The Boston University men’s hockey team returned to Agganis Arena this Saturday against Merrimack College for the second game of a home-and-home series this weekend. After a disappointing loss on Friday night to the Warriors (3-3, 1-2 Hockey East), the Terriers (3-3, 2-2 HE) won 8-6 — salvaging a series split for the third week in a row.
The Terriers welcomed back assistant captain and senior forward Ty Amonte to the lineup for his first game of the season. Amonte scored the opening goal for the Terriers, providing a much-needed spark on and off the ice.
“Getting him injected back in the lineup was huge for the team. He had a big, kind of wild … amped-up lineup yell before the game, and the guys kind of fed off his energy,” head coach Albie O’Connell said in the postgame press conference.
After the Terriers’ 3-2 loss Friday night, O’Connell said he was “frustrated with our lack of attack, our lack of want to score and have a drive to score.” The Terriers were night-and-day in that department right from the puck drop, with their offensive mentality quite apparent.
“We came out with an attack mentality of just playing the right way, getting the puck in behind their [defense], getting shots on net,” O’Connell said, “and that’s how we kind of grew that lead.”
While eight shots in the first period may not have been an overwhelming output by the Terriers, they capitalized on their opportunities and scored four goals in the first period alone. Sophomore forward Dylan Peterson put home two of the Terriers’ four first-period goals, with junior forward Robert Mastrosimone and Amonte putting home one tally each.
Going into the game, an area of the Terriers’ game that wasn’t under scrutiny was their penalty kill — they entered Saturday a perfect 19-for-19 through five games. Merrimack finished the game 3-for-7 on the power play Saturday night, accounting for half of their goals.
Despite chippy play on both sides, the Terriers would only draw two penalties after the first period while Merrimack was granted seven. As the game progressed and the offense continued to pile on for both sides, so did the physicality and the extracurricular activities after the whistle.
“Penalties, we’re gonna have to be a little more disciplined, for sure,” O’Connell said. “We just gotta be a little smarter away from the puck.”
Despite giving up two goals in the second, BU was able to stay even with the Warriors by putting up two of their own. Junior forward Wilmer Skoog scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season at the 8:15 mark, followed by Peterson securing a hat trick with just 10 seconds left in the period to put the Terriers up 6-3.
O’Connell praised Peterson, saying that he “had a huge bounce-back game because he was one of those guys who had many opportunities to shoot.” Peterson scored his first three goals of the season Saturday night, quickly tying his career high for goals in college hockey.
“We’ve had some split weekends for sure, and this weekend was huge for us,” Peterson said in the postgame press conference. “Coming off of this big win, I think we’re going to move forward and we’re gonna roll through the next couple of weekends, and we can go on a little bit of a streak here. So, I’m excited to see what happens.”
The third period did not slow down in terms of goals, with Merrimack outscoring BU 3-2 in the frame. Freshman forward Brian Carrabes and sophomore forward Nick Zabaneh both scored their first-ever college hockey goals.
Merrimack junior defenseman Zach Vinnell scored twice in the third period — at 9:35 and 18:53 — to complete a hat trick. Vinnell has already tied his season high for goals at three and has four points in six games to start the year off.
Terrier sophomore goaltender Drew Commesso was not as sharp as he had been in Friday night’s game, but he secured the win nonetheless.
The Terriers will return to action next Friday night at Agganis Arena to take on the University of Massachusetts Lowell Riverhawks for the first game of a home-and-home series.
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