Following its largest loss of the season against No. 18 Providence in Conte Forum Friday night, Boston College men’s hockey sought revenge as it traveled to Providence to close out the home-and-home series.
A tense matchup resumed Saturday night, as the two teams battled through 60 minutes of regulation once again characterized by penalties. The teams combined for a total of 17 penalties on Saturday.
BC (10–10–4, 5–7–3 Hockey East) and Providence (16–9–2, 7–7–1) went to a shootout, where Nick Poisson secured an extra point in the Hockey East standings for the Friars with his winning goal, though the matchup goes down as a tie in the teams’ records.
The first frame of Saturday’s contest echoed the physicality of the night before. Five minutes after the Eagles killed off a penalty for hooking, matching penalties for hits after the whistle began 4-on-4 play.
In the 10th minute, a hooking call sent BC to the power play, and despite a scoring chance for Providence, Jack St. Ivany’s one-timer slipped through a screen and found its way to the back of the net. St. Ivany’s goal put him tied for first place in conference goals scored among defensemen in Hockey East.
With St. Ivany’s goal, the Eagles led Providence for the first time of the weekend. Physicality continued to pick up, but each team recorded 10 shots on goal and committed two penalties, and the evenly matched play allowed BC to maintain its 1–0 lead through the end of the opening period.
Providence dominated the second-period scoring chances with a 15–8 advantage in shots on goal. Penalties continued to plague both teams, including another two penalties each.
In the eighth minute of the second period, an interference call sent BC on a one-man advantage, but the Eagles were unable to capitalize. After the power play, freshman Jack Dempsey nearly scored his first collegiate goal, but his speed sent him crashing into Providence goaltender Jaxson Stauber, leading to a goalkeeper interference penalty.
While the Eagles were successful during the penalty kill, the Friars scored just two minutes after BC returned to even strength. Providence’s Kohen Olischefski was left all alone in front of goaltender Eric Dop, and a centering pass from Riley Duran allowed Olischefski to tie the game at one apiece in the 15th minute of the second period.
A defensive battle with nearly even scoring opportunities for both teams characterized the third frame. Despite seven total penalties, neither team managed to pull away.
Still tied 1–1, overtime told a similar story, but the Friars held the upper hand in shots on goal, 4–0. In the second minute, officials called roughing and slashing penalties against BC and Providence, respectively, and the game went into a shootout.
Marc McLaughlin scored for the Eagles in the first round of the shootout, but Parker Ford matched the goal with one of his own in the second round. As Casey Carreau’s stick snapped on his attempt, Poisson’s tally sealed the deal for the Friars in the fourth round.
In a more evenly matched contest than the teams’ previous matchup, the Friars led the offensive battle with an advantage in shots on goal. Despite posting a sub-90 save percentage in his previous four appearances, Dop recorded a 0.974 save percentage on the night.
Feature Image by Aneesa Wermers / Heights Staff
