games to better teams (tournament teams) without drastically improving their discipline. BU still averages over 20 penalty minutes per game.
While the penalty kill has been incredible (92.7 percent success rate), it has showed its vulnerability by allowing two power-play goals to the unranked Huskies on Friday night.
Sophomore forward Jordan Greenway has played excellent hockey so far this year. He skates harder and faster every shift, makes great shot selections and wreaks havoc for opposing defenders along the boards. Opposing defenders know, though, that he is the biggest target on the team. After the whistle has blown and Greenway is still on the ice, expect fireworks. This isn’t entirely Greenway’s fault, but it’s something he’ll have to work on.
On Friday night, Greenway received a 10-minute misconduct penalty for taunting the Huskies bench after scoring the go-ahead goal that gave BU a 3-2 advantage. After scoring a brilliant redirection goal, Greenway skated right in front of Northeastern’s bench to celebrate, drawing plenty of unwanted attention from the officials. This one, frankly, is Greenway’s fault. If the Terriers are going to win big this year, they need Greenway on the ice, and not in the penalty box.
Power Play: The Terriers went one-for-six on the power play on Friday night, and struggled all game with the man advantage until late in the third period. While I do credit the Huskies’ aggressive penalty kill, the Terriers failed to make adjustments and squandered key opportunities.
Again, to give credit where credit is due, Northeastern goaltender Ryan Ruck played a rock solid game Friday night — far better than his stats suggest, anyway. He made 32 saves, had excellent rebound control through most of the game and fended off tremendous traffic that BU put in front of him through most of the night. His crease was often crowded, both before and after the whistle.
When facing a goaltender with a .898 save percentage and 2.51 goals against average, the best tactic is obviously to shoot the puck on net. Take shots on net, and good things will happen. While BU did outshoot the Huskies, the Terriers were graced with six power-play opportunities.
All four of Northeastern’s penalty killers would line up at the blue line to stifle any BU rush before it could generate. They did not allow BU’s skilled power play specialists (i.e. freshman forwards Clayton Keller and Patrick Harper) to carry the puck through the blue line. Rather than pursue a dump-and-chase strategy, BU continued to try to carry the puck through the wall of Huskies. BU did score on its final power play of the evening late in the third period, but it was not enough to win the game.
To conclude, the Terriers without a doubt have everything it takes to be a national championship contender. It will take a lot of work and development to get there. But if BU head coach David Quinn can provide the right guidance, and if the players perform to the best of their ability, this BU team could make a championship run.
