100519: BU x Union
The new-look Terriers are firing on all cylinders for the 2019-2020 season
Boston University 7 @ Union 3
The Boston University Terriers came to play today in Schenectady, NY, kicking off their season as winners in a bout with Union College which saw ten goals scored. The Terriers carried play for most of the game, and with 8 penalties taken by the Dutchmen, showed off in a game that exploded about fifteen minutes in.
After a wild end to a first period where four goals were scored in just over three minutes — leaving the score tied at 2 apiece — the Terriers went on to hold Union to a handful of shots over the remaining forty minutes. The goals weren’t the prettiest — the best was a Union goal (Chaz Smedsrud) which you can see near the end of this post. The overall play wasn’t super pretty either, but the Terriers transition was on display and they pressured the Dutchmen with up-tempo play, skill and physicality nearly all afternoon.
Here are my impressions on some of the BU players:
01 F Ethan Phillips + 01 F Robert Mastrosimone
Centering what I thought was BU’s best line on the night, flanked by sophomore Matt Quercia and fellow Detroit Red Wings draftee Robert Mastrosimone (also a freshman), Phillips didn’t look out of place at all despite the fact that he is one of the youngest players on the ice. He’s going to be an impact player, especially on the power-play this year. His speed and skill were on display and he tallied two assists to open his career as a Terrier.
Mastrosimone scored his first goal as a Terrier, it came after some offensive pressure by Ethan Phillips and Mastrosimone decisively fired it into the net. He was playing his game, engaged, fast, involved in most of the action. He also got some PP time with Jake Wise, Logan Cockerill, Dom Fensore and Case McCarthy.
99 D Cam Crotty + 99 D David Farrance
Crotty (0-1-1) had a fairly good game overall, he was a physical presence and possessed the puck pretty well. Farrance was better on the puck and had some strong possessions in the zone, as well as displaying his skating and capacity to rush the puck. Farrance posted 1-2-3: on his goal he took what was given to him, stepped up into the slot and shot one that went through Darion Hanson.
01 D Dom Fensore + 01 D Alex Vlasic
Fensore was eye-catching for his confidence, skating ability and rushing with the puck as well as his passing. Vlasic, despite the massive frame, still looks like an eighteen year old at times and has a lot of growth to come over his time at BU, but his stick looked solid and he’s got a good defensive partner in junior Detroit Red Wings draftee Kasper Kotkansalo.
01 F Trevor Zegras (9th overall, Anaheim Ducks, 2019)
There are four BU freshmen who skated for the U18 National Team Development Program last season and Zegras is the most highly touted. He’s stepped into college hockey without missing a beat, dripping confidence and making plays on the puck. Zegras had time as fourth forward on the PP and got a second assist on David Farrance’s effort to make it 7-3 late in the second period. He drew a penalty late in the game while possessing the puck on the wall in the zone.
Other take-aways from the game:
Union had what would have been the opening goal waved off due to Sean Harrison’s kicking motion. That swung the momentum in BU’s favor and suddenly the Dutchmen were down 2-0. Union showed a lot of fight to come back 2-2 immediately after, but the Terriers came out in the second flying and held a pillow down on them for the next forty minutes.
Union freshman Chez Smedrud has potential to be a top scorer for the Dutchmen, his smooth move to shake off Cam Crotty got Union on the board and he’s been a prolific scorer throughout his career.
Union junior Sean Harrison has eight goals to his career through two seasons but seems likely to break past that this season. He looked tenacious and confident at times this afternoon. He scored not long after his first goal got waved off.
BU senior captain Pat Curry (2-1-3) could have had four or five goals if his stick had been a little sharper in this one. Playing with Trevor Zegras and Patrick Harper, he’s likely to be the beneficiary of a lot of terrific passing plays.
Darion Hanson, junior captain for the Dutchmen as a goaltender, may have allowed 7 goals through two periods but a lot of that is on how his team played in front of him. He clearly has the confidence of his coaching staff, who kept him in the game for the third, and rightly so. Even if he was leaky at times, he faced 44 shots and made a lot of great saves. Union had five shots over the last forty minutes, to the Terriers’ twenty-nine.
Union junior defenseman Brandon Estes took two penalties on the night but he also made a big keep on Kasper Kotkansalo’s clear attempt on the powerplay, keeping the play alive which made it possible for Anthony Rinaldi’s powerplay goal to take place moments later. For a team that was starting to look lifeless, he was pretty engaged.
There’s a lot of buzz about how strong Boston College’s freshman class is, but the Terriers have one of the top incoming classes in the country and a core of talented players who seem determined to right the ship. Especially in the second and third period, it looked like they burned the boats.