BU's rebuilt blue line opens Hockey East in Jax Wismer's old barn

Jax Wismer gets the best kind of first Hockey East weekend a transfer can draw: two nights in Burlington, against the team he left.

BU took him out of Vermont this summer because it needed grown-ups on the blue line, and this is the first real test of that bet. The Terriers are 2-0 and climbed three spots to No. 11 in the USCHO poll. They visit Vermont (0-1) at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.

Why the back end had to be rebuilt

BU didn't lose a defenseman or two. It lost the top of the depth chart. Cole Hutson signed with Washington, and Gavin McCarthy, the captain, signed with Buffalo. Sascha Boumedienne went to Ohio State, Malte Vass to New Hampshire and Kyle Kim to Colgate. Last season ended with a 5-3 loss to UConn in the Hockey East quarterfinals.

Jay Pandolfo's answer was the portal, and he was plain about why. "We just felt like we wanted to get a little bit older, have a little bit more depth," he said.

The two transfers

Wismer is the one who matters this weekend. He averaged just over 21 minutes in 29 games as a Vermont sophomore and had 16 points in two seasons against Hockey East teams. Two of them were goals against BU. "You already know the league," Pandolfo said.

Adam Barone came from Lake Superior State, where he had 19 points in 36 games last season and played every regular-season game. He called the CCHA "gritty" and said Hockey East asks for "a much faster, more skilled game."

They join seniors Aiden Celebrini and Mick Frechette, sophomore Charlie Trethewey and freshman Haoxi Wang. Wang's first college goal opened the scoring in a 4-0 win over Alaska Fairbanks on Oct. 3, and he and Celebrini have been BU's steadiest pair.

What I'm watching

Mikhail Yegorov had the shutout in that 4-0 game, and BU won the opener 2-1 in overtime. Two wins over a nonconference opponent tell you the Terriers can defend. They don't tell you how this group handles a Hockey East forecheck on the road.

Vermont knows exactly where Wismer likes to go with the puck. That cuts both ways, because he knows where the Catamounts like to go, too.

Weekend slate: BU at Vermont, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Elsewhere in Hockey East, Northeastern visits UMass, Arizona State visits UMass Lowell, and Colorado College visits UConn. Boston College hosts St. Cloud State on Saturday. On the women's side, BU hosts Colgate on Friday, and Meg has why Colgate is suddenly a top-10 team.

Kessler's call: BU takes three of the four points, and Wismer gets a point of his own in his old building. Road sweeps in this league are hard to come by in October, even for the better team.