
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Same old thing? Nothing new? All the same?
No matter how you spin it, nothing has changed for the Boston University men’s hockey team.
The No. 13 Terriers (9-7-1, 5-3-1 Hockey East) fell to Yale (3-7-1, 2-3-1 ECAC) on Sunday afternoon at Ingalls Rink.
After what can only be described as an up-and-down first half of the 2024-25 season, the Terriers hoped to leave their woes in the past. Head coach Jay Pandolfo shot down the notion of turning a new leaf in two words.
“Nothing changed,” he said postgame.
It looked like BU was ready to shed new light on its season just 1:01 into the contest. Freshman forward Alex Zetterberg picked the puck up in the neutral zone, skated it over the blue line, and found junior forward Quinn Hutson driving the net, who scored to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
But that light was put out fast. Yale responded at 5:13. Senior defenseman Connor Sullivan found sophomore forward Will Richter in the slot from behind the net, and Richter finished, knotting the scoreline at 1-1.
Despite a push from the Bulldogs after their first goal, it was the Terriers who retook the lead at 6:59. Huston fired a pass from the top of the right circle down to Zetterberg at the back door, who tapped it home to give BU a 2-1 lead.
After freshman forward Nick Roukounakis was called for a hook, Yale tied the game on the power play at 8:26. Junior forward David Chen fired a wrister from the point on the man advantage, beating senior netminder Mathieu Caron.
The penalty kill has been a problem for the Terriers throughout thus far. Entering the contest, BU only killed penalties at a 73 percent clip, good for 57th in the nation. Yale scored three power play goals Sunday.
“That’s a problem,” Pandolfo said of surrendering three power play goals. “The penalty kill has not been good enough.”
BU’s power play, however, finished 2-for-6. The first came at 18:25 of the first, when junior co-captain Ryan Greene buried a slick feed from senior forward Matt Copponi to retake the lead.
Yale responded with two quick goals to take its first lead of the day at 4-3. At 2:54, freshman forward Micah Berger redirected a point shot from junior blueliner Bayard Hall. Then at 4:06, junior forward Kalen Szeto beat Caron shorthanded on a breakaway off a miscue by freshman defenseman Sascha Boumedienne.
Caron was pulled after Szeto’s goal for sophomore Max Lacroix. Caron stopped 10 of the 14 shots he faced. Lacroix stopped 11 of 14 in relief.
“I just didn’t think he was seeing the puck great,” Pandolfo said of Caron.

After Hutson tied the score with his second goal at 5:19 of the second, Yale swapped goalies. Sophomore Jack Stark, who stopped 12 of 16 shots, was replaced by freshman Noah Pak, who stopped 15 of 16 in relief.
Chen scored his second power play goal of the game at 15:03 to give the Bulldogs the lead back at 5-4. BU thought it tied the game at 18:13 when Zetterberg found the back of the net. But after review, the goal was waved off. Senior forward Tristan Amonte was ejected for contact to the head.
Yale extended its lead to 6-4 at 13:00 of the final period. It marked the first time since Nov. 22, 2019 that the Bulldogs scored six times in a single game.
“It’s the discipline and the team defense that is continuing to be the biggest problem,” Pandolfo said.
To make things worse, Yale tacked on a seventh goal at 15:51. It hasn’t scored seven goals in a game since Feb. 10, 2018. BU made it 7-5 at 19:26 when Zetterberg potted his second of the day.
The Terriers were without several key contributors Sunday. Freshman forwards Cole Eiserman, Cole Huston, and Brandon Svoboda are in Ottawa competing for the United States at World Juniors. Sophomore defenseman Tom Willander is playing for Sweden. Junior forward Devin Kaplan missed the contest with what Pandolfo called a “minor injury. Pandolfo expects Kaplan back against Vermont on Jan. 10.
Pandolfo nor his team feel sorry for themselves. He knows the way the Terriers are playing right now isn’t working. Most importantly, what is BU’s identity?
“We’re still trying to find it, clearly,” he said.