Boston College Men’s Hockey Dominates Play, Defeats ASU 5-2

The Boston College men’s hockey team played the first of a pair of games against Arizona State tonight, and the Eagles dominated the Sun Devils to pick up a 5-2 victory. The teams meet again at 5 PM tomorrow (Boston time).

BC got the scoring started early, as Mike Posma scored two and a half minutes into the game to give BC a 1-0 lead. Nikita Nesterenko was sent to the penalty box shortly after, but just 10 seconds into the penalty kill BC was able to get up the ice and score to take a 2-0 lead. ASU got one back before BC’s penalty expired to cut the Eagles’ lead to 2-1, and the score stayed steady until late in the period.

With just under 2 minutes remaining, Nesterenko did some nifty puck handling to get the puck to the net, and Colby Ambrosio was able to follow up on his shot attempt to put BC up 3-1. The period ended in a rush of penalties, starting with an ASU elbowing penalty at 18:09, then an Oskar Jellvik holding penalty at 18:56, and then another ASU penalty (this time for hooking) at 19:26.

ASU cut into BC’s lead early in the second, scoring just 23 seconds into the period as Mitch Benson left one side of the net wide open for them. That goal didn’t give them the momentum to continue a comeback attempt however, and BC took back the 2 goal lead at 12:56 off a Christian O’Neill goal. ASU was assessed a too many men on the ice penalty as the period wound down, and BC went into the third leading 4-2 and with a man advantage.

The Eagles didn’t convert on that first power play, but did score the only goal of the third period as Nesterenko made another beautiful set up for Ambrosio to score, giving BC a 5-2 lead at 13:35 that would hold as the final score. The Eagles recorded an impressive 50 shots of goal in tonight’s win, even without offensive leader Cutter Gauthier, who is away at World Juniors.