2023–24 Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey season

The 2023–24 Boston University Terriers Men's ice hockey season was the 102nd season of play for the program and 40th in Hockey East. The Terriers represented Boston University in the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at Agganis Arena and were coached by Jay Pandolfo in his 2nd season.

Season
Long before the start of the season, Jay Pandolfo pulled off a recruiting coup by getting top prospect Macklin Celebrini to commit to BU. With Celebrini, as well as several NHL draft picks being added to a club that had just made the Frozen Four, Boston University was seen by many as the prohibitive favorite for the national championship and entered the season with the #1 ranking. Despite much of the attention being focused elsewhere, much of BU's success would depend upon the success of transfer Mathieu Caron. The former Brown netminder was an experienced college starter but had yet to play as many games or as difficult a schedule as he was sure to face with the Terriers.

The team had a less than stellar start, dropping two of their first three games while Caron appeared like he wasn't ready for prime time. However, by the end of October, both he and the defense settle down and the team started looking like the championship contender that many were expecting. Wins over top teams like North Dakota, Maine and Quinnipiac allowed the Terriers to climb back towards the top of the polls and they were in the top 5 by the time they paused for the winter break.

Upon their return, the team picked up right where they had left off and continued to pile up the wins. By late January, the Terriers were on a 12–1 run and set to take on cross-town rival Boston College. For the first time in the history, the two teams would meet ranked as the top two teams in the nation and the match was broadcast in both the United States and Canada (an extreme rarity for a regular season game). Unfortunately for the Terriers, the team was unable to solve the BC defense and fell 1–4 in the first game (thanks to two empty-net goals). The second match saw a bit more offense but BU was unable to get a lead in the match. The Eagles used the nation's #2 offense to great effect and scored 4 goals on just 25 shots. The sweep dropped BU down to #3 but they didn't have long to wait to get revenge as the Beanpot was just a week away.

Celebrini got BU an early lead with 2 goals before seven minutes had elapsed. After BC cut the lead in half, the Terriers scored twice more, this time thanks to Luke Tuch, and took a commanding lead with just 15 minutes left in the match. BU had to fend off a furious comeback attempt and surrendered two markers but managed to hold onto their lead and advance to the tournament championship. In another internationally televised game, BU widely outplayed Northeastern but they weren't able to get any separation from the Huskies. Despite outshooting NU 23–8 in the first two periods, BU was only a goal ahead goin into the third. The Huskies raised their level of play and tied the match in the final frame to force overtime. Again, in the 3-on-3 extra session, BU was obviously the better of the two, keeping control of the puck for most of the overtime. With under 30 seconds to play, Tom Willander misplayed a loose puck and Northeastern was able to get a clean shot from the left circle that beat Caron and win in a stunning upset.

Though disappointed by the loss, BU was still a virtual lock to make the NCAA tournament and they got right back to their winning ways. The team redoubled its efforts on defense and finished the year with 5 straight wins. The Terriers entered the playoffs as the #2 team in the nation and were guaranteed a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament no matter what happened in the conference playoffs. BU's first postseason game gave them another chance at revenge when Northeastern arrived for the quarterfinal match. The Huskies season was on the line but that didn't stop the Terriers from building a 3-goal lead with a strong second period. The team began to show some nerves when Northeastern scored twice to cut the lead down to 1 but Celebrini ended the come back attempt with his 30th goal of the season just 26 seconds later to turn the game's momentum. After ending the Huskies' season, BU headed to the TD Garden where another rival, Maine, awaited. Caron played a strong game in goal stopping 32 of 33 shots with the only Black Bear marker coming on the power play. BU, on the other hand, was more economical with their offense and scored four times on 18 shots. Celebrini assisted on three scores, including the empty net goal with under 30 seconds to play.

The championship game set BU against BC for the fourth time that season and the #1 seed was once again on the line. However, the Terriers got into penalty trouble in the game and BC made them pay. The Eagles scored four goals on the man-advantage and there was little BU could do to overcome that self-inflicted handicap. The loss left Boston University as the #2 team and, due to a confluence of NCAA seeding rules, forced the Terriers to be placed into the West Regional bracket.

Opening the tournament 1,000 miles from home, the Terriers took on RIT. The Tigers got off to a quick start but Caron kept the puck out of the goal in the first 10 minutes. BU was able to score twice in the first to take a solid lead but a power play goal from RIT halved the lead by the time the first intermission rolled around. BU then dominated play in the middle period and were able to double their lead heading into the third. After Jack Harvey scored the 5th goal for the Terriers, the team pulled back their offense and tried to just bleed the clock down. the two teams each scored in the final 5 minutes but that didn't chance the game's outcome and BU moved on to the regional final.

Facing the team that had eliminated them the year before, BU got off to a decent start against Minnesota but that were not able to solve the Gopher goaltender for the first quarter of the game. Minnesota, on the other hand, seemed to have Caron's number and scored twice in the first period. Shortly after their second goal, Quinn Hutson had the puck knocked off of his stick but it rolled towards the goal. The puck somehow leaked through the pads of the Minnesota netminder for BU's first of the game. The lucky break caused the floodgates to open in the second period and BU scored three times. A third Minnesota goal left BU with a 1-goal lead but they managed to defend their advantage well in the third. Both teams had chances in the final period but neither was able to score until Minnesota pulled their goaltender. BU collected 2 empty-net goals in the final two minutes to take the game and made the frozen four for the second year in a row.

Luke Tuch opened the scoring with a short-handed marker in the first. Denver continued its unexpected run of strong defense to limit the Terriers afterwards, however, that was a sideshow for the main feature of the game. The Terriers never got a single power play in the game while Denver went on the man-advantage four separate times. Several times in the match, obvious infractions by the Pioneers were missed and each provoked increasingly loud groans from the crowd. Towards the end of the game, head coach Jay Pandolfo was so irate with the officials that he could be heard screaming on the telecast. The only thing that kept BU in the game was a sensational game from Caron that saw the goaltender make multiple miraculous saves. BU had several chances to score both in regulation and overtime but they could not get a second goal into the Denver cage. Eventually, the team's luck ran out and a hard shot from the right circle slipped through Caron's legs for the winning goal.

Roster
As of September 21, 2023.


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Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season

!colspan=12 ! style=""; | Beanpot

!colspan=12 style=";" | Hockey East Tournament

!colspan=12 style=";" | NCAA Tournament

Rankings
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25. Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.

2024 NHL Entry Draft
† incoming freshman