Fighting Back (Week 14 Recap)
The men split with Lowell with each team taking the road game, and the women drop their mid-Beanpot game to Holy Cross
The men’s squad return the favor beating UMass Lowell on the road after the River Hawks did the same on Friday night, the women’s team drop their mid-Beanpot game to Holy Cross.
Men’s
UMass Lowell (3-4 L (ot), 3-0 W)
On Friday night, the Terriers lost a tough one to the River Hawks. Jonathan Morello opened the scoring at 15:53 in the first. His fifth of the season and BU’s first 1st period goal since December 13th vs. Northeastern. BU dominated shots in the first 17-5.
In the second Jack Harvey extended the lead scoring his third power play goal of the season and the Terriers’ first since November 29th vs. Cornell at Madison Square Garden, ending a 14 PPO drought at 6:42 in the second. Harvey is the first Terrier with a shorthanded goal and a power goal in the same game since Devin Kaplan on February 14th, 2025 vs. Providence. Lowell scored three unanswered goals at 14:01, 18:12, and 19:56 in the second to take the lead going into the third.
Max Lacroix came in for the third after Mikhail Yegorov made just 15 saves on 18 shots on goal. At 6:47 in the third, Jack Harvey scored his second of the game shorthanded. His 3rd career multi-goal game and first since October 25th, 2025 vs. UConn.
The teams headed to overtime where UML got the OT GWG at 2:00 in the period. The loss with the Terriers 1000th in program history.
On Saturday, the Terriers fought back strong and tighten up defensively. After 39 mins and 59 seconds of scoreless hockey, Cole Hutson broke the ice with his 8th goal of the season and first since November 22nd vs. Northeastern. After 40 minutes of play the teams recorded just 22 shots combined, split evenly 11-11.
In the third, Nick Roukounakis doubled BU’s lead with his fourth of the season in his a fourth different arena at 11:38 in the period. Cole Hutson recorded an assist on the goal for his 6th multipoint game of the season. Ben Merrill recorded his 2nd empty net goal of the week to cap things off at 17:45.
The shutout was just the 4th all-time on the road vs. UMass Lowell, the first since March 15th, 2019 (3-0) in the Hockey East quarterfinal and first regular season shutout of the River Hawks since January 21st, 2000.
Mikhail Yegorov made 23 saves in his 2nd shutout of the season. He is the second Terrier to shutout both the Minutemen and River Hawks, following John Curry, and is the first to do so in the same season.
Other Notes
BU's 7th shorthanded goal of the season matches their season total from last season their most since recording 11 in 2018-19
In the last 3 games at the Tsongas Center, every Hutson playing has scored
BU’s win was their first January game at Tsongas since January 21st, 2000 coincidentally also a shutout (5-0)
Advanced Stats
Game 1
BU won Puck Battles 52%-48%, Possession at EV 52%-48%, as well as faceoffs in every zone, OZone (54%-37%), NZone (53%-47%), DZone (63%-46%). They also recorded a shot 81% of the time they recorded OZone play.
Per Period xG: 1st (0.69-0.61, BU), 2nd (0.81-0.92, UML), 3rd (0.88-0.58, BU), OT (0.05-0.39, UML)
Ryder Ritchie is the 16th different Terrier to lead the team in Game Score, with his second-best performance of the season (2.79) following October 10th vs. Colgate (3.67).
BU recorded just 1 high danger shot (.25 xG) which was saved compared to Lowell 4 (.9 xG), 1 resulted in a goal (.20 xG), 2 were saved (.5 xG), and 1 missed the net (.2 xG).
A back and forth xG night with the differential maxing out at .46.
For the 2nd straight game Ryder Ritchie record and xG% over 80.
Game 2
Despite holding the possession edge at EV 54%-46% and over 5.5 mins more of OZone Possession time, the River Hawks could only muster 4 Scoring Chances. The 4 Scoring Chances allowed is the fewest allowed by the Terriers since they allowed just 5 to Vermont on March 9th, 2024. The Terriers were able to win Puck Battles 55% - 45%.
Per Period xG: 1st (0.46-0.44, BU), 2nd (0.4-0.54, UML), 3rd (0.93-1.4, UML)
Cole Hutson recorded his 2nd best Game Score of the season after November 1st vs. Maine (4.116) and his 4th best of his career. Gavin McCarthy recorded 2nd best Game Score of the season following December 6th vs. Vermont (3.297)
BU recorded just 1 high danger shot (.25 xG) which was saved while UML recorded 2 (.45 xG) one was saved, the other missed the net.
The Terriers got the win despite only holding the xG edge from midway through the 1st through the first minute of the 2nd and the time between their 2nd and 3rd goal.
5 Terriers recorded xG% over 50, Jack Murtagh recorded an xG% of exactly 50.
Women’s
Holy Cross (2-4 L)
The Terriers had just one game between the Beanpot semifinal and the final. Holy Cross opened the scoring just 37 seconds into the game. The goal ended Mari Pietersen's 204 min 34 second shutout streak vs. the Crusaders. Just over a minute later, Neely Nicholson tied things up for the Scarlet and White with her second career goal at Walter Brown Arena and first since February 7th, 2025 at 1:54 of the period. Holy Cross went into intermission with the lead after a goal at 16:13 of the period. In the second, the Crusaders extended their lead with a goal at 12:38 in the period. Jackie Wright came in, in relief for the final 24 minutes of the game, her first career appearance. Holy Cross scored an empty netter at 16:25 in the third to further their lead. Luisa Welcke stopped the bleeding with an extra attacker goal at 17:16 in the 3rd. Welcke recording her 4th career multipoint game as a Terrier with an assist on Nicholson’s goal—her first since March 1st, 2025.
Other Notes
Holy Cross’ first period goal ended a 223 minutes 54 seconds shutout streak among all Terrier women's goalies vs. Holy Cross
Not only did the loss end a 4 game winning streak over the Crusaders, it ended a 4 game shutout streak of the Crusaders, tieing a streak of 4 straight shutouts of Vermont in 2006 and 2007