M. Hockey Aims to Channel Its Agganis Magic Against No. 7 BU

Tasked with facing the nation’s best team—not to mention the nation’s best player—in its own building, Ted Donato ’91 hoped he and his guys could make a statement. Not to the world of college hockey—just to themselves.

But when former co-captain Kyle Criscuolo’s overtime shot trickled over the goal line at Agganis Arena, mighty Boston University had fallen, meaning the Harvard men’s hockey team now had everyone's attention. The Crimson’s 3-2 win over the No. 1 Terriers on Nov. 25, 2014 helped Harvard climb its way into the top 10 in both major polls for the first time since 2006.

Since then, the Crimson has become a 'regular' in the national conversation. And tonight, Harvard will return to Agganis Arena for the first time since its signature victory, currently ranked ninth in the country.

Just like in 2014, the Crimson will be an underdog—but this time, only ever so slightly. BU enters the contest two spots ahead of Harvard, holding onto the seventh spot in the polls.

Despite losing three of its top four point-getters from a season ago, a Hockey East first-teamer on the blue line, and its goaltender, the Terriers opened the season as one of the favorites to bring home a national championship. BU received the second-most first-place votes in the season’s first USCHO poll (behind only defending champion North Dakota) and assumed the fourth spot overall.

Coach David Quinn’s squad has slipped a few spots since, having dropped four of its first 11 games, but there’s hardly any reason to panic in Terrier land. Three of BU’s four losses have come on the road against ranked opponents, and more recently, three of the Terriers’ top nine forwards have missed time with injuries. That includes 18-year old freshman Clayton Keller, the seventh overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft who notched five goals and four assists in his first seven games.

Keller, property of the Arizona Coyotes, has now missed four consecutive contests. Over that stretch, BU has gone 2-2, including a shocking 4-0 loss at home to UConn this past Saturday.

Yet in a loss that appears devastating on paper, the Terriers surprisingly looked sharp. In fact, BU’s top line of Jordan Greenway, Patrick Harper, and associate captain Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson—all drafted underclassmen—generated 16 shots on goal by itself. Pucks just weren’t finding the back of the net.

“If you don’t score and they do, you lose; it’s really that simple,” Quinn said. “But with that being said, over the course of the season, if you do the things I thought we did pretty well tonight consistently, you’re going to have a much better chance to win more games over the long haul. And that’s what it’s about.”

While Quinn generally was happy with the way his guys played in the loss, he was even happier with the fact that his Terriers would have a chance to turn things around so quickly.

“Our schedule’s doing us a favor because we don’t have to live with this very long,” Quinn said. “The good news is we get to get back at it and move past this. I want it to sting, but not sting to the point where it’s going to get in the way of us preparing for Tuesday night against a very good Harvard team.”

Quinn has already revealed that he’ll make at least one change tonight. After freshman goaltender Jake Oettinger—who has started 10 of 11 games for BU—surrendered four goals on 20 shots Saturday night, junior Connor LaCouvee will get the start against the Crimson, according to The Daily Free Press.

Lacouvee made his first start of the season Friday in the first game of a home-and-home with the Huskies, and he made 28 saves in a 2-1 road win. As a sophomore, his numbers were below average—indicated by a .897 save percentage and a 2.92 goals against average—but he did put together a 8-4-4 record in 19 appearances.

A back-up netminder paired with a handful of Terrier injuries appear to bode well on paper for Harvard, who is coming off its biggest win of the season Friday night—a 5-2 victory over No. 3 Boston College.

Ignoring its inevitable results against Arizona State, the Crimson had its best special teams performance of the season in the win, finishing 3-for-7 on the power play and 6-for-7 on the kill. The penalty kill will have a chance to keep rolling against a BU man advantage that is ranked 45th out of 60 Division I teams, converting at less than a 14 percent clip. The Terrier kill, on the other hand, currently is one of the top 10 units in the nation, thwarting over 90 percent of its opponents’ man-up opportunities.

A win for Harvard would be its first over BU since that 2014 matchup at Agganis. The Crimson has lost two heartbreakers to the Terriers since—a double-overtime Beanpot classic in 2015 that featured over 100 shots on goal and a battle at the Bright back in January that saw Harvard blow a 5-3 lead in the final four minutes of regulation.

These recent results provide all the more reason why the words of Donato back in January continue to hold up 10 months later.

“I think our guys will be excited,” Donato said. “I don’t think we have to give a lot of speeches to get up for playing against BU. Our guys enjoy that.”

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jake.meagher@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @MeagherTHC.