It all started according to plan, anyway.
20 minutes into the game, BC was dominating, and while they hadn't yet beaten Michigan State goalie Jake Hildebrand, Thatcher Demko's shutout streak was still going and the Eagles probably felt pretty good.
40 minutes and ten goals later, BC had itself the win it hoped for, but not the way anyone had anticipated.
Boston College Goal #1: 4:30 of the 2nd period
Colin White (Matty Gaudreau, Ryan Fitzgerald)
BC 1, MSU 0
It started out fine enough. Matty Gaudreau found Colin White with a quick feed out front that finally solved Hildebrand. After peppering him for 17 shots in the first, it felt like BC might start to get things going for themselves. But as it turned out, it opened the floodgates for everyone.
Michigan State Goal #1: 4:41 of the 2nd period
Mackenzie MacEachern (Michael Ferrantino, Mason Appleton)
BC 1, MSU 1
Just 11 seconds later, Michigan State levelled the score after a big "oops" from Scott Savage. The Eagles win the faceoff and Santini fires the puck behind the net to start a clear, but instead it hits the side of the net and drops right in front of a Spartan.
Ferrantino has some friendly faces in front of Demko, and that was it for the shutout streak.
Boston College Goal #2: 15:12 of the 2nd period
Colin White (Travis Jeke, Ryan Fitzgerald)
BC 2, MSU 1
Colin White is a magician on this goal. It's a miracle that he's even able to gather the puck back in, let alone get off a shot.
But White gets enough on the backhand to fire a rocket over Hildebrand's shoulder, giving the lead back to the Eagles.
2-1 after 2 -- pretty typical stuff, and although BC didn't control the game like they did in the first (they were actually outshot pretty badly), they had the lead going into the locker room.
Boston College Goal #3: 1:29 of the 3rd period
Ryan Fitzgerald, Matty Gaudreau, Colin White)
BC 3, MSU 1
BC kept the good times rolling early in the third with a beauty thread-the-needle pass from Gaudreau and a monster finish from Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald earns himself a breakaway from the faceoff dot and holds long enough to get Hildebrand to go down. With the puck on his forehand, that's an easy wrist shot, and BC has some insurance.
Boston College Goal #4: 12:13 of the 3rd period
Alex Tuch (Adam Gilmour, Zach Sanford)
BC 4, MSU 1
Another breakaway, this one from Alex Tuch, and BC's feeling mighty good about themselves. Tuch goes bar-down for his first goalie-contested score of the year, and BC's up three with 7 minutes and change to go.
Let this be a lesson to you kids. Don't let them off the mat.
Michigan State Goal #2: 12:43 of the 3rd period
JT Stenglein (Travis Walsh, Thomas Ebbing)
BC 4, MSU 2
30 seconds later: SNIPE!
Michigan State Goal #3: 12:57 of the 3rd period
Brennan Sanford (Cody Milan)
BC 4, MSU 3
14 seconds later: Epic turnover!
Michigan State Goal #4: 14:15 of the 3rd period
Mason Appleton (Michael Ferrantino, Zach Osburn)
BC 4, MSU 4
1 minute and 18 seconds later: Collapse complete.
A total of just 1:32 of game time, and BC goes from leading 4-1 to being tied 4-4, and Michigan State is amped up. It was reminiscent of the exhibition against New Brunswick where the Eagles took an early lead and completely collapsed.
But unlike that exhibition, BC found a way to stop the bleeding in time. Coach York calmly called a timeout, took out his Notebook (with a capital "N"), gave a couple guys The Pat On The Shoulder, and all was well.
Boston College Goal #5 (PPG, GWG): 18:06 of the 3rd period
Miles Wood (Austin Cangelosi, Casey Fitzgerald)
BC 5, MSU 4
Michigan State took a goofy penalty on on a faceoff just prior to this goal in which Zach Sanford got under MSU's Joe Cox's skin to the point where Cox just dumped him on the draw, earning himself a 2 minute interference penalty.
BC cashed in this this well-executed power play chance. MSU has a diamond defensive setup with one man deep, two along the faceoff circles, and one up top. Casey Fitzgerald skates along the blue line to pull that top of the diamond defender with him while Cangelosi fills the space behind him.
The Spartans don't recognize the trailer until it's too late and by the time Cangelosi gets the puck, he's able to skate in way, way deeper into the slot than MSU would want him to be shooting. He whips off a nice one, Wood gets a stick on it, and BC has its lead back.
Boston College Goal #6 (ENG): 18:56 of the 3rd period
Ryan Fitzgerald (Miles Wood, Alex Tuch)
BC 6, MSU 4 -- FINAL
Miles Wood gets into the action again, this time winning a race to a loose puck in the neutral zone, and that's that. He gets the puck just into the reach of Fitzgerald who's all alone, and the Eagles get the win.
Had 'em all the way!
BC earning the win in this game is important for all the obvious Pairwise reasons, but it also shows that despite being young, they were able to regroup like veterans, get their heads back on straight, and pull a win out that they very well could have choked away entirely and lost -- let alone escape with a tie.
Instead they get the win, their 8th straight, and will have 8 days to rest up for UNH next Saturday and UConn a week from Tuesday.
It seems like it's going to be a while until BC faces another tough opponent, so hopefully the Eagles are able to keep the streak rolling while the schedule is soft. This schedule seems to be playing into BC's hands as the young players mature early and, hopefully, develop and gel for what's shaping up to be a much tougher second half.