With hat trick against Maine, Jack McBain among national scoring leaders

It’s been an up-and-down season overall for Boston College men’s hockey, but for senior Jack McBain, it’s been up and up and up - with last night’s hat trick in BC’s 6-2 victory over Maine pushing McBain in to third place nationally in goals scored with 9 on the season.

McBain is also now 4th in the country in overall points with a line of (9-10—19) - one point back of the three co-leaders, Louis Boudon of Lake Superior State, Nathan Smith of Minnesota State, and Kent Johnson of Michigan. McBain has a 4-point gap on Hockey East’s second leading scorer, Providence’s Nick Poisson (3-12—15).

McBain is using his size to get in to good positions. BC’s strength hasn’t always been picking up scoring from guys who use their size to get right in to the slot but McBain has that ability, while also showing continually improved speed and skating.

Perhaps most importantly, McBain is showing some serious chemistry with his linemates, Brandon Kruse and Nikita Nesterenko, who are developing into a serious top line. Kruse had the primary assist on all three McBain goals, including two that were really the result of sweet feeds (one goal was mostly McBain strolling down Broadway against a Maine defense that fell asleep, but the other two were fueled by nice setups).

Kruse came in with a reputation as a setup guy with 104 assists in four years at Bowling Green, and he’s showing that already this year, too, with 11 assists in 13 games. Kruse’s playmaking combined with McBain’s improved finishing and confidence in front of the net is helping BC continue to pot goals, even as they try to get things tightened up in their own end.