BOSTON — Friday was the one night of the year when Boston University coach David Quinn did not want to see his leading scorer light the lamp.
For one night only, BU’s star freshman Jack Eichel suited up for the opposition, centering the top line for the U.S. Under-20 Team in an exhibition game leading up to the World Junior Championship. And sure enough, Eichel buried the second of two U.S. short-handed goals in just 24 seconds as the Americans beat the top-ranked Terriers 5-2 in front of 2,239 at Walter Brown Arena.
Center Chase De Leo had a goal and two assists for the U.S. team, which dominated the Terriers in the first period before settling into a more even game for the final 40 minutes. The shots were officially 15-1 in favor of the U.S. in the first period. It wasn’t as if most of the period was played in the BU end, but it was obviously lopsided at first.
“We had a good start to the game,” U.S. coach Mark Osiecki said. “I thought Quinny’s group came back and made a good push. It was a good evaluation for us, going in and seeing a different color, to see a different opponent. Our guys were probably tired of beating up on each other. … This was good tilt.”
Wearing new jerseys that were throwbacks to 1949, Brandon Hickey and Danny O’Regan scored for the Terriers. BU dodged a few bullets when the Americans hit two pipes in the second period, but the Terriers were still in the game until an empty-net goal sealed it in the final minute.
“I was a little concerned after the first period that it was going to be a waste of time for everybody,” Quinn said. “And then I was proud of the way our guys collected themselves and pushed back, took time and space away from them.”
On top of playing a highly skilled team that has several players jockeying for the last few roster spots, BU was missing three of its top six forwards in Friday’s lineup.
On top of Eichel suiting up against them, the Terriers were without Evan Rodrigues due to a minor injury, and Robbie Baillargeon is still on the mend from mononucleosis. Both should be back in time for the Jan. 3 game against Union.
The U.S. team couldn’t score until BU went on its first power play, and then the Americans struck twice in under half a minute. With Matt Grzelcyk pinching with the man advantage, De Leo got the puck in the BU zone and raced up the right wing before crossing to BC defenseman Noah Hanifin for the score.
Twenty-four seconds later, Eichel brought the puck back up the ice on another two-on-one break, selling the pass before freezing BU goalie Matt O’Connor with a shot over his left shoulder.
“We do a lot of two-on-ones in practice, and I feel like the D are always picking my pocket on passes, so I told O’Connor before the game that I was going to shoot between his legs,” Eichel said. “So he went down and then I was able to go over him.”
Eichel could have had two more goals. At the 16-minute mark, a BU turnover led to a great chance for the 18-year-old phenom, only to have O’Connor stop him this time.
Late in the second period, Eichel was all alone with BU goalie Connor Lacouvee, but the freshman stopped his erstwhile teammate.
“It was a little bit awkward for me playing against my own team, and then it’s always a little bit odd jumping in and playing with a new team at first,” Eichel said.
“It wasn’t fun,” Quinn said of having to coach against Eichel for a change. “I know what other coaches in college hockey feel like.”
Meanwhile, the teams traded goals in the second period. De Leo scored by tucking in a rebound at 2:04, but BU defenseman Hickey got that one back with a shot from the point to beat goalie Alex Nedeljkovic at 11:47.
In the third period, JT Compher made it 4-1 by scoring on a redirection, and the game seemed to be just about over. But then Danny O’Regan — Eichel’s right wing most of this season — buried a rebound at 11:31, giving BU some life.
Finally, however, Anthony DeAngelo’s empty-net goal with 28 seconds left sealed it.
“It was really nice to play against somebody other than ourselves for once,” Eichel said. “I think that there’s definitely areas of our game that we need to clean up — quicker on our changes, better awareness on faceoffs, breakdowns that led to goals. But I think it was a good game.”
“It’s a great group, and I love our chances up north in the tournament,” Quinn said.
After the game, the crowd at Walter Brown was delighted to see Eichel join his BU teammates to do a stick salute for the Terriers faithful.
“That was all him,” O’Regan said. “I thought he was just going through the line slowly, but I guess he had that in mind. That was really cool; the whole crowd loved it, and so did our team.”
After practicing all week at Walter Brown Arena — where the BU men’s team played for several decades before moving to Agganis Arena — the U.S. team gets ready to head to Canada for two more exhibition games against Germany and Sweden on Sunday and Tuesday. The Under-20 Team plays its first WJC game on Dec. 26 against Finland.
