Cole Train: Going Express to North Station (Hockey East Quarter Final/NCAA Recap)
Cole Eiserman sends the Terriers to the Garden, while the women end their season in Wisconsin, falling to Clarkson
The women’s squad lose a hard fought battle in their return to the NCAA Tournament, while the men’s team win an OT thriller at Agganis.
Women’s
Clarkson (1-3 L)
In their first trip to the NCAA in a decade, a rough minute in the first could not be overcome in the end. Clarkson opened the scoring at 5:09 in the first and quickly doubled their lead 31 seconds later on the power play. The Terriers were severely outshot in the period, only recorded 3 shots on goal to the Golden Knights’ 13. In the second, the Scarlet and White was able to lock down defensively, holding the Green and Gold to just 4 shot. BU, however, was unable to capitalize on their 8-4 shot advantage in the period. After pulling Callie Shanahan with 5 minutes to play in the third, Lindsay Bochna finally broke through for the Terriers, her 9th of the season tying a career-high set her sophomore year in Providence. She also set a career high for puts with 20 on the season. With the deficit cut to 1, again Shanahan was pulled, however this time, it was Clarkson that put the puck in the net, booking their ticket to the regional final vs #1 Wisconsin.
Callie Shanahan did her best to keep BU in the game, saving 27 of the 29 shots she faced. The Terriers also held the face off edge, winning 25 of 46 (54.3%).
The Terriers end the season 24-12-2, tied for their 4th most wins in program history their two National Finalist seasons: 2012-13 (28 wins) and 2010-11 (27), and their last NCAA tournament appearance 2014-15 (25).
A BU team, that many expected to be a middling team in Hockey East—picked 6th in the Preseason Coaches' Poll—put in one of their best seasons in program history and opened the eyes of many to what the Watchorn Era could bring.
Other Notes
Lindsay Bochna is only the 2nd Terrier ever to score at LaBahn Arena, the last being Victoria Bach also exactly 10 years before, on March 14th, 2015
In the first game of the season—October 1st vs. Merrimack—Julia Shaunessy recorded her first assist of the season on Lindsay Bochna’s first goal of the season. In the final game of the season, Julia Shaunessy recorded her final assist of the season on Lindsay Bochna’s final goal of the season.
Men’s
UMass-Amherst (3-2 W (OT))
The #3 Terriers faced the #6 Minutemen with a spot in the Hockey East Tournament semifinals on the line. Co-captain Shane Lachance opened the scoring with his 6th power play goal of the season. The goal was also Lachance’s career high 28th point. With an assist on the goal, Ryan Greene reached the 100 point milestone, the 86th Terrier to do so and the 2nd Terrier to do so this season after Quinn Hutson hit the mark on February 15th.
In the 2nd, the Minutemen tied things up 3:32 into the period. Just past the midway point in the period, Sacha Boumedienne restored the Terriers’ lead at the 11:26 mark with his 3rd goal of the season. It was the first goal by Boumedienne this season to be assisted by fellow countryman Tom Willander.
UMass-Amherst barraged the net in the third, putting 19 shots on Mikhail Yegorov. One did eventually make it past him when the Minutemen tied things up at 11:17 eventually sending the game to overtime, the first 20-minute overtime since the 2018 Hockey East Quarterfinal vs. UConn on March 9th.
In Overtime, Yegorov made a couple big saves, including one that sent the puck bouncing around the boards by Boumedienne. On its way around the board, the puck found Cole Eiserman’s stick who launched into the neutral zone and then offensive zone where he rocked the puck between the goalie’s leg into the back of the net, sending Agganis into a frenzy and the Terriers to the Garden. The goal capped off Eiserman’s record setting season at Agganis, with his 18th goal at the arena.
The win sends the Scarlet and White to a Hockey East record 28th Hockey East semifinal. The Terriers will face the #4 seed UConn Huskies in the early game of the Hockey East semifinal on Thursday. It will be their first “new” semifinal opponent since Vermont in 2008.
Other Notes
Each of Sascha Boumedienne's goals was scored on dates that end with 5: February 15th, February 25th, and March 15th
For the first time since 2014-15, two Terriers hit the 100 point milestone in the same season when Danny O'Regan and Evan Rodrigues both did so
The Terriers improve to 9-0 vs. the Minutemen all-time in the Hockey East playoffs
Advanced Stats
UMA led BU in most advanced stats categories: xG (-.4), OZone Possession (-1:45), and Puck Battles (49% - 51%). The Terriers did hold a slight lead in EV Possession 52%-48%, counterattacks 25-20, and controlled breakouts 4-0.
Per Period xG: 1st (0.77-0.62, BU), 2nd (1.15-1.08, BU), 3rd (0.52-1.09, UMA), OT (0.14-0.26, UMA)
Quinn Hutson was the Terriers’ Bottom Performer in terms of Game Score for only the 2nd time this season and first since February 21st vs. NU, it was Hutson’s worst Game Score performance of the season.
Each teams record 2 high danger shots. Both of BU’s were recorded in the 1st period (.55 xG), both were recorded by Shane Lachance, one was saved, one was scored. Both of UMA’s (.5 xG) were in the 2nd period, like BU, one was saved, one was scored.
In each of the games that Sascha Boumedienne scored, he recorded an xG Conversion of 10 or greater: vs. PC on February 15th (15), vs. UMA in the Hockey East Quarterfinal (13), vs. UConn on February 25th (11).
BU got off to a big xG lead with their first period goal, with UMA slowly chipping away as the period wore on. The Terriers re-took the edge in the 2nd half of the 2nd period, before the Minutemen took the lead for good midway through the 3rd.
Ryan Greene 100
Let’s take a look at Ryan Greene’s 100 point milestone by the numbers:
