Boston College Men’s Hockey Blows Out Notre Dame 4-0

Looking to make a statement on their home ice, the Boston College men’s hockey team delivered a thorough beat-down of Notre Dame, picking up goals from four different players en route to a 4-0 win. Their eighth win in a row moves BC to 10-4 on the season and has them rolling as they head into their final game before the holiday break.

A rapid first period ended with no score, but saw some great hockey played over long stretches with almost no stoppages. Julius Mattila probably had the best chance of the opening 20 minutes when he found himself open in the slot, but his shot went high and wide. Spencer Knight looked good on the few chances he saw, including a bouncing shot from the point that almost slipped past him. It was a physical, fast paced period of hockey with no penalties and only a few whistles to break up play. BC had the better of the play, attempting 18 total shots to Notre Dame’s nine (8-5 shots on goal), but neither team was able to break the 0-0 deadlock.

It didn’t take long for BC to get things going in the second period, however. A Notre Dame penalty set up BC on the man advantage just 52 seconds into the period. After struggling to get much set up, BC strung together some in zone possession before Mattila found the puck on his stick in front of the net again. He didn’t miss this time, firing the puck past Notre Dame goalie Cale Morris to put the Eagles up 1-0, with Logan Hutsko and David Cotton picking up the assists. BC was forced to kill off two straight penalties after that, but managed to do so with relative ease before getting back to even strength. With just about six minutes left in the period, BC’s first line turned in a fantastic shift, keeping possession of the puck in Notre Dame’s zone for a long stretch. Hutsko stayed on during a line change and jammed home a rebound off a Drew Helleson shot to give him his second point of the night and put BC up 2-0. Patrick Giles made it 3-0 just a few minutes later, with an absolutely perfect shot on a shorthanded rush. Giles fired a wrist shot that beat Morris over his shoulder to give him his second goal of the season, both of which have been short handed. BC gained a late period man advantage, the highlight of which was Spencer Knight stoning a Notre Dame player on a breakaway to put an exclamation point on an excellent second period of hockey.

For a while, it looked like the third period would be a copy of the first. Neither team had much in terms of great looks on net and their were few stoppages. Knight had a few moments where he came up big and Hutsko had a chance on a breakaway, but for the most part, BC was just strangling the life out of the game. With 7:27 left in the game, David Cotton wristed a puck that managed to get through Morris and into the back of the net to give BC a 4-0 lead and essentially put the game out of reach. That was it for the scoring in this one, as the Eagles protected their own net and Knight picked up his fourth shutout of the season.

BC just played a really solid sixty minute game tonight, and the scoreboard reflected that. The Eagles scored twice at even strength, once on the power play, and once shorthanded. All three members of the first line had a goal and the other lines looked dangerous at times. Spencer Knight was solid all night and great the few times that BC asked him to be. From the first faceoff to the final buzzer, BC felt like they were in the drivers seat and when the first goal went in, the floodgates opened. On a rivalry night where two top 10 teams squared off, Boston College left no question who the better team was.