By Scott Wheeler, Joe Smith and Jeremy Rutherford
ST. LOUIS — Jay Pandolfo has a good thing going at Boston University.
Three seasons. Three Frozen Four appearances. One Beanpot. One Hockey East championship. And, after a 3-1 win over Penn State on Thursday night at the Enterprise Center in the national semifinal, now one trip to the national championship game.
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With the win, the Terriers have now won eight of their last nine games of this season dating all the way back to Feb. 22, their lone loss coming to UConn in the Hockey East semifinal.
A year ago, they were a goal away from the final, losing to eventual national champion Denver in overtime. This year, they’re advancing one game further — one win away from the program’s sixth national title.
To do it, they’ll have to beat a Western Michigan team that has done them one better in their last nine games, winning all of them.
On Thursday, Western Michigan gave up a 2-0 lead in the third period before pulling out their semifinal win in double overtime. The Terriers followed suit and carried a 2-0 lead of their own into the third period, but held onto it.
Senior forward and Los Angeles Kings draft pick Jack Hughes opened the scoring on an innocuous play, poking in a loose puck after Penn State goaltender and Flames prospect Arsenii Sergeyev, not knowing it was underneath him, lifted his pad and revealed it.
DOGS BITE FIRST! Jack Hughes gets the Terriers on the board first with 18:25 left in the second period!#MFrozenFour x 🎥 ESPN2 / @TerrierHockey pic.twitter.com/QeK5L10tdg
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) April 11, 2025
Freshman forward and Islanders first-rounder Cole Eiserman made it 2-0, scoring his team-leading 24th goal of the season off of a pass from fellow freshman and longtime teammate Cole Hutson on a two-on-one.
WHAT A PASS! @ColeEiserman34 with the one timer to make it 2-0 Terriers! #MFrozenFour x 🎥 ESPN2 / @TerrierHockey pic.twitter.com/ROocnW47MK
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) April 11, 2025
Though Penn State did push in the third more than they had through the first two periods, BU only gave back one to Nic DeGraves. BU sophomore forward and Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Jack Harvey later sealed it into the empty net.
“It almost doesn’t feel quite real,” Hughes said after the game of advancing to the final after back-to-back semifinal losses at the Frozen Four. “It’s a little bit of a relief for now and then we’re going to get back to work and hopefully win it all.”
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Hutson comes up big … again
Two points and plus-3 in a 4-3 overtime win in the gold medal game of the World Juniors. A goal and plus-2 in the Beanpot final. A goal, four points and plus-4 in the regional semifinal. A goal and two points in a 3-2 overtime win in the regional final to send his team to the Frozen Four. And now a big assist in the national semifinal to set up the game-winner that sent the Terriers to the national title game.
They should start calling him Big Game Cole Hutson.
And honestly, what a freshman year for the Capitals second-rounder. That’s 47 points in 38 games now. His brother Lane had 48 in 39, believe it or not, so they may well finish the year with identical stat lines. Hutson was outstanding at both ends again on Thursday night, making plays all around the offensive zone, carrying a ton of pucks out of trouble and into the offensive zone, setting up the Eiserman goal, putting five shots on net, and coming up with some big blocks and stops back at the other end. His four blocked shots were a game high.
“Whenever No. 44 has the puck, I’m always expecting to get it,” Eiserman said after the game of Hutson’s setup on his goal. “He’s such a great player and with him he was just looking for the angle. It was a late pass but a great play.”
I’m more confident with every passing viewing that he’s going to be an impactful NHL defenseman. — Scott Wheeler
Yegorov’s fairytale second half continues
On Jan. 10, Mikhail Yegorov lost his 13th game in a row with the hapless Omaha Lancers team. Three months later, he made 32 saves on 33 shots to backstop the Terriers to the national title game. In between, the Devils’ second-round pick won the Beanpot and celebrated his 19th birthday.
His decision to leave Omaha and the USHL and enroll at BU for second semester has been a fairytale for him and the Terriers, and now he gets a chance for the storybook ending. He has been lights-out for them since his very first start back on Jan. 25, playing to a save percentage above .930 across 17 games. The talent and upside has always been there. He’s a 6-foot-5 goalie with superb athleticism. He’s also a delight to talk to and seems to have a great head on his shoulders. Once he gets into the gym and adds the right kind of muscle to his lean 180-pound frame, the sky looks like it’s the limit.
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“It has been great coming here and getting a chance to play and sticking through the whole season. (My teammates) have treated me as if I was a part of their team for four years,” Yegorov said when asked to put his whirlwind season into perspective. “Now we’re going to play in the national championship and it’s kind of unbelievable.”
He has turned me into a big fan and the Devils were right to look past the difficult situation he was in in Omaha and make him the second goalie off the board in last year’s draft. — Scott Wheeler
Not yet, Nittany Lions
Considering Penn State’s Cinderella run, going from winless in their first nine Big Ten games to the Frozen Four, it seemed like they’d have another comeback left in them. And the Nittany Lions nearly did, especially after Nicholas DeGraves scored two minutes into the third.
But a slow start against Boston University was too much to overcome. The Terriers, in their third straight Frozen Four, had so much firepower, with the slick Hutson-to-Eiserman goal midway through the second the difference. Penn State was outshot 24-15 in the first two periods before making a strong third-period push.
The loss doesn’t take away from the historic season, with the Nittany Lions — just over a decade removed from their debut in Division I — making their first Frozen Four.
“It’s always tough when the season ends, but honestly I can’t just help but feel, well, grateful is one and positive about this year and this team,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said of his team’s second-half turnaround. “We were left for dead not long ago, and for these guys to come back and play in St. Louis is remarkable. And better than that is how they did it. I learned a lesson from them this year: The way they stuck together and stayed positive in the hardest times when it would have been really easy not to is really, really positive.” — Joe Smith
(Photo: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)
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