Who: #18 Michigan vs #4 Boston University
Where: Yost Ice Arena
When: Friday, 7:30pm EST - Saturday, 5:00pm EST
David Quinn enters his fourth season behind the bench at BU icing a team that is the favorite to win Hockey East and is a national championship contender. Quinn has arguably been the top recruiter in college hockey and this team is loaded at every position.
The Terriers are young but talented and explosive. A mega-recruiting class brought in a year ago has solidified the core of this team at forward led by Jordan Greenway, Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson and Bobo Carpenter.
Quinn has added to the strength of this roster with another super class of freshman headlined by Patrick Harper and Kieffer Bellows. Freshman Clayton Keller leads the team in goal scoring, however, Keller will not be in the lineup against Michigan.
On the blueline the Terriers have one of the deepest and most talented group of defensemen in college hockey with six NHL draft picks. They’re allowing 1.71 goals against per game and have the 3rd best penalty kill in the nation.
In net freshman Jake Oettinger has started every game and is among the best goaltenders in the country. Oettinger has posted a .941 save percentage and a 1.59 goals against with three shutouts.
For Michigan
The Wolverines come home after a 4-1 win in Arizona. It wasn’t the kind of win that helped settle doubts as the Sun Devils had a number of chances to make this a game but couldn't because they’re bad. However, Michigan did escape with a few positives.
Will Lockwood is progressing way ahead of schedule. Not only is Lockwood leading the team in scoring, he’s starting to do it as a creator. He’s really skating with confidence and as a result is able to use his skill to make plays and facilitate for others.
Adam Winborg has established himself as someone who Red can trust as a situational player. He’s getting power play time, penalty kill time and has two goals in three games.
Zach Nagelvoort played against ASU and may have turned in the best performance I’ve seen from him in the last 2 years. Berenson finds himself with 3 goaltenders who can start, something I doubt he has ever had before.
BU is by far the best team Michigan will play this season. They have an embarrassment of riches at every position and are extremely well coached.
Michigan, on the other hand, is a team that has talent but is still surviving games against lesser opponents. They have been lucky so far winning games despite playing shorthanded five or six times a game and getting outshot but that won’t work against BU. If Michigan cedes a 40-25 shot advantage to BU they’ll lose 6-0.
If the Wolverines are going to get a win they have to avoid the penalty box, exit and enter the zone cleanly and hope to get bounces.