GOAL BY GOAL: Carpenter's Hat Trick Leads BC Women's Hockey To Sweep Over Duluth

At last -- at long last! the puck has dropped on college hockey season.

Saturday, the #2 ranked BC Women's Hockey team completed a sweep over Minnesota-Duluth of the WCHA to start the season 2-0.

The Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead on Friday on their way to a 4-1 win, but it took a little longer for the offense to get going on Saturday.

Boston College Goal #1: 11:10 of the 1st period
Megan Keller (Meghan Grieves)

BC 1, UMD 0

Halfway through the first period, BC got the scoring started after a flurry that almost resulted in a goal a few seconds before. The Eagles skated in on the tail end of a 3 on 1 only to hit the post. Grieves pass the rebound back from the boards back to Keller at the blue line.

Keller winds up and blasts one from deep, and it initially looked like Grieves might have gotten a stick on it, but it goes all the way through into the net for the first goal of the game.

That was all the scoring in the first period. Perhaps a little rust from the offseason, as the Eagles were a little off from their usual blistering scoring pace from last season.

Boston College Goal #2: 14:37 of the 2nd period
Alex Carpenter (Tori Sullivan, Grace Bizal)

BC 2, UMD 0

There's your Undisputed Best Player In America, Alex Carpenter, skating in with the puck, and God bless those Bulldogs, they just gave her all the room in the world. That's #15 Reagan Haley for Duluth backing almost into her own goalie's crease before Carpenter just wrists the puck in for a goal.

We'll give Haley a pass though, seeing as how she's just a freshman, so maybe she didn't know who she's dealing with.

Maybe.

Minnesota-Duluth Goal #1: 16:07 of the 2nd period
Michela Cava (Demi Crossman, Maria Lindh)

BC 2, UMD 1

Duluth gets on the board to keep things interesting. Katie Burt can't control the rebound and loses sight of the puck, which ends up coming out right to Michela Cava on her knees on the near side. She is able to get just enough on it to send it back where it came from and into the net.

A word on Michela Cava: She transferred from UConn last year, and was one of the best players on the ice for either team all weekend. She's going to be a major piece of the Duluth offense.

Boston College Goal #3 (GWG): 16:58 of the 2nd period
Alex Carpenter (Makenna Newkirk, Kristyn Capizzano)

BC 3, UMD 1

Carpenter with the answer! Just 51 seconds later, Alex Carpenter finds herself some space in the slot and the freshman Makenna Newkirk feeds her the puck. Carpenter doesn't miss from there very often, and it's a 3-1 game going into the third period.

The game wouldn't be without some third period drama.

Minnesota-Duluth goal #2: 5:06 of the 3rd period
Maria Lindh (Reagan Haley)

BC 3, UMD 2

Very tough goal for Katie Burt to give up. She's not quite able to seal off the post on this one and Lindh finds just enough space to sneak it through.

I'm not really sure how, because it sure looks sealed off to me, but, there you go.

It was heart attack time for the rest of the game, although BC still managed to hold the bulk of the play as they did all weekend, but the Eagles couldn't breathe until Captain America finished off her hat trick.

Boston College Goal #4 (HT) (ENG): 19:49 of the 3rd period
Alex Carpenter (Kenzie Kent)

BC 4, UMD 2 -- FINAL

Duluth inexplicably waiting until there were about 25 seconds left in the game to pull the goalie, despite having decent pressure with over a minute to go. It turned out not to matter, because immediately after, Carpenter got just enough time to throw the puck in on net to finish off the win, and her first hat trick of the season.

It's hard to tell how good of a series this was for BC. For a team (fairly or unfairly) expected to go undefeated in Hockey East, two wins over a WCHA team is great but Duluth was expected to take a step back after losing about half of their scoring to graduation. But the UMD freshmen plus Cava, the UConn transfer, played big roles in the game.

For BC's part, they played a bit sloppy and rusty for much of the weekend, but that's to be expected in your first weekend of the year. We'll look to see some improvement next week when St. Lawrence comes to town for a pair at Conte Forum.