BU is quite obviously
too young, even if Pandolfo has yet to directly admit it when asked about the potential consequences of fielding the country’s youngest roster (by almost a
year on average). Pandolfo and associate head coach Joe Pereira’s recruiting strategy is built around high-end NHL Draft picks — BU’s got quite a few of those this season,
you may have heard — who almost always arrive as true freshmen and almost always leave before their senior season. And while BU’s youth movement clearly worked over the last three seasons, those Terriers still had at least
some experience to rely on — BU rostered five seniors each of the last two years and nine in 2022-23. These Terriers have one senior, a transfer playing as the extra forward. If struggling sophomore defenseman Sascha Boumedienne — who, in a startling podcast appearance last month, said Pandolfo and Pereira tell recruits their goal is to get them to the NHL as soon as possible — is to be believed, that’s by design.
But BU flew too close to the sun in 2025-26. And it’s worth noting that Pandolfo has been caught attributing several of the Terriers’ most potent issues, namely their lack of urgency during a season that’s been on the brink for a while, to youth. Those moments, when he
isn’t directly asked about age, are telling.
Put those struggles with urgency next to the energy of BC, which is the third-youngest team in the country and still so much older than BU, and you get a damning look at the consequences of a roster this young.