On paper, BU’s weekend series against New Hampshire doesn’t matter.
After Monday’s Beanpot championship loss against Boston College, the Terriers fell to 29th in the NPI.
With only five regular-season games remaining, BU has effectively played itself out of at-large contention. The Terriers’ only realistic path to the NCAA tournament now runs through winning Hockey East. And let’s be honest — for a team that has managed to string together three consecutive wins only twice all season, and not against top-tier opponents, that’s an extremely steep climb.
“It’s a very tough loss,” head coach Jay Pandolfo said. “I know the guys took it really hard, but you know, we have to move forward. What can you do?”
Monday’s matchup at TD Garden saw a complete collapse of special teams on both sides of the puck. BU’s strong start unraveled as disastrous special-teams play allowed BC to seize control of the game.
The Terriers went just 1 for 5 on the power play and collapsed on the penalty kill, where they surrendered three goals and repeatedly failed to disrupt BC’s puck movement.
“I don’t think we were as sharp as we needed to be,” Pandolfo said. “Yeah, we’re aggressive [on the kill], but we still have structure within that aggression, and we lost our structure clearly.”
Offensively, BU hasn’t been able to solve its scoring problem. Though assistant captain Cole Eiserman found the back of the net on his signature one-timer, he still missed Grade A chances.
As for the other goal, BU tallied it off a rebound sophomore forward Brandon Svoboda capitalized on.
“If you look at the Svoboda goal, it was a shot then a rebound, so that was good. We probably didn’t have enough of that against BC,” Pandolfo said.
In an effort to generate more consistent even‑strength offense, Pandolfo said he plans to shuffle nearly all of the forward lines. “There are some combinations you’ve seen before,” he noted, “but we’re just trying again to produce an even‑strength goal.”
The forward lines have been inconsistent all season, and that hasn’t helped BU’s offensive problem.
Despite the discouraging loss, Pandolfo said the team’s overall mood has remained “pretty good.” After taking Tuesday’s practice off, he noted that the group put together strong practices on both Wednesday and Thursday.
“I think our guys are excited to get going again,” Pandolfo said.
At this point, it feels like we’ve been repeating ourselves over and over, and this weekend stands as the last real opportunity to spark any momentum before the BC finale series and Hockey East tournament arrive.
With no more tune‑up games left, the Terriers have no choice but to regroup quickly and respond.
“You can’t just sit here and dwell on it; there is still hockey to be played,” Pandolfo said.
Scouting the Wildcats
UNH sits at the bottom of Hockey East. Most recently, the Wildcats fell to Providence 6-1, though they also boast earlier-season wins over UConn and Michigan State, and given how tight the league is, no matchup can be taken lightly.
Senior captain Morgan Winters leads the team with 19 points (9 goals and 10 assists). The veteran forward provided an assist on UNH’s lone goal against the Friars. Winters has tallied a point in the last three games.
Union transfer Kyle Chauvette is slated to start in net. The senior goaltender enters the matchup with a .897 save percentage and a 2.68 goals-against average.