GOAL BY GOAL: #4 Boston College Hockey Throttles #15 RPI, 7-2

After a tough loss to open the season Thursday at Michigan, the Eagles found their stride and lit up the RPI Engineers, 7-2.

It was an early 'big game' for BC, as it usually is after you lose the first game of a weekend. BC would have found itself in a pretty unpleasant 0-2-0 hole to start the season. But fortunately, the young Eagles finally started to find the back of the net.

Let's get it started.

BC GOAL #1 (PPG): Eagles Lead 1-0.
2:03 of the 1st period: Hayes (Gaudreau, Savage)

OH MY SWEET JESUS, HE IS BACK. That sweet filthiness could have only come from one player in the country, Mr. Gaudreaubey Baker himself. Johnny Gaudreau just undresses an RPI defenseman before leaving the puck for a trailing Kevin Hayes.

RPI would answer late in the first period to knot the score at one. Despite the flash of brilliance out of Gaudreau, it was really an abysmal first period for the Eagles. The Engineers outshot BC by a margin of 13-2, and the Eagles would take three penalties. Really an unacceptable period and the Eagles were fortunate to escape with a 1-1 tie into the locker room.

BC GOAL #2 (PPG): Eagles Lead 2-1.
6:24 of the 2nd period: Gaudreau (Hayes, Arnold)

Johnny Hockey pops home a Kevin Hayes rebound to retake the lead. It was a monster day for Gaudreau, who ended up with a slick 1-2--3 line, and even had a few breakaway chances that he couldn't put home.

And just 13 seconds later...

BC GOAL #3 (GWG): Eagles Lead 3-1.
6:37 of the 2nd period: Smith (Calnan)

Great to see Quinn Smith get the game winner. He has really become a player, and was a bright spot last year in our painfully-shallow lineup.

RPI would answer later on on the period to get within one, but that would be the last time they would threaten.

BC GOAL #4: Eagles Lead 4-2.
15:29 of the 2nd period: Fitzgerald (Cangelosi, Hayes)

Hard to the net. Good things are going to happen.

Lots of goals to get through here, folks...

BC GOAL #5: Eagles Lead 5-2.
0:18 of the 3rd period: Arnold (Gaudreau)

Whew... probably the nicest individual effort of the game. Little shake & bake with a wiggle and an absolute roof job from Arnold.

BC GOAL #6: Eagles Lead 6-2.
3:04 of the 3rd period: Calnan (Smith)

Woops.

Hell of a scorer's touch on that finish, by the way.

And finally, with the PAT...

BC GOAL #7: Eagles WIN 7-2.
12:03 of the 3rd period: Santini (Savage, Arnold)

Items of Note:

--Probably the most encouraging part of the game was seeing so many different players make it on to the scoresheet. Of course you have Gaudreau leading the way with a goal and two assists, and generally being the spark plug we all know and love, but there were seven different goal scorers in the game -- now eight different scorers on eight goals this season.

And even more importantly, just about every freshman is getting in on the action. BC is going to need to keep that up in order to have a successful season -- if the Eagles are going to win, it will be with depth from the younger players.

--Thatcher Demko looked good, though so did Billett on Friday. Through two games there's no reason to expect that one player has separated himself from the other, though Demko probably had a bit of a better weekend.

--Penalties... Jesus Christ can we stop it? I like how a lot of the guys -- especially the new guys -- have a bit of an edge, but we take way too many penalties. We can't be playing a third of each period down a man. If BC can tighten that up, it will change the entire season.

This is really the same story as last year.

--Fortunately, despite the penalties, special teams looked good. Perfect, statistically -- the Eagles were 7 for 7 on the penalty kill and 2 for 2 on the power play. Nice.

--RPI is a very good team, as is evident by their top 15 ranking. They might be the best team in the ECAC this year (the league that had both of last year's national championship game teams).

As Joe said to me after the game: "That win will really help our..............RPI. Thank you, thank you."

Looking Ahead:

BC has just one game next weekend, Friday night against #3 Wisconsin (2-0-0) -- a huge early season game with big-time Pairwise implications, and easily the best matchup in all of college hockey to this point in the season. It's Jerry York appreciation night -- and thank the sweet Lord Jesus I will actually be there.

It will be nice for BC to only have to focus on one opponent in practice all week. Hopefully it pays off.