The Boston University men’s hockey team celebrating a goal during the NCAA Regional Final against Cornell at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio, March 29. The Terriers beat Cornell 3-2 to advance to the 2025 Frozen Four, and are looking to capture their first national championship under head coach Jay Pandolfo (CAS’96). Photo by Matt Woolverton

Varsity Sports

BU Men’s Hockey Returns to Frozen Four for Third Straight Season

Terriers take on Penn State Thursday in St. Louis

The BU Student Activities Office will host a watch party for the game in the basement of the GSU. Doors will open Thursday at 8 pm.

Shane Lachance will never forget the feeling of sitting in the locker room after last year’s overtime loss to Denver in round one of the Frozen Four.

“So much is going through your head, and I was thinking personally that I wish I did one thing more. I wish I did a little extra,” Lachance (SHA’27) said earlier this season. “That motivated me this past summer to not take any days off, not take anything for granted.” It’s a sentiment shared by all the Terriers on last year’s team. 

On Thursday, the BU men’s hockey team will have another shot at winning the first round of a Frozen Four. The Terriers take on Penn State University at 8:30 pm EST at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis—with a trip to the national championship game on the line. The winner will go up against either Western Michigan or Denver Saturday evening for the chance to be etched in college hockey history. 

“They wanted to get back there. When you have success two years in a row and get to the Frozen Four, it’s a big deal,” head coach Jay Pandolfo (CAS’96) said following the Terriers’ March 29 NCAA Regional Final win. “But when you don’t finish a job off, it’s disappointing.”

As a player at BU, Pandolfo made the Frozen Four all four seasons, helping the Terriers capture the NCAA tournament in 1995. Since taking the helm of the BU men’s hockey program three years ago, he has reached the Frozen Four each season, making him 7-7. BU is now in search of its sixth national championship, the first since 2009.

With an inconsistent, up-and-down season, this year’s team has taken a unique route to the national semifinals. The Terriers lost a large crop of seniors in addition to star power from forward Macklin Celebrini, winner of the 2024 Hobey Baker Memorial Award, and defenseman Lane Hutson, both of whom were drafted by the National Hockey League, last season. But when push came to shove, the Terriers played their best hockey with their backs against the wall.

“We’ve had a lot of lessons as a team on how we need to play, and there’s no more lessons. That was really the message to our group,” Pandolfo said during a media availability session last week. “Our guys responded, and they have all year.”

BU’s explosive offense has often been a crutch this season, with 3.82 goals per game, which ranks the team fourth in the NCAA. The 23 goals and 27 assists by Quinn Hutson (SHA’26) place him second in the NCAA in points per game, while his brother Cole Hutson (CAS’28) leads defenseman and freshman in points per game, with 14 goals and 32 assists.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have the opportunity to coach Lane, Quinn, and Cole,” Pandolfo said last week. “They’re a special, special group.”

Cole Eiserman (CAS’28) poses a high-scoring threat with 23 goals on the season, and 2 in the NCAA tournament so far. Cocaptains Lachance and Ryan Greene (COM’26) round out the team’s top-five point scorers heading into Thursday’s game.

The defensive core’s inexperience proved something of a liability early in the season, but they’ve settled in down the stretch. In the first 17 games of the season, the team allowed about 3.5 goals per game, but since the start of 2025, the number has dropped to 2.6. 

The top defensive pair of Cole Hutson and Gavin McCarthy (CAS’27) has been key to the team’s success, while Tom Willander (CAS’27) has remained steady as one of the strongest defenseman. Willander has helped in the development of fellow countryman Sascha Boumedienne (CAS’28) (both are from Sweden), the second youngest player in college hockey.

“Those two guys play together for the most part, and they make a good pair,” Pandolfo says.

The team’s biggest turning point was bringing in goaltender Mikhail Yegorov (CAS’28) in January. The freshman was almost immediately thrust into a starting role, where he has thrived with a 2.06 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage.

In both NCAA tournament games, the Terriers hadn’t scored the first goal and found themselves tied entering the third period. When the lights are at their brightest, this team has proven difficult to crack.

“We’ve come from behind in a lot of games all year,” Quinn Hutson says. “We don’t get nervous when we go down.”

In taking on Penn State Thursday, BU faces a program making its first-ever Frozen Four. The Nittany Lions have also had a roller-coaster season, with an under-.500 record at winter intermission and a 0-8 start to conference play. The team subsequently went on a tear, winning 17 of the last 20 games of the season. 

In the NCAA Regionals, Penn State ran into a Hockey East gauntlet, but was able to slay their region’s top seed, Maine, in dominant fashion before taking down UConn in overtime. 

The Nittany Lions are another team defined by offense, with 3.54 goals per game. The unit is led by Aiden Fink, who has recorded 23 goals and 30 assists. Overall, six different players own 30 or more points.

“They’re believing in themselves right now too. They’ve got a lot of confidence,” Pandolfo says. “They’ve come from a long way back to get to where they are, so it’s going to be a really tough matchup for us.”

So Thursday’s game has the makings of a high-motor offensive explosion for both sides, as BU’s history and experience meet Penn State’s Frozen Four debut on the Enterprise Center ice Thursday.

One thing is certain: the Terriers won’t take this opportunity for granted.

“The standard here is to win national championships,” Lachance said during Tuesday’s media availability. “It’s win or go home, and if you come home empty-handed, it’s a disappointment.”

The Boston University men’s hockey team will play Penn State University in the second Frozen Four game, at 8:30 pm, on Thursday, April 10, at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Mo. The winner will play Saturday, April 12, at 7:30 pm against the winner of Thursday’s Western Michigan and Denver game at 5 pm. All games will air live on ESPN 2. Follow the BU men’s team @TerrierHockey on X.