The 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.