FINAL: The JD Dudek Show Powers BC Hockey To 5-2 Win Over UConn

Boston College hockey bounced back from Friday’s loss to Harvard in impressive fashion, overcoming a 1-0 first period deficit to bounce UConn 5-2 on Tuesday night in Hartford.

JD Dudek led the way for the Eagles, notching a hat trick to power BC to the victory. Ryan Fitzgerald and Julius Mattila also had goals in the win.

It was looking like an #icebus kind of day when the Eagles yielded a first period goal by Max Kalter with just 24 seconds left in the frame. Kalter’s strike came against the run of play, which saw the Eagles outshoot UConn 12-7 in the first period.

All season long, though, BC has been a strong second period team, and that continued tonight. Ryan Fitzgerald erased the deficit by tipping home a Chris Brown shot at 4:34 of the second period to tie the score at 1.

Though it did not lead to a goal, the line of Julius Mattila, Matt Gaudreau and JD Dudek seized the momentum for BC just under seven minutes in to the second period, putting together a dominant shift and keeping UConn penned in their own end for over a minute; the Huskies were able to relieve the pressure only by committing a penalty at 7:01. BC failed to score on the power play, but from that point forward the Eagles controlled the tempo.

JD Dudek started his goal parade at 11:51, streaking in on a breakaway and burying a shot that would give the Eagles a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.

After slogging through the early minutes of the third period and yielding a power play opportunity to UConn, BC recovered and put the Huskies away, with Dudek tipping home a Connor Moore blast at 10:28 to extend the lead to 3-1. Julius Mattila salted it away shortly thereafter, scoring at 11:20 to make it 4-1.

UConn tried to claw back in to it late, closing to within 4-2, but Dudek killed off all hope of a Husky comeback by completing his hat trick at 7:52.

The Eagles are now 11-3-1 going in to Thanksgiving, with a big game against Minnesota coming up on Sunday. BC also remains undefeated in league play, at the top of the Hockey East standings with a 6-0-1 record.