Thirteen freshmen wore the iconic Boston University game sweater for the first time last season.
The Terriers had little choice but to go young after the likes of Joel Farabee, Dante Fabbro, Jake Oettinger, Chad Krys and Shane Bowers left school early to sign NHL contracts during the previous summer.
Making matters worse, sparkplug Ty Amonte (Norwell, Mass.) sat out all year after surgery and Islanders draft pick Logan Cockerill missed three months with an injury.
BU paid a price for its inexperience, posting an underwhelming record of 13-13-8 and finishing sixth in Hockey East.
Now, though, the hard lessons learned last season are paying off.
After waiting months to finally play games, the Terriers are off to a rousing start, winning three of their first four against good opponents.
Over the weekend, BU made a statement by sweeping eighth-ranked UMass, winning 4-2 at Amherst on Sunday, then rallying from two goals down to skate away with a 4-3 overtime victory at home on Monday.
“To take five of six points in a Hockey East weekend, in our second weekend, is a big one, especially in the fashion that we did it,’’ coach Albie O’Connell (Watertown, Mass.) said after Monday’s game.
Even though the Terriers trailed by two goals through 40 minutes on Monday, “there was definitely a believability’’ in their room, O’Connell said.
“We've got a really good, resilient group. They're really confident in their abilities. We've just learned a lot about the team. As a group, we've got really good leadership from our older guys.
“That’s showing on the scoresheet, in practice, in the locker room, through Zooms, through the entire year. We're really competitive and we're selfless. We like to play for each other.’’
BU had a pair of fine captains last season in Patrick Curry and Patrick Harper (New Canaan, Conn.), “but they were leading a bunch of young kids. It was a lot of lessons and a lot of guys played a lot of minutes and learned on the job,’’ said O’Connell.
He pointed to Carolina draft pick Dom Fensore, now a sophomore, who “from the first half of last year to the second half, he was our most improved player. It was a big development year for us after losing all those guys to signings the year prior.’’
The players wearing letters this season — captain Cockerill and assistant captains David Farrance and Amonte — are setting the tone, according to O’Connell. Farrance, a dynamic offensive defenseman who potted the winner on a breakaway on Monday and leads the team in scoring with eight points in four games, “brings it every day,’’ he said.
O’Connell also mentioned the contributions of senior Jake Witkowski (Melrose, Mass.) and Max Kaufman, a grad transfer from Vermont. “ ‘Kauf’ hasn’t won a lot of games over the years. He’s really hungry to win. He’s been pretty infectious in the room,’’ he said.
“Our leadership has kind of guided it, but that sophomore class is a really good one and hopefully they can continue to grow. The freshmen are dynamite. The freshman class we have, we've got a bunch of men, some big strong kids, and obviously the goaltender had a terrific weekend.’’
Indeed, netminder Drew Commesso (Norwell, Mass.), drafted by Chicago, has gotten better with each game. He stopped all 20 UMass shots in the third period on Monday, plus two more in overtime. He hasn’t allowed a goal in the third period of BU’s last three games, all victories.
While four games does not a season make, it looks like the future is bright for the Terriers.
“We feel pretty good about where we’re at and we’ve got a lot of room for growth,’’ said O’Connell.
Murphy delivers for Northeastern
While Northeastern freshman goalie Devon Levi was setting records for Canada’s silver-medal team at the World Junior Championship, Connor Murphy was doing his part to keep the Huskies in contention in Hockey East.
Murphy, who saw just 43 minutes of game action as a freshman last season, has put up a 6-3-2 record with a 2.42 goals-against average and .921 save percentage for Northeastern, which is currently in quarantine because of a positive COVID-19 test.
“I would say he's met our expectations — and we're really happy for him,’’ said coach Jim Madigan. “He got mop-up duty in two opportunities last year, including the Boston College game where we got skunked, 10-1. As you know, BC can do that with their offense. He went in halfway through and that was his only real opportunity.’’
Coming into the season, Madigan didn’t know how many Hockey East games Levi might miss, if any, at the WJC. Once Levi made Canada’s team, Murphy stepped up.
“He started off, you might want to say, slow, but he’s just gotten better and better every week in practice. He continued building on it and getting more focused each week in preseason. And as the games began, he gave us quality goaltending and then worked on some of the areas that we identified and he identified that he needed to get better at and kept on improving. So he’s in a good spot,’’ said Madigan.
“He’s focused and diligent and prepares very well. That’s something that he’s done, even last year when he wasn’t playing, he was prepared. His diligence and his preparation have helped him get ready from week to week.’’
Levi is back at Northeastern but remains on the shelf with an upper-body injury.
“It's going to take a few more weeks. I don't know if it's going to be six (weeks), but it's going to be a few weeks," Madigan said. "It happened at the world juniors and it wasn't identified. He played through the pain. Playing through the pain, he was making it worse."
Until Levi is ready, the net belongs to Murphy.
“He’s confident in his ability and confident with his teammates and more importantly, his teammates have confidence in him to be able to give us the goaltending we need to win,’’ Madigan said.
Connecticut on the rise
After sweeping New Hampshire last weekend, UConn has won four out of five heading into this weekend’s series against Boston College.
Coach Mike Cavanaugh says the goal is continued improvement.
“I just try to keep telling my team, hey, we want to keep competing and keep getting better. It's unlike any other year. I'm trying not to get fixated so much on the results because there's so many different things that go into it.
“I don't want to get fooled because, I mean, we had a pretty good weekend this weekend, but New Hampshire is down five good players, whether it's COVID or injuries. That's not indicative of their team. On any given night you can be playing a team with guys sitting out because of COVID or whatnot,’’ Cavanaugh said.
“I've said to my guys, just keep improving, keep getting better every day. That's what we're trying to focus on.’’
Junior Jonny Evans had a big weekend against UNH, with three goals and an assist in the two games. He leads the Huskies in scoring with 6-7-13 in 11 games.
“He really made a commitment to the weight room this summer. He's a lot stronger. He's always been a slick, cerebral player, but his strength was an issue for a couple of years. Now he's gotten a lot stronger and it's showing. He has a lot more stamina and he's stronger on the puck,’’ Cavanaugh said.
Evans is one of eight juniors on the UConn roster.
“Those guys played a lot of minutes as freshmen. We struggled an awful lot for the first two-thirds of their freshmen year and then we came on at the end of that year and played really well.
“I've got a lot of kids with experience now, who've played a lot of hockey. They're accustomed to how I want things done, they know what our expectations are. They are really kind of driving the bus,’’ Cavanaugh said.
