Dueling Shutouts (Week 13 Recap)
The men win 2 of 3 on the weekend and the women win their Beanpot tune-up game
The men split with UMass and beat Harvard, while the women beat New Hampshire in their Beanpot tune-up game.
Men’s
UMass Amherst (1-0 W, 0-2 W), Harvard (4-1 W)
The Terriers began 2026 with a solid defensive performance. In the first, the Terriers held the Minutemen to just 4 shots on goal. Jonathan Morello was a perfect 5-5 at the face off dot in the period, the Terriers as a team won 13 of 15. He ended the game, winning 7 of 8. In the second, at 7:49, BU broke the tie when Jack Harvey scored his 6th of the season and first since November 22nd vs. Northeastern. That would be the last puck to enter the net as the Scarlet and White left the Mullins Center with a 1-0 shutout win.
Mikhail Yegorov earned his second career shutout and the first BU shutout at the Mullins Center since John Curry shutout the Minutemen on February 18th, 2005. Yegorov’s 18 save effort was the fewest in a shutout since Vinny Duplessis also saved 18 against Vermont on February 12th, 2021.
On Saturday night, the Minutemen return the favor. In the first, despite outshooting UMA 12-3, the Minutemen ended the period with the lead after scoring at 11:39. The goal ended Mikhail Yegorov’s shutout streak dating back to the December 13th vs. NU at 91:24. After a scoreless second, UMass potted an empty netter at 19:07. It was the first shutout at Agganis Arena since UMass also did so on January 7th, 2024.
The series was the first time in program history that BU and the same opponent shut out each other on back to back nights.
On Monday, the Terriers fought hard to close out their three games in four days with a win. Harvard opened the scoring at 13:15 in the first. Midway through the 2nd, the Terriers tied things up at 11:01 when Conrad Fondrk scored his first goal against a team whose name does not start with M—his previous goals came against Michigan State and Maine. Just over a minute later, Jonathan Morello scored his 4th goal of the season at 12:07 in the period. All 4 of Morello’s goals have been scored in the City of Boston.
The teams played a tight third. It wasn’t until the 18:22 when Harvard pulled their goalie that BU extended their lead. Ben Merrill potted the empty netter, his first since a pair in the Maine series on October 31st and November 1st. Morello, who assisted on Merrill’s goal, earned his first multipoint game since October 10th vs. Colgate. Sacha Boisvert further extended the Terriers lead at 19:27 with a second empty net goal. Boisvert 3rd of the season, each scored in a different Boston arena.
Mikhail Yegorov was stellar all weekend, 1 goal or fewer in three straight games for the first time in his career.
The win against Harvard was their first win at Bright-Landry in over ten years, their last win coming January 7th, 2016 (6-5 W).
Other Notes
Friday was BU’s 6th shutout of UMass (1st since Feb. 29th, 2008 (3-0)), 4th at Mullins (1st since Feb. 18th, 2005 (3-0))
It is the 1st time since 2017-18 that BU and their opponent shut out each other in back to back games—PC shutout BU on October 28th (0-3) and BU shutout PC on Nov. 3rd (2-0)
Monday was the first time since November 23rd, 1999 (2-1 W) that BU allowed 1 or fewer goals at Bright-Landry
Advanced Stats
UMass
Game 1
The Terriers won OZone Faceoffs 61%-31%, Neutral Zone Faceoffs 60%-40%, and DZone Faceoffs 69%-39%. BU held the Possession edge at EV with 53% to 47%, while UMass won Puck Battles 53%-47%. In 19 instance of OZone play, BU recorded a shot in 18 (94.7%) while UMA recorded a shot in 12 of 21 (57.1%).
Per Period xG: 1st (0.58-0.41, BU), 2nd (1.37-0.89, BU), 3rd (0.54-0.65, UMA)
Aiden Celebrini was the Terriers top performer—the 13th different Terrier to lead the team—in terms of Game Score, his best performance of the season and best Game Score since February 15th, 2025 vs. Providence.
Every Terrier recorded a positive Game Score for the first time since the January 31st, 2025 vs. UNH.
BU recorded just 1 High Danger shot (.25 xG) which was Jack Harvey’s goal, compared to UMA’s 2 (.40 xG) one was saved by Yegorov, one missed the net
The Terriers held the xG edge the entire game outside the first 5 minutes, maxing out at +1 at the 55-minute mark.
7 Different Terriers recorded an xG% over 66. Ironically, the only Terrier to score also recorded the lowest xG%, Jack Harvey, recorded an xG% of 31.34.
Game 2
The Terriers dominated in many areas of the game, winning Puck Battles 51%-49%, Possession at EV 58% to 42%, DZone Faceoffs 60%-44%, Neutral Zone Faceoffs 55%-45%, and OZone Faceoffs 56%-40%.
Per Period xG: 1st (0.85-0.38, BU), 2nd (0.57-0.53, BU), 3rd (0.79-0.54, BU)
Charlie Trethewey was the Terriers’ top performer in terms of Game Score for the second time this season and first since November 22nd vs. NU.
Both teams recorded 1 High Danger Shot, BU’s was saved, UMA’s missed the net.
BU held the xG edge for much of the game, despite the lack of goals.
All but 6 Terriers recorded xG% over 50.
Harvard
BU held the slight edge in Puck Battles 52%-48%. In the DZone the Terriers won a whopping 71%-59% of faceoffs. BU owned the OZone edge as well, winning 41%-29%
Jonathan Morello becomes the 14th different Terrier to be the team’s top Game Score performer. It was Morello’s far and away best performance as a Terrier (3.87) surpassing his previous best of 2.537 vs. Colgate on October 10th.
BU recorded 2 high danger shots (.45 xG) one result in Morello’s goal (.25 xG) and the other was saved (.20 xG). BU did not allow a high danger shot and only allowed 4 medium danger shots (.51 xG).
After Harvard took the xG edge early in the game, but after Harvard’s goal, BU took the advantage and kept it and expanded it the rest of the game.
4 Terriers record xG% over 80, led by Ryder Ritchie with 89.28, followed by Owen McLaughlin (82.86), Jack Murtagh (82.76), and Nick Roukounakis (80.46).
Women’s
New Hampshire (2-1 W)
The Terriers headed to UNH for their sole game before the start of the Beanpot and came back with the win. The Wildcats opened the scoring, shorthanded, at 13:21 in the first. Luisa Welcke tied things up in the waning minutes of the period, scoring her third of the season to send things to the break even. The goal was her first goal at the Whittemore Center since January 13th, 2023 while playing for Maine. In the second, team scoring leader Sydney Healey continued her scoring ways, giving the Terriers the lead for good at 10:06 in the period. It was her 11th of the season and first at the Whittemore Center.
Michelle Pasiechnyk, getting her first start since November 14th vs. Boston College, saved 25 of 26 shots she faced. The Scarlet and White were a perfect 3-3 on the PK and are a perfect 10-10 in their last 3 games.
Other Notes
After failing to score in her first 9 games vs. UNH, Sydney Healey has scored in back to back games against the Wildcats
The win is the first Pre-Beanpot game the Terriers have won under Tara Watchorn and improve to 12-6-2 in such games.