No. 1 Boston College men’s hockey entered Friday night’s game with an unfamiliar label on its record: losers.
Sure, calling them losers after one game may be harsh, but the losing column is definitely not a territory BC has found itself in often this season.
The last thing the Eagles would have liked to do coming off its loss in the Beanpot championship was come out slow versus No. 16 Massachusetts.
But that’s just what happened. In fact, it only took 74 seconds for the Minutemen to strike first.
BC ended up conceding two more goals after that, including an empty-netter with 1:36 remaining, and the Minutemen (16–11–2, 7–8–2 Hockey East) stormed into Chestnut Hill and handed BC (21–6–1, 13–4–1) a 3–2 loss—the second half of the Eagles’ first back-to-back losses the season.
“UMass played very well—they played at a great pace,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “They played north a lot, got heavy on the forecheck, which made it difficult for us.”
An already silent Conte Forum—relative to its usual levels—became even quieter when Jack Musa capitalized on a BC turnover to score his 14th goal for a 1–0 lead for the Minutemen just 1:14 into the game.
But the Eagles didn’t stay down for long, as Gabe Perreault scored a goal on the power play 11:28 into the frame, tying things up. After a couple of bounce-backs from the pad of goaltender Michael Hrabal, Teddy Stiga fed Perreault near the goal line, who shoved it home.
Both squads exchanged chances in their offensive zones, but neither could break through solid performances from Hrabal and Jacob Fowler.
“Felt like the momentum never was massively in either side’s favor,” Brown said. “Was kind of back and forth, both goalies made some great saves.”
The second period was special teams heavy, with BC totaling four penalties alone in the frame. It seemed the two teams would head into intermission gridlocked 1–1 once again, but 1.1 seconds proved all the difference.
After a missed opportunity on the offensive end for Perreault, Musa picked up the pace with just seven seconds to spare. After crossing the blue line, he dropped the puck to Cole O’Hara, who lasered a top-left shot that beat Fowler and the buzzer.
“That’s sometimes the way it goes,” Brown said. “But yeah, we had a good chance right before that. They were able to score right at the end of the period, just a little bit of a dagger.”
Looking at the track history, the Eagles probably would’ve wished to have those dwindling seconds back—they are 4–6–0 when trailing after the second compared to 17–0–1 when leading or tied.
UMass conceded two penalties early in the third frame, but its ability to stay level-headed from then on forced BC to create chances while even strength.
“You have to find a way, whether it’s getting more traffic, more second chance goals,” Brown said.
The Eagles posted 19 shots in the third frame alone, but some bad hops and UMass’ top-notch shot-blocking ability kept the puck out of the net. The Minutemen remained strong defensively behind Hrabal’s play, and the Eagles couldn’t secure the game-tying goal.
“[Hrabal] played outstanding,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said. “I challenged him for the game, I said, ‘Keep in two or less, we’ll score three.’ That’s how it played out.”
UMass’ Kenny Connors’ empty-net goal with 1:36 remaining was a stab in the heart for BC as “Let’s go, UMass” chants reigned down from Amherst fans.
Ryan Leonard’s 24th goal of the year came with just 26 seconds remaining after Fowler was pulled, but it was not enough as UMass handed BC its sixth loss of the season.
“It wasn’t terrible hockey, it’s not like we got killed,” Brown said. “But it’s hard to win if you don’t score.”
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