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It was a lot more hectic than it needed to be, but the Eagles got it done.
After jumping out to a 5-0 lead after two periods, UMass and BC combined for 6 total goals in the third period. In the end, the Eagles stayed on top with the 7-4 victory at the Mullins Center, capping off a brilliant weekend for Boston College athletics.
Boston College Goal #1 (SHG): 8:48 of the 1st period
JD Dudek (Jesper Mattila)
BC 1, UMass 0
BC came out firing, and got the scoring started with a shorthanded goal midway through the first. Jesper Mattila led JD Dudek streaking out of the BC end with a nice pass that Dudek was able to catch in stride.
He cruised in on UMass goalie Nic Renyard for the goal that lit the fuse for the Eagles.
Boston College Goal #2: 10:25 of the 1st period
Jesper Mattila (Graham McPhee, Zach Walker)
BC 2, UMass 0
Jesper Mattila got one of his own just a couple minutes later. Lots to like from the young guns on this all-freshman goal.
Good start to this play from Zach Walker, who gets the UMass defender chasing him into the zone to try for a big hit before Walker protects the puck and sends it back to the blue line.
After that little move, there’s a lot of room up top. McPhee receives the pass and draws in another UMass defender before dumping it further back to Mattila.
Mattila finishes the job with a hard wrist shot that gets all the way to the back of the net for the two goal lead.
Boston College Goal #3 (PPG): 14:58 of the 1st period
Austin Cangelosi (Chris Brown, Scott Savage)
BC 3, UMass 0
Good, slick play for BC on the power play.
Chris Brown is the player streaking down the right side, skating around the UMass defender along the boards. But Cangelosi, the goal scorer, is the one who gets himself into a good scoring position.
The UMass defender on Cangelosi skates way too far into Renyard’s front yard, giving Cangelosi more than enough space to set up shop in the slot. Brown dishes over the really nice pass, and Cangelosi is able to get full contact on the one timer for the goal.
Three goals in three different ways for BC — shorthanded, even strength, and power play. But oh, no, we are not even close to done here.
Boston College Goal #4: 4:16 of the 2nd period
Ryan Fitzgerald (Colin White, Michael Kim)
BC 4, UMass 0
BC’s just swarming the Minutemen at this point in the game. The Eagles have possession and their using some great puck movement around the perimeter to open things up.
Michael Kim is the BC defenseman who sends the puck in with the slap shot. Renyard doesn’t control the rebound through traffic, and it’s mayhem in the crease. White takes a shot that’s blocked before Fitzgerald The Elder picks up the loose change and deposits it for what is now a four goal advantage for the Eagles.
Boston College Goal #5 (PPG, GWG): 10:54 of the 2nd period
Colin White (Ryan Fitzgerald, Matty Gaudreau)
BC 5, UMass 0
Another power play goal for BC, their 2nd of the night, and now it’s a blow out.
UMass is too passive on this play. Fitzgerald takes the pass behind the net, and he’s got options: Colin White is just camped out right smack in the middle of UMass’s diamond penalty kill formation. So that’s option one, and it goes for a nice one-timer goal.
But Fitzgerald has a couple other “check down” options at his disposal, too — he can go right back to Matty Gaudreau, who’s not being pressured, or he can dish across the slot to Michael Kim who’s streaking in undefended as well.
And so UMass is caught in an awkward situation — not defending any of the easy options, but too slow in catching onto White in the best scoring area of all of them. Well done by BC to execute.
UMass Goal #1 (PPG): 2:15 of the 3rd period
Austin Plevy (Jake McLaughlin, Shane Bear)
BC 5, UMass 1
Now things start to get crazy.
The Eagles have apparently not made my article from Friday locker room material, and continue to struggle to adjust to college hockey’s increased infraction enforcement. The Eagles allowed a whopping 9 power plays to the Minutemen, and while they’re fortunate it didn’t matter in the game, it’s the continuation of a pattern that has already cost them games.
On the goal itself, you have to give credit to UMass for creating this chance. BC is putting big pressure on the blue line skaters for the Minutemen trying to force a turnover, and were it not for some great quick passing by UMass, it probably would have worked.
