Photo credit Marcus Antonelli, Daily Free Press
#6 seed Terriers takes on #11 seed Vermont in an opening
round game at Agganis Arena tonight. Puck drop is at 6:30 p.m. ET for the contest
that will be live-streamed on ESPN+. Both teams will be playing to extend their
seasons to Saturday’s quarterfinals.
This is the first time BU has played a Hockey East opening-round game since 2013-14 when they lost the #8 vs. #9 game to Notre Dame.
A win tonight would set up a road game against #3 seed
UConn.
The Terriers and Catamounts split a pair of one-goal games in
early December. Vermont won the second game, 3-2, on a goal in the final minute
of regulation.
BU is 30-6-3 in its past 39 meetings with UVM. The December loss snapped an 11-game Terrier win streak.
Since the beginning of February, Vermont is 2-6-1 but those two wins came against BC (at Conte) and Maine this past Saturday. Earlier they won
a game at UConn and another at Maine.
Discussing UVM during his media call, Coach Jay Pandolfo
pointed out, “They’re really good in their breakouts, they break the puck out
very well, and they’re really good in the neutral zone turning pucks over,” he
said. “That’s something that we have to be mindful of, is making sure we’re
managing the puck.”
How does BU achieve that?
“There’s no question it’s playing fast for sure,” Pandolfo said.
“Getting the puck [out] as fast as possible. The next part is, if you don’t have time
and space, we have to have a forecheck mindset in this game. They do a good job
of clogging up the neutral zone. You have to put the puck in a spot where you can
get it back. That’s going to be a real key for us.”
Avoiding neutral zone turnovers leading to odd-man rushes is another key because “They play a 1-1-3 neutral zone forecheck, and they have three guys across the line a lot — there’s not a lot of space at times.”
Pandolfo revealed that he’d done some tinkering with two of the forward lines, but keeping pairs of players together.
For BU, Cole Eiserman and Jack Harvey have been wielding hot sticks. Eiserman has goals in the last four games and six tallies in the last seven. Harvey, whom Pandolfo has praised for having an excellent second half, has scored in three of the last four and his 12 goals are second only to Eiserman’s 16. The two have been together on a line centered by Kamil Bednarik for the past four games.
Following practice Tuesday, Eiserman told the Boston Hockey Blog, “Nobody wants the season to end.”
CHECK BACK FOR TONIGHT’S BU LINEUP
● GoTerriers.com preview,
Game Notes, Live Stats, BU All-Access (audio), BU Men’s Hockey Twitter
● Live stream ESPN+,
● BU Hockey Stats The
HEAT is On: Opening Cats and Dogs
● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape
19 year old Macklin Celebrini now 33-57-90 in 62 games. 2-1 Buffalo pic.twitter.com/5Em939CtYF
— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) March 10, 2026
Macklin Celebrini has 90 points in just 62 games, which is the 3rd-fewest games to reach that mark as a teenager in NHL history 🔥
The only players to do so faster are Sidney Crosby (54 GP in 2006-07) and Wayne Gretzky (56 GP in 1979-80) 😳 pic.twitter.com/jkCHsMuNv7
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) March 11, 2026
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Lane Hutson has officially the most assist in his first 150 games by any defensemen in NHL history.
— William Leblanc (@xwleblancx) March 10, 2026
Charlie McAvoy‘s seventh goal was the overtime winner as the Bruins edged the Kings, 2-1.
CMAC ON THE MONEY 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ByNwyNfKs6
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 11, 2026
Jake Oettinger stopped 26 shots for his 26th win as Dallas edged Vegas, 2-1. Jack Eichel scored his 23rd for the Golden Knights.
what an absolute RIP from number 9 🤯 pic.twitter.com/v4BiCVn4Bh
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 11, 2026