Photo credit Brendan Carpenter
After dropping five of their last six games, the #12/13 Terriers enter a weekend series with Merrimack in dire need of a turnaround. Tonight’s game at Agganis Arena has a puck drop at 7:00 PM and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
During Thursday’s media call, Coach Jay Parolfo described the challenge the team faces in returning to the direct style he preaches and to winning hockey.
“There are a lot of things we are working on to get better as a team,” he said. “Scoring goals was not a problem for us last weekend. Right now the message to the team is that we have to keep the puck out of our net. In the last six games we have given up almost thirty goals. That is not a good recipe for winning hockey.”
“It’s a work in progress, not just for our freshman Ds, it’s for our entire team,” Pandolfo continued. “Our team defense wasn’t very good. Too many giveaways on home turf have caused us problems. The whole team has to step up this weekend…including me. We have to defend a lot better, we have to get the puck out of our game a lot faster. We have to win more battles. We’ll start there and see if we can build our game on that.”
Asked about Brandon Svobodacoming off a four-point game in Maine, Pandolfo explained, “I really like the way he plays, he and
Ben Merrill together…They use their speed, which is an advantage for both of them. They are both big and tall. They put puck-pucks behind the other team and go get it. They win pucks in the corners. They come to the net. Everyone who plays with them has a pretty good match.”
Pandolfo reported that injured wing Cole Eiserman “Doing very well. I don’t think you’ll see him this weekend, but I expect him to be back for training next week. And we’ll go from there.”
As for the lineup, he expects there will be some change, though he admitted that it was nice the way it was Sacha Boisvert, Owen McLaughlin And Jack Harvey played together against UConn. Pandolfo also complimented Mick Frechette‘s solid play, both offensively and defensively. He’ll be back on the blue line tonight.
Merrimack comes into the game 3-3-0 after a 5-1 loss to UConn in their only appearance last weekend. Last week, the Warriors upset Quinnipiac 4-1 before losing to LIU 5-2.
Merrimack’s offense has been passed by the freshman center Patrick Lalonde (6 points) between sophomores Trevor Hoskin (6) and freshmen Justin Gill (4). Lalonde was Hockey East’s Rookie of the Month for October with five goals. Juniors Seamus Powell And Austin Oravitz anchor a defense that, like BU’s, skates three freshmen.
In goal, 6’5″ Max Lundgren has made all six starts and has been stingy with a 2.18 GAA and a .933 save percentage.
Pandolfo expects another physical match from a team that goes hard to the net. “Merrimack plays hard, they control really well. They seem like they’re a bigger, heavier team, so they’ll be physical, just like everyone has been against us.”
CHECK BACK FOR TONIGHT’S BU LINEUP
● GoTerriers.com example, Live stats, BU full access (audio), Twitter for men’s hockey
● Live stream ESPN+
● Pandolfo Media Call
● College Hockey News Story of the tape
● Preview of BU Hockey Stats Week 6
● Boston Hockey Blog NOTEBOOK: BU men’s hockey looks to right the ship against Merrimack
Photo credit Eliza Nuestro
►The Hockey Commissioners’ Association announced today that Boston University Cole Hutson and Northeastern’s Lawton Zacher have been named National Defensive Player and National Goaltender of the Month, respectively, for October 2025. Hutson went 3-7-10 in eight games (1.25 PPG) for BU, with the last five of those games coming against Top Ten opponents
● GoTerriers.com Hutson named National Defender of the Month
Looking ahead
►For the second time in a month, BU has received a commitment from a goaltender from 2009. The verbal came from 6’4” Andrei Nikolaev of the NAHL New Jersey Titans. Chris Heisenberg’s recruiting page lists it as arriving in 2027 or 2028.
Former Terrier All-American Colby Cohen is an assistant coach with the Titans, who previously managed freshman defenseman Kyle Kim to BU
The 16-year-old from Moscow, who is in his first season in North America, was drafted by New Jersey in the first round of the NAHL Futures draft last June.
Nikolayev has a GAA of 2.43 and a save percentage of .920 in 12 games. On Wednesday, he stopped 33 shots in the Titans’ 3-1 win against Danbury.
At the recent Spring’s World Selects Invitational 16U, Nikolayev led Gold Ring Selects to a gold medal in the ’09 Division. His microscopic 0.77 goals against average and 0.968 save percentage over nine games deserved top goalkeeper in the division honor.
Last season he played for Spartak Moskva U16 and achieved a GAA of 2.43 in 23 games. He also played in goal twice for Spartak’s U17s with a GAA of 1.50. Nikolayev won all three international matches with the Russian U16 team with a GAA of 1.67.
● Elite Prospects page
► The Athletic’s November 2026 draft rankings.
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Terriers on the list:
5. Tynan Lawrence
25. Egor Shilov
26. Caleb Malhotra
46. Braided Wassilyn
57. Rian Chudzinski
59. Luke Deler https://t.co/gDmNrKiZtH— Terrierhockey (@BU_Hockey5) November 6, 2025
► 2027 recruit James Scantlebury has emerged as one of the USHL’s top rookies. The Quebec product, who scored 100 points with the Bishop Kearney 16Us last season, has a 3-8-11 line in 13 games for Chicago – second among first-year skaters. His coach at the Steel, who made him an offer last spring, is Scott Gomez, a longtime teammate of Pandolfo’s with the Devils. Sebastien High from Elite Prospects wrote:
Scantlebury was enthusiastic with every puck touch, intense in every fight and calculated with (almost) every decision in his first thirteen USHL games. He is increasingly getting starts in the middle of the top six, showing quality vision, tenacity and breakneck speed. He is already one of the most elegant and fast skaters in the competition and the most fearless trailblazer at just 16 years old.
● Elite Prospects: USHL Stock Watch: James Scantlebury highlights unstoppable newcomers
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James Scantlebury with the GWG clutch 🙌#FeelSteel | #Farewelltour | #USHL pic.twitter.com/tQ8HaEk8s5
— Chicago Steel (@ChicagoSteel) October 25, 2025
#Game #day #Terriers #host #Merrimack #goal #keeper