BC Men's Hockey Breaks Northeastern's Hearts Again, And A Personal Apology To Parker Milner

Oh boy, where to start with this one? Let's start at the end, since that part was the most awesome.

Well that game was certainly a blasty-blast. Tommy Cross lifted BC over Northeastern 2-1 tonight with a power play goal with just 2.8 seconds left in the game. A minute earlier, Chris Kreider started in on what would have been a 2-on-1 breakaway but was tripped up by the NU defenseman. That gave BC their 5th power play of the night, and they did that thing they like to do on the power play: be awesome.

How did we get this opportunity to witness the most exciting finish at Conte Forum in years? Let's rewind to the beginning of the game. Northeastern came out in their spectacular Devil Dog jerseys (I believe calling them this is a Salzano14 Original™, but don't quote me on that) thrilling, I would imagine, everyone in attendance. The game started out very evenly. Northeastern traditionally is one of the toughest opponents we face, regardless of record, and that's exactly how things began.

It was about halfway through the first period before the first real offensive flurry, when BC almost potted a rebound or two off of Rawlings. Unfortunately, it was Northeastern that scored a couple minutes later, as perennial Not-A-BC-Guy Cody Ferriero lucked into a puck getting thrown off his skate and into the net for the 1-0 NU lead. Shortly after, we were reminded that Northeastern has another guy on their team that we don't like, as former Terrier and BC Reject Vinny Saponari came in on a good chance.

BC got a scare late in the first as a Northeastern skater went in hard knee-to-knee on Patch Alber, one of our few remaining defensemen with all lower extremities in working order. Patch left the ice with assistance and went straight down the tunnel. Fortunately for BC, Patches The Warrior came back before the end of the period and toughed it out for the rest of the game.

Moving on to the second period, BC started out very strong, with several offensive flurries and extended possession in the Northeastern zone. It finally paid off midway through the period. Kreider stole the puck in NU's zone and made an epic Beanpot-style deke around a flailing NU defenseman, producing a 2-on-0 with the trailing Kevin Hayes. Kreider surprised everyone in the arena (and out of it, as I was watching online) by faking out Rawlings and dropping the pass back to Hayes for the short range missile into the twine, tying the score.

A bit later in the period, we had a nice moment where the aforementioned Not-A-BC-Guy Cody Ferriero decided to get cute and bodycheck Michael Sit as Sit released a pass. Sit, in turn, decided to introduce Ferriero's ass to the Kelley Rink ice surface. It was pretty awesome.

The third period was tense as both sides traded occasional chances, but nothing resulted. Then, with one minute left, Kreider skated around Northeastern's Luke Eibler, leaving Eibler no other option but to trip up the speedy future New York Ranger. With the clock winding down, Kevin Hayes pulled a rebound out and back to Dumoulin, passed it across the slot to Cross who put the proverbial biscuit in the proverbial oven.

Those of you listening to 98.5 The Sports Hub with your SAP button activated heard this call of Cross' goal, which pretty much blew the roof off of Conte Forum:

I assume that is the correct link.

Game highlights to come in the next day or so once the HockeyEastOnline YouTube channel posts them. 

Game highlights are up!

Conte Forum went *berzerk*. It was one of the most exciting finishes at home in years, against an opponent that historically gives us fits. And then as if the night couldn't get any better, about 5 minutes later, the rat dogs down on the scummy end of Comm Ave blew a lead against Merrimack and lost 3-2 in overtime. Ah, bliss.

BC dropkicks the rat dogs from down the street Sunday at 4pm. I'll have a special game preview late Saturday night. It won't be pretty (neither the game nor the preview).

To finish this particular article off, I'd like to take a moment to apologize to Parker Milner for doubting him. Prior to this season, I was part of a group of BC Hockey fans that did not have confidence that Milner would be the goalie we were looking for. I saw him a a career backup guy... a good number 2 who couldn't carry the load as a top goalie and who, I thought, had inflated stats from playing against lower-level opponents when giving current Florida Everblades goalie John Muse a rest.

I was wrong. Straight up, flat out, completely wrong. Milner has made some incredible stops in this young season, has made significant progress cleaning up his rebounds, and, once we dropkick the rat dogs on Sunday, will have led Boston College Men's Hockey, again, to the top of the national polls where we belong. The skaters play in front of him with confidence, and there's a reason for it. He is the goalie that BC needed to make their run to Tampa.

So, if you're reading this, Parker (and come on, we're BC Interruption, we know you will be), I apologize for doubting you. You rock. Keep doing work.