Boston College Hockey 6, Wisconsin 0: Shot Chart Breakdown

For the second time in three years, Boston College smoked Wisconsin on a Friday night in October. It took just 12 seconds for BC to strike first and surely bring up painful memories for the Badgers who were on the ice two years ago. Grant will be posting the usual goal by goal analysis, where you can take a look at some of the very nice goals BC scored last night; let's take a different dive in to the game by looking through the shot chart.

First Period
Shot Attempts: 21-12 BC
Shots on Goal: 11-4 BC
Goals: 2-0 BC

The first period on Friday night was BC's most dominant, offensively and defensively. In the second and third periods, BC didn't really pepper the Wisconsin net with chances; they took their chances on quick rushes and buried them. However, BC got a pretty good amount of sustained pressure in the first period, pouring on 11 shots on goal on 21 shot attempts.

What stands out to me (aside from LOL'ing at Teddy Doherty's goal from inside his own half, which chased Wisconsin goalie Adam Miller from the game less than five minutes in) is the slot area in front of BC's net. As you can see, Wisconsin got nothing, not even a single missed or blocked shot from this prime scoring area. For a team with question marks on defense, this is a great sign. To the extent Wisconsin had chances, they were forced to the outside. When a vast majority of your shots on the chart are bunched up around the blue line, you're probably not scoring many goals.

On the other side, I highlighted Miles Wood's three shot attempts, all three of which came from dangerous areas. Wood's wide shot in the slot came on a give and go play where he busted through the middle of two Badger defenders using sheer speed and set himself up to be fed for a fairly open shot in the slot; he just put it over the net.

Second Period
Shot Attempts: 18-16 BC
Shots on Goal: 10-7 Wisconsin
Goals: 3-0 BC

Wisconsin settled down a bit in the second and third periods (or, more accurately, BC probably turned it down a notch or two) but was undid in this frame by some spectacular BC goals, particularly Cangelosi's give and go with Wood to put BC up 4-0. You'll definitely want to check the highlight of that one, which was probably BC's prettiest of the night.

Wisconsin did manage to get themselves in to the slot area more often in the second period, and yet as you can see they had only one shot on goal from that part of the ice. They missed the net on three attempts in the slot and had two blocked. On the other end, BC had three goals and another shot on goal from prime real estate.

Two other things I noted on the end  BC shot at: Teddy Doherty had two shot attempts from down low (#puckmovingdefenseman). Also, Colin White had two more shot attempts to add to his two in the first. He would finish the game with 6, tied with Ryan Fitzgerald to lead all BC players.

Third Period
Shot Attempts: 14-12 BC
Shots on Goal: 9-6 BC
Goals: 1-0 BC

Both teams were pretty much just playing out the string in the third period, but once again there's a noticeable difference between  BC's slot area and Wisconsin's slot area. Thatcher Demko made a few solid saves in his fourth career shutout, but his defense deserves as much credit as the goaltender; Wisconsin ended up with just two shots on goal from the slot in the entire game.

On the other side, BC didn't do much attacking in the third, but there's Colin White, scoring one goal and then adding another from a prime area that could have easily gone in.

A number of Eagles wound up active on the overall shot chart. As mentioned, White and Fitzgerald had six shot attempts each (5 shots on goal for White, 3 on goal for Fitzgerald); Miles Wood and Teddy Doherty each attempted five shots; Tuch had four attempts and six other Eagles had three. It was the kind of well balanced attack BC fans were hoping to see when looking at the depth available on the roster this year.

Wisconsin was, quite frankly, pretty bad, so let's not go penciling BC in to the Frozen Four just yet. But this was a nice performance in all three zones by the Eagles.