GOAL BY GOAL: BC Men’s Hockey Takes Fourth Straight With 4-3 Win Over Vermont

Watch out for the young talent on the Eagles — they’re really starting to find their groove.

Boston College men’s hockey earned their fourth consecutive win on Friday night thanks to that youth. The all-freshman line of Grando-Räsänen-Hutsko accounted for all four goals in BC’s 4-3 comeback win over the Catamounts in Burlington.

Vermont Goal #1: 4:35 of the 1st period
Max Kaufman (Jake Massie, Owen Grant)

UVM 1, BC 0

The game started out pretty evenly — at least in the shot count. The teams were initially tied at 7-7 in shots, but the Catamounts got the first two goals of the game.

The first goal was a good individual effort from Max Kaufman. He takes the pass from Jake Massie across the blue line and takes advantage of three Eagles getting caught up in each other’s space at the top of the slot. Kaufman skates around the traffic and just fires a no-nonsense shot past Joe Woll for the goal.

Vermont Goal #2: 11:31 of the 1st period
Anthony Petruzzelli (Max Kaufman, Ace Cowans)

UVM 2, BC 0

Kaufman stayed involved with Vermont’s second goal with a slick cross-ice pass.

Petruzzelli gives him a target in front of the net despite there being a ton of traffic. Woll is a bit out of position, probably due to a mixture of not being able to see where the puck ended up, and expecting the forehand once he does — which gives Petruzzelli a wide open net for the backhand. He just spins the puck in there, and BC’s looking like they’ve got a pretty big hole to dig out of.

Boston College Goal #1: 12:48 of the 1st period
Logan Hutsko (Christopher Grando, Connor Moore)

UVM 2, BC 1

After the shots were tied 7-7, BC would outshoot the Catamounts a whopping 27-6 from there on through the 2nd period. Fortunately, they buried their chances along the way.

Logan Hutsko got things started just a minute after Vermont’s 2nd goal to put the Eagles right back into the game. BC battles and forces a turnover at the blue line with three maroon jerseys right there ready to pounce. Hutsko is the one who finds the puck on his stick, and he has some space to head to the net.

Even better is that he’s got options — Räsänen is right there with him for what turns into a de facto 2-on-1 on that side of the ice, which forces the Vermont defenseman to divide up his attention to try and break up a potential pass. That gives Hutsko even more room, and he buries the opportunity to make it 2-1.

Boston College Goal #2: 18:57 of the 1st period
Aapeli Räsänen (Christopher Grando, Logan Hutsko)

BC 2, UVM 2

Räsänen wouldn’t be left out, though. He gets BC’s second goal to tie the game before the Eagles even headed to the locker room.

This is great, great, great hockey from a group of very young players. It’s a real group effort to create this goal, and they certainly deserved the result.

It starts behind the net with Grando going hard-nose and disrupting Vermont with a pretty ferocious forecheck. It forces the Catamount defender to reverse course right into the path of Hutsko. Vermont’s pass is intercepted by Hutsko in the corner, and Grando’s right there to give him an outlet.

Now the Catamounts are in total disarray. Räsänen is well positioned to to take the feed, and he one-times it past a sprawling Stefanos Lekkas to tie the game.

Boston College Goal #3: 9:03 of the 2nd period
Logan Hutsko (Casey Fitzgerald, Luke McInnis)

BC 3, UVM 2

BC — and the freshman line in particular — are really cooking now, and they take their first lead of the game midway through the 2nd period. They can do it as a group and they can do it with individual talent, and Hutsko does it all himself on this one.

Hutsko parts two Vermont defenders like the red sea as he streaks to the net. He holds onto the puck to get Lekkas moving side to side and gets the added bonus of Lekkas attempting and missing a poke check.

Now Hutsko is on a bit of a tough angle, but Lekkas is falling all over himself too which gives Hutsko just enough of a hole to shoot at. He hits the back of the net, and it’s 3-2.

Vermont Goal #3: 5:37 of the 3rd period
Matt O'Donnell (Conor O'Neil, Max Kaufman)

BC 3, UVM 3

BC played really well pretty much the entire game, but thanks to their early hole, they only held a one goal lead in the third period. That’s a dangerous spot to be in, and the Catamounts got one of their own to tie the game back up.

Vermont sets up a pretty good play in front of the net, but fortunately for BC, O’Neil has to pull the puck off his skates before he can take the shot. Unfortunately for BC, Woll can’t corral the puck and it rebounds right into the slot with Woll positioned to the side of the net from the original chance.

O’Donnell is there with a quick backhand into the open net, and we’re tied at 3.

Boston College Goal #4 (GWG): 16:54 of the 3rd period
Aapeli Räsänen (David Cotton, Julius Mattila)

BC 4, UVM 3 — FINAL

But BC was still in control of the game, and with fifteen minutes left after Vermont tied things up, you felt good about their chances of pulling one out. And they did!

David Cotton got involved thanks to BC being in between line changes as a Vermont penalty had just expired about thirty seconds prior to the goal. The Cats are scrambling on tired legs, so Cotton’s able to skate around some guys and take a shot at the net.

Vermont bodies are all over the place though, and while the puck doesn’t find its way through, it does find its way back onto Cotton’s stick behind the net. Räsänen’s his target in front of the net, and he roofs one heck of a backhand past Lekkas from the doorstep to give BC the lead and the win on the road.

Vermont isn’t particularly good, but to come away with yet another win in a hostile environment in a league game is all you can ask for. Most importantly, BC’s offense seems to be coming together thanks in no small part to the seemingly quick development of the freshmen superline.

BC has one more in Burlington tonight before they embark on another tough stretch of hockey. Coming away with a win would go a long way toward positioning the Eagles on the Pairwise bubble.