GOAL BY GOAL: Boston College Hockey Hangs On For Wild Win Over Vermont

After spending 62 minutes on Friday struggling to find the back of the net, BC exploded for 6 goals while allowing Vermont to score 5 of their own in a wild scoring frenzy Saturday afternoon at Conte Forum.

The Eagles won, and looked great for a good 30 minutes or so, but they almost choked away the win in the third period.

This will be more rapidfire than usual, so try to keep up.

Boston College Goal #1 (PPG): 4:05 of the 1st period
Ian McCoshen (Noah Hanifin, Alex Tuch)

BC 1, UVM 0

We have a special guest here for Goal By Goal! To get an outsider's look at these goals, Mrs. Alex Salzano is chiming in with her thoughts as well.

AS: Basically all that happens for this goal is the two BC players are hanging out at the blue line, do a little back and forth pass, and the BC guy on the right roofs a shot from the faceoff circle that may or may not have been tipped midair in front of the net to go in. I guess that wasn't high sticking or anything. Nice.

GS: BC got started quickly in this game—it helps that the power play has started to heat up. This is actually not tipped at all on the way through. McCoshen totally knuckles this puck in and Santaguida looks like he's facing a Pedro Martinez changeup. I think he saw it the whole way, too.

Boston College Goal #2: 5:17 of the 1st period
Teddy Doherty (Scott Savage, Cam Spiro)

BC 2, UVM 0

AS: Interesting angle but the puck goes in behind the goal, some BC guy is there and makes a nice pass to another guy in front of the goal who tips it in. Notice that the pass happens right in between three Vermont players which is kind of neat. What are they even doing? Two guys are just standing there in front of the boards and the other guy looks like he's actually trying to do something but doesn't do it very well, so BC scores.

GS: Pretty spot on. The two Vermont defenders both do the exact same thing—watch Savage gather in the puck, stop well before they get to him, and watch him pass over to Doherty who finishes the one-timer.

Kudos to the other Vermont skater near Doherty for actually making an effort though.

Vermont Goal #1: 8:46 of the 1st period
Malcolm McKinney (Jonathan Turk, Ori Abramson)

BC 2, UVM 1

AS: The Vermont guy comes around the back of the net and squeezes the puck out to the Vermont guy, who's by himself right in front of the goal. BC skaters are flying around but weren't in the right place at the right time. Demko seems to anticipate a low shot so the Vermont skater just puts it up right over his head. Lame.

GS: Yeah, that's tough on Santini behind the net. He's covering his man okay thinking he's going to push him out around behind the net but instead he throws it our in front.

Demko does anticipate a quick shot but the little pause is just enough to open up a lot of the net to shoot at.

Boston College Goal #3: 17:55 of the 1st period
Ian McCoshen (Ryan Fitzgerald, Austin Cangelosi)

BC 3, UVM 1

AS: This time, some BC player that I can't tell what number they are makes a cool shifty move coming from behind the net, slides the puck over to the BC guy just hanging out in the middle of the ice, who roofs it past the Vermont goalie. There's no one else near that guy!

GS: McCoshen just could not get a clean shot on the puck all night—same thing that happened on the first goal, he misfires and it flutters up and over Santaguida for the goal.

Sometimes those change-ups can be pretty effective.

Vermont Goal #2: 19:50 of the 1st period
Travis Blanleil (Mike Paliotta, Dan Senkbeil)

BC 3, UVM 2

AS: What is going on here, it looks like there was a faceoff or something almost as this play begins. Anyway, the puck gets sent back to the blue line and somehow the Vermont guy takes a shot with nothing on it from the blue line and it goes in through the mass of people in front of the net. I'm sure it get tipped somewhere in there most likely. I think the real question is, what is Demko doing? He is way out of the net here and I think gets screened or something, maybe even by our own guy.

GS: Not a faceoff but a puck battle along the boards. It goes back to the point where Vermont takes the long range shot. Demko comes out to cut off the angle, and somebody in the cavalry coming in from the corner gets a stick on it—no idea who, BC or otherwise. Poor Demko really has no chance.

Boston College Goal #4: 1:44 of the 2nd period
Quinn Smith (Scott Savage, Steve Santini)

BC 4, UVM 2

AS: Another BC goal. I'm already starting to get tired of all these goals in this game. Some BC guy dumps the puck off at center ice and number 27 picks it up, comes flying down the boards, and takes a shot and it goes in even with other people swarming around the goal. The good news is he has plenty of open space from which to take a shot, and takes a good angle to the net.

GS: This is the end for Santaguida. He didn't have a great weekend at all and he got yanked after this goal.

It's not a particularly bad effort out of him—Smith does take a nice shot—but at this point he's getting torched despite his team's best efforts to climb back into the game.

Boston College Goal #5 (PPG): 10:43 of the 2nd period
Austin Cangelosi (Teddy Doherty, Michael Matheson)

BC 5, UVM 2

Alright, we'll let the Mrs. off the hook for the rest of the goals. From here on it's just #GrantSucks.

Two for two on the power play! What a turn of events for BC. It has corresponded with Austin Cangelosi getting hot as well, and he really earns this goal. He wins the battle out front and gives Doherty a good target, and he gets the deflection for the goal to give BC its first three goal lead of the night.

Vermont Goal #3: 5:23 of the 3rd period
Jonathan Turk (Malcolm McKinney, Anthony Petruzzelli)

BC 5, UVM 3

The third period really turned into an adventure and it really didn't need to. BC sat on a three goal lead and Vermont got one back here.

Yet another pass from behind the net, this time off Matheson defending, and Vermont gets a good clean shot off the pass. Demko makes the stop but there's Turk on the far side, getting open while the BC defenders watch the puck, and he plays it off his skate, onto his stick, and into the net.

Boston College Goal #6 (GWG): 10:35 of the 3rd period
Alex Tuch (Zach Sanford)

BC 6, UVM 3

Alex Tuch makes a hell of a play on this goal. One on one he just battles right through the defender to get to the new Vermont goalie, keeping the puck in a good shooting position and opening up enough space to get the shot off. Close range snipe and BC is back up by 3.

Vermont Goal #4: 14:05 of the 3rd period
Brady Shaw (Mike Paliotta, Jake Fallon)

BC 6, UVM 4

Demko probably should have gathered this puck in. It doesn't look like he's screened and he just misplays it off his glove. The rebound trickles right into his crease where Shaw is able to get a stick on it to cut the lead back down to 2.

God, are we done yet or what?

Vermont Goal #5 (EAG): 19:36 of the 3rd period
Brady Shaw (Unassisted)

BC 6, UVM 5 -- FINAL

Just a few ticks left, Vermont with the extra skater on and the goalie pulled, the Cats get another one back to cut the lead all the way down to one. Nothing fancy at all here. BC gives the Vermont shooter all the space he needs so he opts to skate in a couple strides and just let one rip. He scores, but there's just not enough time left for them to complete the comeback, and BC wins.

Well, that was a marathon. BC takes on Lowell next week in a game that could really help re-solidify BC's chances to make the NCAA tournament (and help BC get 2nd in Hockey East, which would be really helpful toward earning a spot at the Garden for the Hockey East semis. Then there's Harvard in the Beanpot consolation game (which, lol).

Stay warm. Go BC.