As St. Cloud State’s Cooper Wylie sent a pass toward Barrett Hall in an effort to clear the puck from the Huskies’ defensive zone, Boston College men’s hockey’s James Hagens stick flew between the Huskies. In one fluid motion, Hagens sent the puck out of the air and directly toward Gabe Perreault.
Tactfully keeping the puck on his stick, Perreault shiftily made his way toward Isak Posch and tucked the puck into the net from point-blank range to give the Eagles a 2–1 lead just over 3:00 into the final frame.
“I thought we did much better tonight managing the puck in that line, I think they hunted very well, and then they made real sound decisions with the puck so they didn’t have as much back and forth play,” BC head coach Greg Brown said of the Perreault, Hagens, and Ryan Leonard line.
Despite a five-minute major penalty on Drew Fortescue in the final two minutes of the game that could have led to disaster for No. 2 BC (5–1–0), the Eagles held on and left Minnesota with a road trip sweep of No. 10 St. Cloud State (6–3–0).
“The guys really dug in,” Brown said. “We got a couple great blocks, tough shots from the flank, and we did a great job clearing the pucks from the front of the net. And Jacob was solid as usual.”
The Eagles found themselves in a hole early, trailing the Huskies 1–0 just 4:59 into the opening frame.
Austin Burnevik intercepted the puck on a pass from Andre Gasseau behind Jacob Fowler’s net and promptly slid a pass directly toward Verner Miettinen, who was skating toward Fowler. The puck was on Mitettinen’s stick for just a moment before he lifted it past Fowler in stride to give the Huskies an early edge.
Less than four minutes later, the Eagles were gifted a man-advantage after Burnevik picked up a boarding penalty. But the Eagles rattled off just two shots on goal during the power play, neither of which found the back of the net.
At the 15:31 mark, Cooper Wylie logged a tripping penalty and BC had another chance on the power play. The Eagles came into the matchup having converted power play opportunities into goals over 27 percent of time.
But four shots on goal later, the scoreboard read the same as it had two minutes prior, and the Eagles took their one-goal deficit into the second frame.
After the Eagles’ third power play opportunity of the night came up empty, it looked like nothing the Eagles sent Posch’s way would light the lamp.
“We forced a few passes,” Brown said. “A couple bad choices, but we also hit some posts and had a couple of good looks too. So a lot of the credit goes to their penalty kill and their goalie, but we know we’re going to have to tighten that up.”
But 6:38 into the second period, ten seconds after the Eagles’ third power play opportunity ended, Eamon Powell changed that narrative.
Michael Hagens slid a cross-ice pass to the captain, who unleashed a screaming one timer that flew past Posch and ended the Eagles’ scoring drought.
“He’s not only doing a great job leading the team, but he’s also making a huge impact on the ice,” Brown said. “We know the quality of person and player that he is, and he started right where he left off last year.”
The contest entered the final period of play in gridlock, with the Eagles narrowly leading in shots—19 to the Huskies’ 18.
Perreault netted his shifty goal to put the Eagles in front with 16:37 left in the third, and the Eagles held onto the one-goal advantage to complete the weekend sweep and extend their win streak to four games.
“It gives us confidence, because we beat a very good hockey team this weekend,” Brown said of the importance of a non-conference road sweep.
