BU men’s ice hockey’s new head coach Jay Pandolfo (CAS’96) says his players are driven going into the 2022-2023 season opener: “We had a lot of guys come back that maybe could have moved on. I don’t think they want to leave anything on the table this year.” Photos by Jenna VanSickle

Varsity Sports

BU Men’s Ice Hockey Opens Season under New Leadership

Head coach Jay Pandolfo (CAS’96) has high expectations for BU’s 12th-ranked team

The Boston University men’s ice hockey team begins the 2022-2023 season with a new head coach—and a renewed sense of hunger. After the Terriers were forced out of the Hockey East Tournament in the first round last spring, the squad enters this season with a feeling of unfinished business. 

Returning to the roster are four of the Terriers’ top-five point scorers, including captain Domenick Fensore (SHA’23) and 2022 US Olympic goaltender Drew Commesso (CAS’24). 

Helming the squad is new head coach Jay Pandolfo (CAS’96), who was a Terrier associate head coach last season under Albie O’Connell (CAS’99). Pandolfo, a former Terrier star and Boston Bruin, says he is excited to have a group of seasoned players and has high expectations for the season, which begins Saturday at 7 pm at Agganis Arena when the team hosts Bentley. 

“We had a lot of guys come back that maybe could have moved on,” Pandolfo says. “I think these guys are older than a typical BU team would be, so they’re probably a little bit more mature. I don’t think they want to leave anything on the table this year.”

Leading the Terriers on the ice is Fensore, with seniors Jay O’Brien (COM’23) and Case McCarthy (Questrom’23) joining juniors Luke Tuch (COM’24) and Commesso alternate captains. 

The players say they’re excited about skating for Pandolfo. O’Brien says he admires the new head coach’s integrity and commitment to the team. He “is one of those guys that you just want to win for,” he says. “He’s a role model for me in so many different ways, on and off the ice, and just a guy that you want to go out there for and give 100 percent.”

Although the Terriers began last year’s campaign ranked No. 10 in the NCAA preseason poll, they started the season with a disappointing 4-9-2 record. But after losing 6-4 to Cornell in the biennial Red Hot Hockey tournament at Madison Square Garden, they quickly turned things around, becoming one of the hottest teams in college hockey. BU won 14 of the next 16 contests and captured their first Beanpot trophy in seven years, defeating Northeastern 1-0 February 14. 

But the Terriers fell 3-1 to UConn in the opening round of the Hockey East Tournament. Then ranked No. 16, BU failed to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, ending their season in Connecticut. 

When they begin this season’s Hockey East play, though, the Terriers have an opportunity to avenge last season’s end: they’ll host the UConn Huskies at Agganis October 21. 

“​​You always remember that last game with a sour taste in your mouth, and you think about it all summer,” O’Brien says. “We play every game with a chip on our shoulder, but I think for that game we’ll definitely have that feeling in the back of our minds of getting knocked out last year.” 

Fensore, a finalist for the 2022 Hobey Baker Award, collegiate hockey’s top honor, played all 35 games last season, leading the Terriers in points. He says it was important to play his senior year here. “At the end of the year, I knew I was coming back right away—I had no aspirations of leaving,” he says. “This place means so much to me, and I’m really proud to be a Terrier, growing up coming to a lot of BU hockey games and wearing the jersey. A lot of guys have the same feeling, that we want to leave here with something special and leave our mark.”

The team’s goal, O’Brien says, is to capture the Hockey East title and advance to the Frozen Four. “There were a handful of us who sat together at the end of the season and just really weren’t happy with how things went,” he says. “We want to be remembered here as winners, and not just a team that won one Beanpot.”

Of the seven new players joining the Terriers this season, six are freshmen, and three of them were selected within the first three rounds of the 2022 NHL Draft. Lane Hutson (CAS’26) was chosen by the Montreal Canadiens and Devin Kaplan (CAS’26) by the Philadelphia Flyers; both hail from the US National Team Development Program. Ryan Greene (CAS’26) was the first Terrier off the board, selected by the Chicago Blackhawks 57th overall. 

“I think the old guys have taken it upon themselves to kind of let the freshmen know what the expectations are,” Pandolfo says. “Everyone feels that they’re part of the team—it doesn’t matter if you’re a freshman or you’re a fifth-year guy, you’re part of the BU hockey program.”

The Terriers’ 2022-2023 campaign comprises 33 contests, 29 against opponents that had at least one vote in the 2022 preseason poll. BU will face 8 teams in the top 20, including 4 in Hockey East, and 4 teams in the top 10. 

“It’s great to have a competitive schedule. You want to play the best teams you can possibly play,” Pandolfo says. “For me and our staff, we want to have a tough schedule, we want to play against good competition—I think it’s better for everyone.”

The coach says the team is anxious to get the season underway. “We’ve been going pretty good here for three or four weeks,” he says. “I think guys just want to play a game. They’re sick of playing against each other. For all of us, we’re just excited to get started and get the first game under our belt.” 

After Bentley, the team will travel to Ann Arbor to go up against No. 6 Michigan, a 2022 Frozen Four team, in a nonconference contest, their first match since BU was knocked out by the Wolverines in 2018’s NCAA quarterfinal. The Terriers will welcome Notre Dame on November 23, the first time the Fighting Irish have played at Agganis since 2017. 

“The bottom line is we care about this place so much,” O’Brien says. “The hockey program, the University as a whole, and all the great people around it. We owe it to them to bring BU back where it should be and where it deserves to be.”  

And from Fensore: “We want to win as many trophies as we can. We have aspirations of winning a national championship, and to do that we just have to live it day by day.”

The BU men’s ice hockey season begins Saturday, October 1, at 7 pm, when the team takes on Bentley at Agganis Arena. The Terriers open Hockey East play Friday, October 21, hosting UConn at 7 pm. Admission is free to students with a BU Sports Pass; all home hockey games and most road games can be streamed live on ESPN+.