LOWELL, Mass. — It wasn’t without blemishes and bad penalties, mistakes and mishaps.
But the No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team didn’t need perfection Saturday night at the Tsongas Center. They needed a win. And in a 5-2 defeat of No. 17 UMass Lowell, they got it.
Three takeaways and a rundown of how the action unfolded, below.
Again, Matt Copponi was the spark plug
That’s become a theme during the opening months of the season. The senior forward has been one of the most effective players on the team since transferring from Merrimack over the summer, and that continued Saturday night.
Copponi tallied a goal and two assists — all in the second period — with two of the three points coming in a 44 second span at the start of the frame. He looked excellent on the second line with Cole Eiserman and Jack Harvey.
In his first official start, Max Lacroix looked solid
Senior Mathieu Caron had allowed 14 goals in his previous three games, so head coach Jay Pandolfo gave Lacroix his first non-exhibition start as a Terrier on Saturday night.
The sophomore wasn’t tested a ton, but he was solid and looked comfortable, making 16 saves on 18 UMass Lowell shots to notch the win.
Lacroix looked solid in his first official action of the year in the Oct. 25 loss to North Dakota, and he also started in front of a packed Agganis Arena for the Terriers’ exhibition against Harvard on Oct. 19.
It didn’t come back to bite them, but the Terriers took more unnecessary penalties
Result aside, BU’s habit of taking unneeded penalties has not been solved. The Terriers scored enough goals for it not to matter Saturday night, but Jay Pandolfo’s group gifted the River Hawks power play opportunities once again.
The first culprit was Sascha Boumedienne, who took a five-minute major for grabbing a facemask early in the second period. UMass Lowell’s potent power play scored once, but the damage could have been worse.
Then, the River Hawks scored another power play goal after a too-many-men penalty, which Pandolfo couldn’t have been pleased about.
How it happened
Chances were few and far between in the first period, but BU had the better of the frame. The Terriers outshot the River Hawks 8-4 in the frame, and generated some quality looks.
But the action picked up as soon as the puck dropped for the second.
Quinn Hutson opened the scoring at 1:01 of the period, roofing one with his backhand after receiving a pass from Matt Copponi on a 2-on-1. Just 44 seconds later, Copponi found the net himself after whacking home a rebound at 1:45.
The River Hawks got one back on the power play, after freshman defenseman Sascha Boumedienne took a five-minute major for face-masking at 2:50. The Terriers looked good for the first portion of the penalty kill, but UMass Lowell’s Isac Jonsson capitalized with 1:45 left on the man-advantage, beating Lacroix with a wrister from the point at 6:05 of the second.
The Terriers killed off the rest of the penalty and regained their two-goal advantage at 11:06 when a wide-open Jack Harvey tapped in a goal at the doorstep. Again, Copponi was the catalyst with a zone entry and nifty move to set up the tally.
Cole Hutson made it 4-1 with a snipe at 13:45 of the second. The freshman defenseman collected at the blue line off a faceoff win, took a few strides and ripped one past Welsch.
The River Hawks cut it to 4-2 at the 17:11 mark on a power play goal from freshman forward Libor Nemec, but the Terriers snatched back their three-goal advantage less than a minute later on Quinn Hutson’s second of the night at 18:07.
Just your average seven-goal period.
The Terriers held on in a far quieter third period to cement the win.
This story will be updated.
