Husky Heartbreak, Hutson Heroics (Week 20 Recap)
The women's squad were unable to earn the point needed for the regular season title, while the men split with Northeastern
Coming into the weekend needing just a point against UConn to claim the Hockey East regular season, the women’s team are unable to complete the task. The men follow up a disastrous Friday loss with a Saturday road win at Northeastern.
Women’s
Connecticut (1-4 L, 1-3 L)
On Friday, UConn opened the scoring at 6:52 in the first, before scoring 3 more in the second. Starter Mari Peterson was pulled after UConn took a 3-0 lead in the 2nd. Callie Shanahan entered in relief, stopping 13 of the 14 shots she faced. Early in the third, Lindsay Bochna scored a power play goal to cut into the Huskies lead. The goal was Bochna’s 18th point of the season, she has had 18 or 19 points in her last 4 seasons. Christina Vote assisted on the goal to extended her point streak to 4 games, the 16th assist is a career high. Bochna’s goal was all the Terriers could muster, falling to the Huskies on the road. The Terriers killed 3 of 3 penalties and won 29 of 45 faceoffs (64.4%).
On Saturday, at Walter Brown Arena, all the Terriers needed was to get to overtime to claim the regular season title. The Huskies opened the scoring in the first. In the second, Luisa Welcke tied things up with her 6th of the season and first non-Vermont goal since November 8th vs. Merrimack. UConn took the lead back at 5:33 of the third and add an empty net goal to claim the Hockey East regular season title and the #1 overall seed in the Hockey East tournament. The Terriers lead face off wins 33 to 24. The Terriers end the regular season 21-11-2 and 18-7-2 in Hockey East play, which is tied for the most conference wins in program history, done twice in 2012-13 and 2019-20.
Other Notes
The Terriers will face either #7 seed New Hampshire or the winner of the #8/#9 matchup of Vermont/Holy Cross in the Hockey East Quarterfinal on Saturday.
Men’s
Northeastern (1-5 L, 3-1 W)
A listless performance for the Terriers on Friday night resulted in their worst home loss to Northeastern since 1987—a 3-7 loss on November 10th, 1987. The Huskies opened the scoring with a power play goal at 14:17 in the first. NU added two more in the second, including a second power play goal—only the 2nd time this season the Huskies have scored multiple power play goals. Quinn Hutson finally got the Terriers on the board at 17:43 in the 2nd. A career high matching 18th goal of the season and new career high 37th point of the season. 12 seconds later, Northeastern extended their lead back to 3, before a goal less than a minute into the third sealed the victory of the Huskies.
On Saturday night, in their 542nd (and potentially final game) at Matthews (formerly Boston) Arena, the Terriers came out hot. Tristan Amonte opened the scoring with his 4th of the season and first since November 29, 2024, in Belfast vs. Merrimack. The goal was also the first by an Amonte at Matthews Arena since dad, Tony on February 20th, 1991. Jack Hughes recorded an assist on the goal, his first point at his former home arena as a Terrier.
After a scoreless second, the Huskies tied things up at 5:53 in the third. Less than 3 minutes later, Cole Hutson gave the Terriers the lead back, his 9th goal of the season. His team-leading 4th game winning goal of the season. Shane Lachance added an empty net power play goal, his 10th goal of the season, to cap things off for BU’s 347th win at Boston/Matthews Arena in their potential last game at their original home rink.
Goalie Mikhail Yegorov stopped 27 of 28 shots he faced, earning his fifth win as a Terrier. He has allowed 2 or fewer goals in 7 of 9 games in net this season.
Other Notes
Brothers Cole, Quinn, and Lane Hutson, and their father, Rob, have all scored a goal at Matthews Arena
Only two freshman defensemen in program history have recorded more than 30 points in a season: Lane Hutson (48) and Cole Hutson (32)
Advanced Stats
Game 1
BU led most advanced stats categories, but defensive lapse led to giving up 5 goals. The 15:10 of OZone possession was the 2nd most this season, only behind October 10th vs. Union when BU recorded 15:51 of OZone possession.
Per Period xG: 1st (0.65-0.22, BU), 2nd (1.46-1.14, BU) 3rd (0.49-0.45, BU)
Quinn Hutson recorded his third-worst Game Score of the season, only behind his -.8756 and -.7206 performances in the first and second games vs. North Dakota.
Each time recorded 1 high danger shot attempt, BU’s (.2 xG) missed the net while NU’s (.32 xG), the penalty shot, was saved by Yegorov.
The Terriers held the xG lead the entire game, limiting the Huskies high quality chances but not scoring their own high quality chances.
Only 2 Huskies record an xG% over 60 and only 1 did so with any significant ice time compared to 8 Terriers.
Game 2
A much more even game on Saturday night, with just a slight xG differential (-.1), both teams with the same number of scoring chances and puck battles were 50%-50%. BU dominated neutral zone faceoffs 73% to 27%, while NU won OZone (40%-50%) and DZone (50%-60%) faceoffs.
Per Period xG: 1st (1.79-0.60, BU), 2nd (0.95-0.47, BU), 3rd (0.24-2.00, NU)
Matt Copponi recorded his 3rd highest game score of the season (3.4614), only behind his performance vs. UML on November 9th (4.6764) and vs. Merrimack on November 22nd (4.1974). He has been BU’s top performer in 5 games this season, only Quinn Hutson (6) has topped the list more.
BU recorded 4 high danger shot attempts (1.11 xG) compared to NU’s 3 (.84 xG). One of BU’s resulted in Tristan Amonte’s goal, and 2 were saved. 1 of NU’s resulted in their only goal, the other 2 were saved by Yegorov.
BU held the xG lead from the 6-minute mark of the game to nearly the end of the game, maxing out at a differential of 1.9 at the 36-minute mark. In the third, the Huskies bombarded the net, closing the gap and eventually taking the xG in the final minute of the game.
Mailbag
With the men off this weekend and the women in playoff mode, we thought it would be a great opportunity to do another mailbag. Any questions/queries you may have about BU stats/history or college hockey in general, we'll try to find an answer. Submit your questions here.
Questions due Wednesday (2/26) at 5pm
