BOSTON - Senior Jay O'Brien tallied a goal and an assist to help lead the No. 14 Boston University men's ice hockey team to a 5-1 win over No. 11/10 UMass on Saturday night at Agganis Arena.
BU (6-3-0, 4-2-0 HE) dominated UMass (5-5-1, 1-5-0 HE) in both games this weekend. The Terriers outscored the Minutemen, 12-3, across the two tilts and generated 45 shots on goal in each win, outshooting UMass, 90-53, in the sweep.
Freshman Ryan Greene scored his third goal of the weekend while senior Jamie Armstrong, senior Case McCarthy and junior Nick Zabaneh also lit the lamp. Seniors Wilmer Skoog and Matt Brown each secured two assists while sophomore Ty Gallagher, junior Luke Tuch, freshman Quinn Hutson, senior Ethan Phillips and freshman Devin Kaplan all added one assist apiece.
Junior goaltender Drew Commesso turned in his second strong performance of the weekend, stopping 29 of the 30 shots he faced.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Greene opened the scoring 9:18 into the proceedings. Cole Brady (32 saves) stopped Hutson's initial shot from the point, but the rebound popped out to Tuch, who dished it to Greene for the finish.
- Armstrong made it 2-0 on a similar play to the first goal. This time, with Armstrong and Kaplan causing havoc in front of Brady, Armstrong jumped on a rebound from a Gallagher point shot and - McCarthy pushed the lead to 3-0 at 12:23 of the second period with a rocket from the right circle.
- UMass got on the board 38 seconds into the third period to cut the Terriers' lead to 3-1.
- Zabaneh regained a three-goal advantage for the Terriers with his first goal of the season. O'Brien won an offensive-zone draw, with Phillips collecting the puck and passing to Zabaneh in the slot for a one-timer that beat Brady.
- UMass was whistled for a penalty as the goal was scored, and one the ensuing power play O'Brien took advantage of a great screen by Skoog to uncork a wrister past Brady for his first goal of the year.
GAME NOTES
- BU is 6-0-1 in its last seven games against UMass.
- Five of the Terriers' six wins this season have been against ranked opponents, including four against teams that have spent multiple weeks in the top 10 of both national polls.
- Greene finished the weekend with six points on three goals and three assists.
- The line of Tuch (3a), Greene (3g, 3a) and Hutson (2g, 2a) combined for 13 points in the two wins over UMass.
- Zabaneh and O'Brien became the 16th and 17th different Terriers to score a goal this season.
- Brown tallied three points (1g, 2a) this weekend and leads BU in goals (5), assists (8) and points (13).
- Fourteen different Terriers tallied a point this weekend, including nine with multiple points.
- Commesso finished the weekend with 50 saves and a .943 save percentage, allowing just one even-strength goal.
UP NEXT
BU will host No. 15 Northeastern next Friday night at Agganis to begin a home-and-home series with the Huskies.
