After an overtime win against New Hampshire on Wednesday, Boston College men’s hockey entered Matthews Arena for the Hockey East quarterfinals against Northeastern on Saturday—its fifth matchup with the Huskies this season.
Having split their previous four matchups with the Huskies, the No. 8-seed Eagles (15–18–5, 9–12–3 Hockey East) stepped on the ice hot off a four-game win streak. A third-period comeback looked promising for the Eagles, but the consistent pressure of No. 1-seed Northeastern (25–11–1, 15–8–1) led to a 3–2 loss for BC, ending its season.
The Huskies peppered BC goaltender Eric Dop with shots in the first period, but BC matched Northeastern’s opening buzz with pressure in the Huskies’ zone.
The Eagles executed timely offensive zone changes to maintain pressure and led in shots 12–11 throughout the period. An evenly matched first period ended tied at 0–0.
Jack McBain left the game in the first period due to an injury, and the Huskies opened the second period on the offensive. During the second minute of the frame, Gunnarwolfe Fontaine scored off a pass from Jakov Novak to put Northeastern up 1–0.
Seven minutes later, Northeastern capitalized again on a BC turnover in the Eagles’ zone as Justin Hryckowian received a pass from Fontaine to score and put the Huskies up 2–0.
BC’s best scoring opportunity came after McBain returned to the game following the injury. Although the Eagles created some offensive opportunities and controlled the puck in Northeastern’s zone, they failed to capitalize off rebounds. With just 46 seconds left, the Huskies added to the board once more to make the score 3–0 at the end of the second frame.
The opening minutes of the third period were an uphill battle for the Eagles, who faced consistent pressure from the Huskies. With 13 minutes left to play, BC capitalized on its first power play of the night when Drew Helleson put the Eagles on the board off an assist from McBain and Brandon Kruse.
After officials called a tripping penalty on Northeastern during the seventh minute, the Eagles went on another power play but came up empty.
With under four minutes to play, Marshall Warren collected the puck at Northeastern’s blue line, sidestepped a defender, and sent a shot top shelf over Northeastern goaltender Devon Levi, cutting BC’s deficit to one goal.
Head coach Jerry York pulled Dop with 2:17 to play to give the Eagles an extra skater, and BC outshot the Huskies for the rest of the game. BC held a 25–9 edge in shots in the third period.
But BC’s late push came up short, and the Huskies walked away with a 3–2 victory and a trip to the Hockey East Tournament semifinals, closing the curtain on the Eagles’ 100th season.
Featured Image by Ben Schultz / Heights Staff
