Eiserman or Hutson? It didn’t matter much. BU had an offensive zone faceoff with just four seconds left in the second period. So the plan was pretty simple: win the draw, give the puck to Eiserman in the opposite circle or to Hutson at the point, and have one of the hyper-talented sophomores shoot the puck out.
But as good as Hutson is, UMass Lowell wasn’t exactly about to ignore Eiserman, who has arguably the most powerful shot in college hockey, when it knew BU needed a one-timer.
“I knew the puck was going to come to me,” Hutson said. “Nobody in their right mind is going to leave Cole Eiserman wide open.”
Sure enough, when Owen McLaughlin won the face-off, Hutson had daylight at the time. He also had a path to Austin Elliott’s goal and then fired Gavin McCarthy’s pass into the back of the net. Hutson’s eighth goal of the year required no deflection.
And that’s what the reigning National Rookie of the Year can do. When his team needs a moment? He can deliver even if he only has four seconds.
“I’m just trying to hammer it home,” Hutson said. “And it went in.”
His score was the difference Saturday night at Tsongas Center in a 3-0 BU victory that was much closer than the score indicated. Lowell, which stunned the Terriers with a 4-3 victory at Agganis Arena on Friday, gave BU plenty of problems. But the Terriers and their loaded roster simply made a few more plays, a reminder of their talent level in a season that hasn’t gone the way any of them had hoped, with Lowell coach Norm Bazin complaining that his 9-14-0 River Hawks weren’t performing in the offensive zone.
“Creating offensive zone time and actually executing are two different things,” Bazin said.
That’s true, and while the former could still be a struggle for BU, you can always count on Jay Pandolfo’s team to make you pay if given the chance. Even with the Terriers hovering around .500 all season, opposing coaches — almost to a man — have reminded reporters that BU can go a mile if given an inch. Hutson, who some will argue has built a legitimate case against Hobey Baker, may be better at that than anyone. Saturday’s goal was his fourth game-winning goal of the season, and he also provided the lone assist on Nick Roukounakis’ game-clinching wrister midway through the third.
And look: the Terriers’ performance on Saturday was far from ideal, especially after BU collapsed in defeat on Friday. Pandolfo was likely looking for a win heading into this series with the ninth-ranked River Hawks, but got nothing of the sort. Still, in a tough, physical and tight game, BU defended the lights out and created just enough offense to get through. The Terriers blocked 21 shots (their second most in a game this season) and allowed just 23 shots on goal despite UML’s offensive zone time. When the River Hawks created an A chance, goalkeeper Mikhail Yegorov stood on his head.
World famous? Of course not. Good enough? Certainly. And Pandolfo, no stranger to brutally honest press conferences, was pleased with the post-match performance.
“Great effort from our group, great response,” he said. “We needed that tonight, and our guys stepped up.”
With the win, BU (12-10-1, 8-7-0 HE) moved up five positions in the NPI, from 23rd to 18th, meaning the Terriers effectively gained two spots from the start of the weekend despite a split with a Lowell team that came in ranked 46th. Somehow, they are now just four ranks shy of the projected cutoff for the NCAA Tournament. A few months ago they were more than twenty places behind.
Make no mistake: BU is far from safe in the running for an at-large bid. But it is now firmly within striking distance.
“We don’t really look at the NPI stuff,” Hutson said. ‘It doesn’t really matter where we are [in the NPI]we are where our feet are. We have dug a big hole for ourselves and we just have to keep winning these big games.”
A large number of them are waiting for No. 20 BU in the coming month. Providence – NPI’s highest-ranked Hockey East team at 12th – is next weekend. A standalone game against Boston College (15th) is the following Friday. The Tuesday after? Beanpot’s semifinal against Northeastern.
Pandolfo has insisted that BU take the 2025-2026 season one game at a time, and his philosophy remains unchanged.
“We still have enough time, enough league games,” Pandolfo said. “So we’re just trying to take it day by day. We’ve said that, but it really is.”
It’s hard to blame him. In a league like Hockey East, BU cannot afford to postpone a game. As the Terriers learned Friday, the conference will make them pay.
“It’s a bear. It’s so heavy from top to bottom,” Bazin said. “There are no give-me weekends, there are no give-me matches. And that will remain the case from now until the end of the season.”
So the task for the Terriers is quite simple.
“We have to be consistent as a group,” Pandolfo said.
They haven’t gotten that far yet. But if the Terriers can find a way to play well night in and night out, they’ll have gained enough ground that they’ll be rewarded.
#consistent #mens #hockey #rebounded #UMass #Lowell #flight