Belpot Szn (Week 9 Preview)
The women's squad take on Princeton in a pre-Thanksgiving matchup and the men's squad heads to Belfast for the Friendship Four
The women (10-4-1, HEA (1st): 8-2-1) take on the Princeton Tigers in their last non-Beanpot non-conference game while the men (6-5-1, HEA (6th): 3-2-1) head to Belfast, Northern Ireland for the Friendship Four.
Women’s
The women finish out their Agganis Arena residency with a single game against Princeton (November 27th, 2pm).
Princeton
(5-5-1, ECAC (9th): 3-5-1)
The Tigers visit the Terriers for the first time in 8 years, with the last games coming November 25th (4-1 W) and 26th (4-3 W (OT)) 2016. This is Princeton’s second game at Agganis Arena, almost 14 years to the day of their last visit on November 27th, 2010, a 2-1 BU win.
Princeton comes off a split weekend at home, beating #5 Colgate 4-3 in overtime before losing to #8 Cornell 4-3. The Tigers are led by junior Issy Wunder (8-9—17) who enters the weekend on a 16 game point streak dating back to February 10th of last season. Freshman Mackenzie Alexander has 16 points on the season and recorded a point in all but 1 game this season. Senior Sarah Paul is Princeton’s goal leader with 9 on the season. Senior Jennifer Olnowich has played the bulk of the minutes in goal with .891 SV% and a 3.21 GAA.
The Terriers had the weekend off after splitting with the BC Eagles the previous weekend, which included a 3-1 win in which the Terriers held the Eagles to just 8 shots on goal. After a 4 point weekend, Julia Shaunessy is tied for 2nd in Hockey East in conference points with 10, one point off the lead. Clara Yuhn is on a career high 6 game point streak. Lindsay Bochna has scored 6 of her 8 points this season during her current 5 game point streak.
Records
6-3-1: vs. Princeton
4-1-0: vs. Princeton at Home
1-0-0: vs. Princeton at Agganis Arena
12-3-3: at Agganis Arena (5-1-1 under Tara Watchorn)
Stats
Princeton is the only non-conference opponent that coaches Tara Watchorn and Reagan Rust have both scored goals against as BU players
Tara Watchorn’s goal as a player vs. Princeton (11/27/10) was the first goal scored in a non-conference game for the Terriers at Agganis Arena
Men’s
The men (6-5-1, HEA (T-6th): 3-2-1) open up their quest for the Belpot with a matchup with Merrimack (November 29th, 9 am ET), and will play Harvard or Notre Dame on Saturday (November 30th: 3rd Place game 10am ET / Championship game 2pm ET) based on the results.
Friendship Four
The Terriers make their second trip across the Atlantic to take part in the 2024 Friendship Four alongside the Merrimack Warriors (3-7-1, HEA (10th): 2-4-1), Harvard Crimson (2-3-1, ECAC (9th): 2-2-1), and Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-9-0, Big Ten (6th) 1-7-0). It will be the first trip to Belfast for the other three teams.
The tournament begins with the Terriers and Warriors completing their transatlantic home-and-home series in the first game of the tournament. In game one between the teams, former Warrior Matt Copponi led all players with 3 points, including the two goals. 5 different Terriers recorded multipoint games, the most since the 2024 West Regional Semifinal vs. RIT when 6 different Terriers did so. BU was able to stave off Merrimack’s pressure in the first two period before putting the game away in the 3rd. The game will mark the first mid-season tournament matchup between the Terriers and Warriors since the Boston Arena Christmas Tournament on December 28th, 1967, an 8-1 BU win.
Harvard and Notre Dame will face off in the second semifinal at the SSE Arena. Harvard comes off a 5-3 loss to UMass-Amherst, in which the Crimson took a 2-1 lead into the third, but was unable to hold off the Minuteman. The Crimson are led by freshman Mick Thompson with 7 points through 6 games. Notre Dame was swept by Minnesota over the weekend 3-6 and 3-5, and have lost 7 straight. Cole Knuble leads the Irish with 14 points. The Crimson and Irish will be facing off for just the 8th time in the history, with 6 of those 8 coming in the 70s and the last in 2015 at the Notre Dame hosted Shillelagh tournament.
Should the Terriers face Harvard, it will be their first non-Beanpot neutral site game vs. the Crimson since the 2003 NCAA Tournament at the DCU Center on March 28th, 2003, a 6-4 BU win. Should the Terriers face Notre Dame, it will be their first neutral site game vs. the Irish since the 2011 Shillelagh Tournament, in which the teams skated to a 3-3 tie but the Irish prevailed in a shootout to earn 3rd place.
Belpot History
BU are competing in their 2nd Friendship Four. Last time out, in 2018 the Terriers made the Championship game but fell to Union 1-2 with Ty Amonte their sole goalscorer. They are the 6th team to compete for the Belpot multiple times. Of those teams, 3 have won the title in one of their trips.
Record
11-3-0: vs Merrimack in tournaments
9-8-0: in Neutral Site games under Jay Pandolfo
1-1-0: at SSE Arena
Stats
Should BU play Harvard, it will the 11th different venue in which the two teams have faced off
Co-captain Ryan Greene, and assistant captains Quinn Hutson and Devin Kaplan have played in 17 neutral site games in their Terrier careers with Greene leading all current Terriers with 5 goals and 10 points in such games
This will be the 2nd non-Beanpot mid-season tournament under Jay Pandolfo, the Terriers competed in the Desert Hockey Classic in 2022-23, losing in the final to Michigan Tech 2-3
