GOAL BY GOAL: Boston College Hockey Rolls Past RIT 6-2

It didn't quite go according to plan, but if you had looked at the final score, you would have thought BC took care of business without a hint of difficulty.

Exactly two years ago today, BC had a one-off game against a bad AHA opponent. They had Thatcher Demko in goal.

And they quickly faced a 2-0 deficit.

But unlike two years ago, the Eagles kept playing, found their game, and completely rolled the rest of the way to log the expected big win over low-ranked RIT by a score of 6-2.

RIT Goal #1: 8:08 of the 1st period
Abbott Girduckis (Brady Norrish)

RIT 1, BC 0

One other difference between this game and the debacle against Holy Cross two years ago was that BC didn't fall behind because they were coasting. BC was taking it to RIT right from the drop of the puck, as evidenced by the early 7-2 shot advantage.

But for a moment, the Eagles forgot themselves. They have four skaters stacked on the blue line as Turducken carries the puck in all by his lonesome, and he just skates his way through without much resistance. He ends up right on Demko's doorstep for the goal.

What a weird situation for BC to let happen.

RIT Goal #2: 9:37 of the 1st period
Erik Brown (Myles Powell, Brad Shumway)

RIT 2, BC 0

Apologies for the GIF quality -- BC's stream had a hiccup right as the play was taking place.

BC kept coming at RIT, and put another pair of shots on RIT's Mike Rotolo in the minute and a half since the goal, allowing none to the Tigers.

And then another inexplicable goal. One BC defender tries to pinch at the blue line, leaving Erik Brown in a one-on-one with what looks to be Casey Fitzgerald. It's pretty harmless, and Fitzgerald has him covered well, but Brown just rifles a shot from distance that seems to handcuff Demko and find its way in.

But again BC doesn't get rattled, sticks with it, and RIT manages just four (4) shots for the next thirty-plus minutes.

Boston College Goal #1: 9:47 of the 1st period
Chris Brown (Miles Wood, Austin Cangelosi)

RIT 2, BC 1

Next man up!

Chris Brown gets the goal. Chris Brown, slotted all the way up to the first line with the injury to Chris Calnan. That Chris Brown.

It's just a minute after RIT's second and you can just see BC skating hard to keep up the intensity. Miles Wood is the man who skates in around an RIT defender to create the two on one, but Brown is right where Wood needs him to be for the one-timer.

How's that for early chemistry?

Boston College Goal #2: 11:21 of the 1st period
Ryan Fitzgerald (Scott Savage, Matty Gaudreau)

BC 2, RIT 2

BC went down 2-0 and trailed for just 1:44 of game time.

There's so much that the Tigers screw up on here. Let's try to break it all down.

The first problem is an RIT defender comes flying like a bat out of hell to challenge Savage at the point for some reason. Not only is is unnecessary, but he takes himself completely out of the play. He's toast, so forget about him.

Savage just returns the pass to where it came from to Gaudreau along the boards while the RIT defender clears out, and Gaudreau sends it right back, and now we've got something going.

The next problem for the Tigers is that they give Savage no challenge to the top of the slot. He just skates right on in and takes what he's given.

And lastly, just watch Ryan Fitzgerald in the crease. This is a tip drill with no defenders. The shot from Savage alone is enough of a chance, but Fitzgerald deflects the puck and Rotolo just has no chance.

Boston College Goal #3 (GWG): 15:53 of the 1st period
Ryan Fitzgerald (Matty Gaudreau, Colin White)

BC 3, RIT 2

More terrible defense from RIT. What are they even doing?

Ryan Fitzgerald has enough room to set up a campsite in between the hashmarks. One Tiger defender just goes away from the play entirely, and of the other four, two go for the puck and two go for the same player at the front of the net.

After White throws the puck in front of the net, Fitzgerald is the only one around for miles, so he just blasts it in. RIT's proverbial goose is cooked. I'm sure the lead was fun while it lasted.

Boston College Goal #4: 5:33 of the 2nd period
Alex Tuch (Zach Sanford, Adam Gilmour)

BC 4, RIT 2

It's just more of the same, although it's less RIT's fault and more BC putting together a nice tic-tac-toe goal on the doorstep. But the one Tiger defender with the ability to do anything about it gets caught watching the play, allowing Tuch to sneak in behind.

Rotolo is totally out of position. Tuch basically has 4x6 to shoot at.

Boston College Goal #5 (PPG): 14:09 of the 2nd period
Ian McCoshen (Teddy Doherty, Zach Sanford)

BC 5, RIT 2

HAVE A GO, YOUNG MAN.

Zdeno McCoshen has a cannon, but why is he shooting from all the way over there? RIT is giving BC so much room at the top of the circles that it would take maybe one or two passes to get a more centered shot closer to the net -- especially on the power play.

But Teddy Doherty is literally just standing there after making the pass, and Sanford is just gliding around doing nothing, so why not just blast it.

Nice shot, but the play is reminiscent of how BC shifted into neutral after putting away UConn earlier this week.

Boston College Goal #6 (PPG): 16:09 of the 3rd period
Casey Fitzgerald (Matty Gaudreau, Chris Brown)

BC 6, RIT 2 -- FINAL

The game was long over at this point, but BC got its second power play goal to wrap up the scoring. Matty Gaudreau is the player along the boards getting challenged, and he drops the puck back for Casey Fitzgerald.

It's not that great of a pass though -- in another game, against another team, the RIT skater at the top of the circle may have been able to jump on it and catch Fitzgerald pinching in for a breakaway. Instead everyone's just waiting for the final whistle, so Fitzgerald skates in and just throws it on net. It finds its way all the way through, and that's that.

That's 11 in a row now for BC, and the schedule won't get any tougher next week. BC has Northeastern for a home-and-home, and the Huskies are somehow ranked even lower in the Pairwise than RIT is.

Yikes.

Northeastern did take Lowell to overtime and blasted Colgate somehow in Belfast this weekend, so they might be starting to figure things out. But if Bentley can sweep Northeastern, I'm pretty sure BC should too.