Arch Madness (National Championship Preview)
The Terriers defeat Penn State 3-1 to head to their 12th National Championship Game in search of their 6th National Championship
Third times the charm as the Terriers finally win a game in the Frozen Four under Jay Pandolfo after 3 straight trips and will face Western Michigan in the Championship Game.
Men’s
Penn State (3-1 W)
The Terriers’ third straight trip to the Frozen Four began with a scoreless first, with BU leading shots 11-7. At 1:35 of the 2nd, Matt Copponi’s shot got lost under Arsenii Sergeev’s pad and was poked into goal by Jack Hughes for his 2nd goal of the NCAA tournament and 4th point. Midway through the second, a 2 on 1 with Cole Hutson and Cole Eiserman the Terriers extended their lead with Eiserman’s 8th goal in his last 7 games.
In the third, Penn State opened the period with a goal at 2:15 of the period. The Nittany Lions continued to barrage the net with 18 shots on goal in the period compared to BU’s 9. However, their early goal was the only one PSU could muster. Jack Harvey sealed it with an empty net goal with less than a minute to go to send the Terriers to the National Championship game. Harvey’s 4th goal in 5 NCAA tournament games.
Mikhail Yegorov continued his stellar play in net, stopped 32 of the 33 Nittany Lions’ shots on goal. He has allowed 2 or fewer goals in 13 of 17 games he’s played. BU went 2-2 on the PK.
The win was BU’s 50th NCAA tournament win, with the Terriers heading to their 12th National Championship game (1st since 2015), looking for their 6th National Championship.
Other Notes
Cole Hutson tied brother, Lane for the program record for assist by a freshman defenseman with 33
Jay Pandolfo becomes the 5th Terrier Head Coach to lead BU to a National Championship Game alongside Harry Cleverly, Jack Kelley, Jack Parker, and David Quinn
Advanced Stats
The National Semifinal was the 5th time this season that BU has had OZone Possession under 10 mins, they are 4-0-1 in those games, with the tie coming against Maine on November 16th. Despite the less OZone Possession, the Terriers did hold the slight edge of even strength possession, 51% to 49%. They also led Puck Battles 51% to 49%.
Jack Hughes was the Terriers’ top performer in terms of Game Score for the 2nd time in 3 games and the 3rd time in 5. It was his second-highest Game Score performance, behind only the Regional Semifinal vs. Ohio State (4.3646).
Penn State recorded 4 high danger shots (1.0 xG) only 1 resulted in a goal—two missed the net and the other was saved. BU recorded 3 high danger shots (.76 xG) with 1 resulting in Jack Hughes’ goal, 1 saved, and 1 missed the net. Matt Copponi led the Terriers with 7 scoring chances.
The Cumulative xG chart shows how much Penn State peppered the BU net in the third, shooting up in the first 3 minutes of the period to take the xG lead for good.
Only Jack Hughes, Matt Copponi, Jack Harvey and Cole Hutson recorded xG% over 50 in the game, with only 3 other Terriers recording an xG% over 40.
Golden Arches
The Boston University Terriers will face off with the NCHC Champion Western Michigan Broncos (April 12th, 7:30pm) with a National Championship Trophy on the line.
The Terriers are playing in their 12th National Championship game looking for their 6th title, while the Broncos are playing in their 1st National Championship game looking for their first title.
The Broncos’ path to the National Championship Game begin with a 2-1 Double OT win over CCHA Tournament Champion Minnesota State in the Fargo Regional Semifinal, with Liam Valente and Grant Slukynsky—the game winner—scoring for WMU. In the Fargo Regional Final, another 2-1 win for the Broncos, this time over UMass-Amherst and this time in regulation. Liam Valente scored his second power play goal in as many games and Tim Washe scoring the game winner on the power play. In the National Semifinal vs. Denver, a rematch of the NCHC title game, WMU took a 2-0 lead into the third where DU tied things up and sent things to overtime. After a scoreless first OT period, Owen Michaels scored the game winner 26 seconds in to the 2nd overtime period.
WMU have gone to double overtime in 3 of their last four games, including two with Denver.
Western Michigan is led by Alex Bump, who 47 points in 41 games along with 23 goals, to lead the team in both. Bump leads the nation with 245 shots on goal, 54 more than the next closest skater. Tim Washe and Grant Slukynsky are both second on the team with 36 point each. Along with Washe, Owen Michaels each have 16 goals. In net, freshman Hampton Slukynsky holds a 1.9 GAA and .922 SV%, the GAA is 6th nationally.
This will be the 2nd time in three years that the Terriers and Broncos will face off in the NCAA tournament, BU took that game 5-1 in the Manchester Regional Semifinal en route to their first Frozen Four under coach Jay Pandolfo.
Records
5-6: in National Championship Games
4-0-0: vs. Western Michigan (1-0-0 under Jay Pandolfo)
2-0-0: vs. Western Michigan in neutral site games (1-0-0)
Stats
Two players (at least as far as I could tell) have played for both BU and Western Michigan: Pat McMahon (3 GP for BU in 76-77, 44 GP for WMU 1978-80) and Ethan Phillips who played in the last matchup between BU and Western in the 2023 Manchester Regional Semifinal
Quinn Hutson is the only current player for either team to score in the last matchup between the teams in the 2023 Manchester Regional Semifinal—he had the game winner for the Terriers
