BC Men’s Hockey falls to UConn, 3-1

Boston College men’s hockey fell to UConn in their last game of the fall semester today 3-1, ending their 14-game unbeaten streak that dated back to last season. Although this is not so unexpected, given that Spencer Knight, Matt Boldy, Drew Helleson, and Alex Newhook are all at World Juniors camp, it’s still disappointing. But I guess if there was one game the Eagles had to lose, it makes sense that it was the one where they were extremely shorthanded.

The first period started slower than last night for both teams — they traded some Grade-A chances, and both goalies made some huge stops at key moments. BC was whistled for a penalty about 4 minutes into the period and had two great shorthanded chances that were denied by the UConn goalie and the post, before getting two power play opportunities of their own that they failed to capitalize on. Henry Wilder stood tall throughout the period, making a particularly huge save at the end of the first period to keep the game scoreless as UConn gained some momentum.

At the very end of the period, Marshall Warren’s shot slid right across the UConn crease, before BC took a too many men penalty with 0.4 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Eagles started the second period on the penalty kill. Although they killed it and had some pep in their step for a few minutes after, UConn got the scoring started 4:15 into the period — becoming the first time all season that BC trailed at any point in a game. It quickly unraveled though as UConn scored two more goals within a minute or so to make it 3-0 Huskies. BC went on the kill, and then —

Well, and then a UConn’s player one-timer absolutely shattered a pane of glass behind Wilder. This obviously caused a delay as the Freitas Ice Forum staff had to come out, clean it up, and reinstall a new pane.

While I thought the Eagles could regroup in the delay, it felt like it was all UConn for the rest of the period, but Wilder made some good saves to keep the score 3-0 heading into the second intermission.

The third period was… meh, to say the least. Both teams exchanged penalties and neither capitalized. BC was very visibly frustrated (as was I) as UConn’s goalie robbed some chances for the Eagles to get on the board. BC kept taking penalties, but were able to kill them. They had a power play chance midway through the period that Trevor Kuntar finally capitalized on, ending the UConn goalie’s shutout bid and getting the Eagles on the board. The Eagles had a few power play opportunities to capitalize on, but unfortunately were not able to do so, and the final score remained 3-1.

BC returns to the ice on January 8, 2021 (?!?) for a series against Northeastern (hopefully!).