Boston College 2, Merrimack 2: Eagles And Warriors Skate To 2-2 Tie
by Brian Favat on Jan 9, 2012 8:03 AM EST
in Boston College Hockey
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PrintThe fourth-ranked Eagles hockey team jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the visiting No. 6/7 Merrimack Warriors, but Merrimack freshman Connor Toomey potted two goals, including the eventual game-tying goal with just 1:10 left in regulation, as the Eagles and Warriors skated to a 2-2 tie yesterday at Conte Forum.
The tie extends BC's home unbeaten streak against Merrimack to 25 consecutive games (22-0-3). More importantly, the Eagles remain atop the Hockey East standings, now tied with Boston University with 19 points and identical 9-4-1 league records. Merrimack is currently in third place with 16 points in 12 games.
Paul Carey opened up the scoring 47 seconds in the second period, while Steven Whitney doubled the lead just 4:37 later on a short-handed goal. Brian Dumoulin had an assist on both Eagle tallies.
MC's Toomey cut the Eagles lead in half at 7:08 of the second, and tied the game up with just 1:10 left in the third.
In the extra session, Merrimack's Kyle Singleton had seemingly won the game for the Warriors with just 12.9 seconds left in overtime, corralling a Rhett Bly re-direct into the back of the net. But after a lengthy review, it was ruled a no-goal after Bly's deflection came off a high stick.
While it would have been nice to get the two points, the Eagles were fortunate to pick up the one point, especially when you consider BC nearly let a second game slip away in overtime.
"We always want to get the two points, especially in front of a great crowd like tonight," said BC senior right winger Paul Carey. "It was just a tough finish between the goal in the last minute and the almost win in overtime.
"But at the end of the day we will take the one point. We play them twice more so we are looking forward to that."
Brian Billett stopped 22 shots for his first collegiate tie. He improves to 3-2-1 overall.
The Eagles head into a stretch of 12 games where 10 will be played away from Conte Forum, though the schedule lightens considerably as compared to the first half of the year. BC next heads to Amherst to take on the UMass Minutemen on Friday night before returning to Boston to take on Northeastern at Fenway Park.
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Hockey East wide open
Had tix with a friend to see BU-Merrimack on Friday night. Came away unimpressed with either side, yet Merrimack was able to tie BC yesterday. I still believe the Eagles are the most talented team in HE and Jerry certainly has a way of molding his teams into champions come February and into March, but HE in general appears to be really wide open this year and right now, BC isn’t playing at a championship level.
Let’s see if Jerry’s annual February magic kicks in this year.
HEA just isn’t very good right now. Maine continues to underachieve under Whitehead. New Hampshire is going to miss the tournament for the first time in over a dozen years. Northeastern, UMass and Vermont are meh.
I agree BC is the most talented team in the league, but “HE being really wide open” is just code for not a very good league right now. That can probably be said for every conference nationally with the exception of the CCHA, which seems pretty stacked this year. There just isn’t a dominant program so far this season.
Editor, BC Interruption
This just isn’t a great BC hockey team unfortunately. They’re still very good, and things are certainly open when it comes to winning HE, but I don’t think they’re as good as we thought when the season started.
This is the same Merrimack team that could only muster a 6-6 tie against St. Lawrence last week, and the Eagles only come away with a 2-2 tie? Their only real quality win this season was the BU game at Agannis. Otherwise they’ve beaten a lot of teams that in retrospect don’t look to be very good (North Dakota in particular) and lost to just about every elite team they’ve played (Michigan, BU x2, Denver, etc).
I hope this is just the usual mid-season swoon extended a little longer, but they haven’t played a great game in seemingly forever.
BC should have put MC away yesterday, but fell asleep in the third period. Also fell asleep in the first period against Michigan. I think York referred to it as “sleepy hockey” as the Eagles were definitely feeling the effects of the long layoff.
What the Eagles have going for them is that the schedule lightens up considerably in the second half. The only currently ranked teams BC has left are Merrimack x2 and BU, if they face them in the Beanpot Championship game. Though a vast majority of the games remaining are road/neutral games, BC should be able to start rattling off a bunch of wins during the second half of the year.
Editor, BC Interruption
Goaltending
Sticking with one goaltender throughout the second half will also be really important. Looks like York is going to go with Billett going forward after Milner cost BC a few games in the first half (the Notre Dame game, in particular).
The BC D really missed Wey, too.
This team has a lot of talent and is capable of winning Hockey East, but shoring up the defense and figuring out the goaltending situation will be key if BC wants to repeat as HEA champs.
Editor, BC Interruption
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