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Despite holding two 2-goal leads in the third period. the Eagles couldn't hold off a physical Providence College team that came roaring back to earn a 3-3 tie at a sold-out Schneider Arena.
What a frustrating end to the first half of the season. Have we ever been more frustrated with a tie? Providence isn't a bad hockey team, so it's not like it was a totally embarrassing effort (though clearly not a result you want to see out of a championship contender).
The turning point of the game came late in the second period after a Patrick Wey penalty put BC down a man. Quinn Smith battled through two Providence College defenders to slide home a goal 5-hole past Jon Gillies as he was falling to the ice. All video replays and eyewitness accounts of those fans sitting behind the net had a crystal-clear view of the puck going into the net, but after a lengthy video review the referees overturned the "goal" call on the ice. It was astonishing to everyone including the PC TV announcers who had spent the previous 5 minutes talking about how it sure looked like a good goal to them.
After the game, Jerry York told the press that he was told that Smith's momentum pushed the puck over the goal line. This, unfortunately, is ridiculous, and I have no idea how they were able to make that call, especially given that the call on the ice was "goal."
Is it sour grapes to complain about a waved off goal in a game where we blew a late lead to an inferior opponent that we should have torched on their own ice? Sure is. But as The Greatest Hockey Team In North America we've earned the right to complain about things like that, daggummit.
Just a frustrating tie that feels like a loss, which we now get to simmer over for three weeks during the horrible mid-season break. Fortunately, #York925 will certainly come soon enough as our next game is against the hapless Chargers of Alabama-Huntsville, currently at an impressively bad 1-12-1 and second to last in the national rankings. Yikes.
We'll have lots of mid-season wrap-ups and discussions to fill the gaping empty space in your soul during these three hockey-less weeks, so be sure to stop by and get your hockey fix.