GOAL BY GOAL: Boston College Hockey Advances To Beanpot Championship With 3-2 Win Over Harvard

For the first time in a while, Boston College had all of its skaters available in a game. Playing Harvard, one of the most potent offenses in the country, the Eagles needed all hands on deck.

The Eagles came to play, and after falling behind briefly in the first period, stormed back in the second to take the 3-2 win and advance to the Beanpot Championship against the Terriers.

Boston College Goal #1: 1:35 of the 1st period
Casey Fitzgerald (Ryan Fitzgerald, Colin White)

BC 1, HU 0

The Eagles got on the board first nice and early thanks to a nice flurry of chances. There are four Harvard players in the corner on three BC players in white, and that means someone's going to be open.

Fitzgerald The Elder earned possession and sent the puck out to Fitzgerald The Younger, and The Younger earned his first even strength goal of the season on a big slapshot from the slot.

There was just a bit of hesitation in the shot, and that might have made the difference between a block or a save and the puck finding the net.

Harvard Goal #1: 9:47 of the 1st period
Ryan Donato (Tyler Moy)

BC 1, HU 1

What a weird first period it was. Boston College dominated the opening 10 minutes and Harvard hadn't even gotten its first shot on net yet. But a bad break of a bounce off a Michael Kim slapshot sent Ryan Donato off to the races.

Donato just barely held his position in front of the Eagle defenders streaking out of the zone, and Harvard first shot of the game was also its first goal.

Harvard Goal #2: 14:44 of the 1st period
Adam Baughman (Alexander Kerfoot, Jimmy Vesey)

HU 2, BC 1

True to Beanpot form, there were goal reviews all over the place (and in both games). This review was the first of the night, and there was a case to make either way.

Demko gets plowed into by a Harvard player and ends up without a stick and with his body all the way in the crease. But, as the NESN announcers pointed out, Demko did have time to get back to his feet and get set before the shot on goal came in.

That reasoning would lead the referees to call it a good goal, and honestly, even though there was definitely a grey area, it was probably the right one.

Poor Demko, though. This was just Harvard's second shot of the game, and like the first, it found its way by him.

Woof.

Boston College Goal #2 (PPG): 6:05 of the 2nd period
Zach Sanford (Alex Tuch, Ian McCoshen)

BC 2, HU 2

Harvard used its two goal burst to earn back some momentum at the end of the first period, but BC came out strong again in the second and would tie up the game thanks to special teams.

As Joe pointed out in the Beanpot "what we learned," Coach Brown has instilled a new power play philosophy, limiting puck handling and keeping up the pace of puck movement.

Just prior to this goal, BC was really taking it to Harvard, and they were able to keep the puck in the zone after the rebound. McCoshen's big wrister from the point has a little deflection from Tuch on the way in, and Sanford finds the puck in the ensuing chaos in the crease to tie the game.

Boston College Goal #3 (PPG, GWG): 10:29 of the 2nd period
Colin White (Teddy Doherty, Ian McCoshen)

BC 3, HU 2 -- FINAL

It's worth noting here that BC was on this power play as the result of a horrendous call on Harvard's Clay Anderson. Teddy Doherty accidentally skated into Anderson and lost his balance, and the referees called Anderson for interference. It was comically bad.

But, BC's gotten burned by the same thing in the past, so you can't worry about it too much. It was up to BC to convert, and they did. You can get a good look at no-frills, get-the-puck-and-make-the-pass power play on this setup, and it gets White to the doorstep.

What a little shimmy by White to get around the diving Harvard defender. Can we see that again? Let's see that again.

That little pump fake puts Adam Baughman on his ass right in front of the goalie, and after that White can just step in and do his work.

Yikes. Sorry Adam. We've all been there.

That was it for the scoring, but credit is due to the BC pressure in the third period that barely allowed Harvard any chances at all as the clock wound down. Harvard couldn't pull the goalie for any meaningful amount of time without BC pinning the puck in Harvard's own end, and the Crimson never could tie the game.

So despite Harvard being the highest ranked team in the tournament and Northeastern on the nation's longest winning streak, it's a BC/BU final just as our forefathers intended. BC's "sandwich" game is a big one against UNH, so the Eagles can't be looking ahead. The Wildcats just knocked off Providence last weekend, so BC will need to show up with a healthy roster ready to play to keep the undefeated streak going.