Into the Valley (Week 6 Preview)
Both Terrier teams are set for home-and-home series in the Merrimack Valley as the women play Merrimack and the men play UMass Lowell
An important Hockey East weekend for both squads as the women (8-3-0, HEA: 6-1-0) complete their set with the Merrimack Warriors and the men (4-3-0, HEA: 1-0-0) look to get back on the winning track with the UMass Lowell River Hawks.
Women’s
The Hockey East leading Terriers head to Lawler Rink (Nov. 7th, 6pm) before hosting the Warriors at Agganis Arena (Nov. 8th, 3pm) to close out their season series with Merrimack.
Merrimack
(4-4-0: HEA (7th) 2-3-0)
The Terriers and Warriors will face off for the 2nd and 3rd time this season. The teams opened their Hockey East slate against each other on Oct. 1st in which the Terriers blitzed the Warriors 7-1.
The Warriors come into the series off a 7-3 loss to the Boston College Eagles. The Warriors are led by freshman Chloe Goofers and sophomore Maria Lindberg, who each have recorded 7 points. Merrimack have split the goaltending duties between Calli Hogarth (Jr) and Margaux Favre (Fr) who have a .899 and .893 SV%, respectively. The Warriors have a conference best 12.4 shooting percentage but are tied for 7th in goals among Hockey East teams.
BU are winners of seven straight, including a sweep of Providence over the weekend. The Scarlet and White have won their last 4 games vs. the Warriors and 6 of their last 7.
Lola Reid continues to lead all Hockey East players in goals (7), points (13), GWG (4) and +/- (12). Five of the top ten Hockey East players in terms of +/- are Terriers (Reid, Maggie Hanzel, Ani FitzGerald, Julia Shaunessy, Maeve Kelly).
Callie Shanahan leads all of Hockey East (3rd nationally) with a .957 SV% and 1.17 GAA (4th nationally). Winner of her last 6 starts, she’s only allowed more than 1 goal in just one of those games.
Records
19-4-5: vs Merrimack (4-0-0 under Tara Watchorn)
5-7-1: on Thursdays
1-0-0: on Thursdays vs. Merrimack
Stats
Thursday’s matchup will be BU’s first Thursday game since Nov. 11th, 2021 vs. Holy Cross
With the completion of Thursday’s game, Tara Watchorn will have coached a game on every day of the week
Men’s
The Terriers have their first Hockey East series of the season when they have a home-and-home with the UMass Lowell River Hawks (Nov. 8th, 7pm Agganis Arena, Nov. 9th 6pm, Tsongas Center).
UMass Lowell
(5-1-0, HEA: 1-0-0)
BU takes on UMass Lowell in their first home-and-home of the 2024-25 campaign. The River Hawks are winners of five straight, including a 5-4 overtime win at Holy Cross over the weekend.
The River Hawks are led by freshman Chris Delaney, who’s 5 goals are tied for the most among Hockey East freshman with Cole Eiserman. Delaney enters the weekend on a 4 game points streak. Senior Owen Cole leads the team in points, recording a point in all but one of his six games played with the River Hawks. Grad student Henry Welsch is 5-0-0 this season with a .919 SV% and 1.85 GAA, good enough for 3rd and 4th among Hockey East goalies, respectively.
After a big comeback in Grand Forks the week before, the Terriers were unable to keep the momentum going, dropping two to the Michigan Wolverines. The trio of Quinn Hutson, Cole Eiserman, and Shane Lachance lead the Terriers with 7 points each. Cole Hutson is tied for first nationally among freshman defenseman in points and assists. Former River Hawk Brehdan Engum will return to Tsongas Center for the first time, where he played 4 seasons and scored 2 of his 3 goals.
The Terriers enter their series on a three game win streak against the River Hawks, their longest since a 4 game win streak from January 18th, through February 12th, 2016. Last time out at Lowell, was the Scarlet and White’s first regular season win at Tsongas since December 8th, 2018.
Records
81-36-12: vs UMass Lowell (3-1-0 under Pandolfo)
18-18-5: vs. UMass Lowell at Tsongas Center (1-1-0)
13-12-4: vs. UMass Lowell since 2013-14
Stats
Tsongas Center was the site of Quinn Hutson’s first career hat trick and career-high 4 point game (11/11/2023)
Jack Hughes’ first goal as a Terrier was scored against UMass Lowell