With five minutes remaining in the second period of No. 2 Boston College’s men’s hockey matchup against No.10 St. Cloud State, the Huskies were finally finding their rhythm.
Gavyn Thoreson made room for himself just outside the crease and muscled a shot past BC netminder Jacob Fowler, tying the game 2–2.
But his goal only stood for a couple minutes. After determining Thoreson had interfered with Fowler prior to his shot attempt, the goal was called off and the score reverted to 2–1 BC.
St. Cloud State (6–2) was shut out by BC (4–1) in the 25 minutes following its overturned game-tying goal, leading the way to BC’s first win over St. Cloud State since the 2004–05 season.
“I thought our effort and intensity were both good,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “I think we played hard against a very good team. So the one thing we can do better is manage the puck. I think we tried to force a few too many plays and had some unnecessary turnovers, which created more time in our defensive zone than we like.”
Following the overturned goal, Thoreson laid an explosive hit on James Hagens, sparking an after-the-whistle scuffle between the teams.
St. Cloud State’s Thoreson and Tyson Gross, along with BC’s Hagens and Aidan Hreschuk received two-minute penalties for roughing, and an Aram Minnetian interference penalty gave St. Cloud State a one-man advantage.
Back on the penalty kill, BC did more than necessary.
BC’s Brady Berard started the penalty kill by intercepting a tepid cross-ice pass, allowing BC to follow him into the offensive zone.
Teddy Stiga found himself near the rebound of a Will Skahan wrist shot, and he weaved around goalkeeper Isak Posch to slide the puck into the net, giving BC a 3–1 lead.
“Yeah, I think our pursuit of loose pucks wasn’t bad,” Brown said. “St. Cloud does a great job of getting a lot of bodies around the puck. So we had to make sure that we had to match them and not get outnumbered.”
The short-handed goal from Stiga marked BC’s first of the year.
“Yeah, we’ve been able to generate some chances short-handed,” Brown said. “Sometimes you can catch the team trying to be a little too offensive-minded, and you can turn the pucks over quickly. We’ve done a decent job of that, and tonight we were fortunate enough to cash in on the chance.”
After expanding the lead to 3–1, 54 seconds still remained of St. Cloud State’s power play for the Eagles to kill. The Eagles, though, threatened by a point-blank St. Cloud State chance killed the final power play they would face.
“The guys are working well together [on the penalty kill],” Brown said. “They’re reading off each other very well. They’re getting pucks out when they have the opportunity, and if the other team has generated a chance, Jacob has been outstanding.”
BC has warded off all 10 power plays they have faced through five games, and along with Fowler’s .939 save percentage, the BC defense has fared optimally during the five-game sample size.
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