A nice one-touch pass from McLaughlin gets the Minutemen out of trouble, and with BC’s pressure up high now neutralized by the quick passes, Plevy can skate in and try his luck. It’s a laser through Edquist to get UMass on the board. Great goal.
UMass Goal #2: 8:11 of the 3rd period
Patrick Lee (William Lagesson, Dominic Trento)
BC 5, UMass 2
This won’t go down as (another) shorthanded goal allowed by the Eagles, but it’s another goal that comes as a result of a BC penalty. Ryan Fitzgerald got called for holding, but UMass’ Jake McLaughlin was called for embellishment to set up two minutes of 4 on 4 hockey.
Instead of BC’s skill players taking advantage of the open ice, it’s the Minutemen. Trento gives the puck to Lagesson up high, and again BC’s defenders aren’t actually doing that bad of a job defending the man with the puck.
But Lee is able to skate in front of Edquist mostly unopposed, and he gets the deflection off Lagesson’s shot to now pull UMass another goal closer.
Boston College Goal #6: 11:05 of the 3rd period
Colin White (Michael Kim, Casey Fitzgerald)
BC 6, UMass 2
This is probably the one goal that really allows this game to go ahead without elevating heart rates too much. Had UMass scored that next goal to cut the game to two, you’d probably have started to see BC skaters start to clutch the stick just a bit tighter.
But it was Colin White to the rescue to score the game’s next goal and put BC back up by four. It’s a solid wraparound chance that Renyard manages to save, but he’s a bit unlucky here — the rebound goes off a UMass defenseman and into the net. Credit White with the goal, with a tip of the cap to the Minuteman who made it happen.
Boston College Goal #7 (SHG): 13:27 of the 3rd period
Austin Cangelosi (Scott Savage)
BC 7, UMass 2
More penalties against BC, this time a 2, 5, & Game on Luke McInnis for a pretty bad hit along the boards, plus a hitting after the whistle penalty as he tried to defend himself from getting taken apart but UMass players upset at the initial hit. Fortunately for BC, they managed to get the first goal of their own penalty.
This is a classic bit of cherrypicking from Austin Cangelosi, who jumps way out of his own end on the penalty kill looking for the breakaway opportunity — the sort of thing you really should only be doing with a four goal lead.
Scott Savage hits him leads him perfectly, and he’s off to the races. Cangelosi has one of the best one-on-one finishes on the team, and he converts the opportunity for the PAT.
UMass Goal #3 (PPG): 14:09 of the 3rd period
Ryan Badger (Callum Fryer, Marc Hetnik)
BC 7, UMass 3
But, BC did eventually get burned on that 5 minute major.
Badger does it all himself on this goal. The BC defender very nearly breaks up the play at the faceoff dot, but Badger manages to keep possession and not the BC defender is out of position. Badger somehow manages to shoot the puck past Edquist, and we’ve got ourself another goal.
UMass Goal #4: 17:25 of the 3rd period
Kurt Keats (Griff Jeszka, Patrick Lee
BC 7, UMass 4 — FINAL
UMass probably realized even after their last goal that they weren’t going to be mounting a comeback, but they deserve credit for still putting in the work until the last whistle.
Griff Jeszka really does a blue collar job of fighting two Eagles along the boards for the puck, and he manages to win the battle. Keats is the man who takes possession once the puck is freed, and you can tell just by the skating motion of the players in maroon that BC is caught totally coasting to the buzzer.
That allows Keats room to skate right in on Edquist, and he finishes nicely up top (earning, yes, another UMass power play to go with it) for, finally, the game’s last goal.
That’s 4 Hockey East points for Boston College on the weekend, with two against Providence and two coming on the road. There’s no complaining about that kind of result. And with a 6-2-1 record — with only two of those games at Conte Forum — there’s not much more you could ask of a team breaking in a dozen freshmen.
The Eagles have yet another pair of road games next weekend, this time with two games in Maine against the Black Bears, to finally wrap up a brutal stretch to open the season in which 9 of the first 11 games are away from Conte Forum. With the Black Bears struggling (as is tradition in this modern college hockey world that we live in), BC has eyes for another weekend sweep to put themselves in a nice position in the Hockey East standings.