Giggidy.
It was the weekend that everyone from Boston College dreamed about last season. It was the night revolving around a coach who tried like hell to avoid being recognized for achieving the highest honor in his profession. It was the night where the term "In York We Trust" turned into "Thank You, Jerry" as a banner was unveiled at Conte Forum for head coach Jerry York becoming the winningest coach in college hockey history. After two previous attempts were derailed by God and Jerry's health, BC came together with a marquee opponent in the visitors' locker room in a celebration of Coach York and his trade.
The funny thing is that Jerry York Appreciation Night was completely upstaged by his team. BC scored four first period goals and jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second en route to a 9-2 destruction of the #2-ranked Wisconsin Badgers. It was an exhibition of Boston College's ceiling, even though the Badgers were shorthanded without junior goalie Joel Rumpel. And when the dust settled, so shell-shocked was Bucky that they went up the street on Saturday and got taken behind a woodshed again by BU.
A look at a beautiful night at Conte Forum:
The Good:
Offensive Awesomeness: On one of his shifts in the first period, Johnny Gaudreau got a breakaway on which he hit the post. He got the puck a few short moves later and got another breakaway on the same shift, beating Landon Peterson for the strike. This came after Austin Cangelosi had two goals already on the board and before Ian McCoshen made it 4-0, all before the end of the first period. After the end of the first frame, the top line of Gaudreau-Bill Arnold-Adam Gilmour had a goal and four assists between them
Some of the final stat totals were just flat out video game numbers: Gilmour finished with three assists and a +3; Gaudreau had an assist later in the game and finished with 1-2-3 numbers AND A +4 RATING. Arnold finished +3 with an assist. Cangelosi would go 2-1-3, Kevin Hayes had two first period assists then added a goal in the third, Ryan Fitzgerald had two assists. Heck, the only Eagles without points were Destry Straight, Isaac MacLeod, and Danny Linell.
Against Wisconsin and RPI, two teams expected to compete at the national level, BC has now outscored opponents 16-4. That's the equivalent of Florida State beating a team like Clemson, 51-14. I know, crazy to think that would happen, right? Wait...what? Umm... this is awkward.
Ian McCoshen and Michael Matheson: McCoshen scored the aforementioned fourth goal in the first period and added a secondary assist on the seventh goal scored by Michael Sit in the second period. But offense aside, the defensive pairing of McCoshen and Matheson finished a combined +13. McCoshen finished at +6, and Matheson set a new program record with a +7 That means, for those of you at home who don't understand the plus/minus, that they were on the board for six and seven more BC goals than Wisconsin goals. Some guys can't get that rating over the course of an entire season.
Jerry York: The night was about him from the start, and his team both took the spotlight away and enhanced the spotlight by thrashing one of the nation's elite hockey teams. In true Jerry York fashion, he chose to not focus on himself but focus on what his team was accomplishing. After the game, Jerry chose to focus on the accomplishments of his freshman class, players like Cangelosi and McCoshen. He talked about how he's enjoying how they're fitting in, and he stressed the evolution of the program with how players like Johnny Gaudreau and Kevin Hayes watched Pat Mullane and Steven Whitney. Now the younger guys are watching Johnny Hockey and Hayes. In York We Trust, and believe me, Jerry is the classiest and nicest guy in the nation, and he deserved this night more than anyone.
The Bad:
Power Play: Nine goals is an incredible amount. 49 shots was the most since BC peppered Northeastern with 50 back in 2010. But the power play was 0-for-5. Kind of splitting hairs, but at least it's going to give Jerry York something to work on this week.
Isaac MacLeod and Danny Linell: Lost in the destruction of the Badgers is that MacLeod and Linnell both finished -1. They also represented two of the three players without a point. It's hard to point to any real mistakes by the team when they were steamrolling that fast and that strong, but if you're a race car going 200 mph and there's a car going 150 mph, the one that's going 150 mph will appear in slow motion. It's just a matter of missing out on horsepower, right Ron Burgundy?
The Ugly:
The offense: Providence scored 10 against AIC. Call me when you guys hit double digits.