When Connor Joyce positioned himself in front of the net during a stretch of offensive-zone play in the first period against Massachusetts, he did so by shielding Michael Hrabal with his left elbow.
As the puck swung from the low zone to the point on a pass sequence from Michael Hagens to Mike Posma and finally to Eamon Powell, Joyce remained stuck in the mud just outside the crease, firmly planted like a cinder block.
Once Powell received the puck, Hrabal had no way of telling where the black dot on the ice was. That is until the goal horn rang.
Despite not touching the puck on Boston College men’s hockey’s first goal of Saturday’s matchup against the Minutemen, his simple action of screening Hrabal left an impactful mark that wouldn’t appear on the scoresheet.
Accumulating 20 shots in the first period to UMass’ three, the No. 1 Eagles (22–6–1, 14–4–1 Hockey East) never took their foot off the gas and captured a 4–1 road win at Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass., over the No. 16 Minutemen (16–12–2, 7–9–2). Four different players scored for BC, including Andre Gasseau, James Hagens, and Ryan Leonard, in addition to Powell.
“The guys dug in,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “They were excited to get back on the ice. It’s not like we played terribly those [past] two games. We just didn’t score. We didn’t feel like we had to change a whole lot. Just had to be a little tighter, a little sharper.”
Early in the second period, Leonard put his entire body on the line while skating into UMass territory and using a between-the-legs dangle to cross into the middle of the ice. Just 3:13 into the frame, the Eagles had the same amount of juice they brought in the first, firing on all cylinders from an offensive standpoint.
While the Eagles’ sophomore assistant captain took a massive blow to the body—not the only major collision Leonard was involved in during the game—the puck managed to slide down to the right side of the crease, finding Gabe Perreault’s stick.
Perreault had an easy lane to maneuver the puck to Gasseau tucked in by the left post, and the wingers of BC’s top line connected to make it 2–0.
“I think one thing you have to really guard against is getting too passive and just trying to sit on the lead,” Brown said. “We do much better when we’re moving our feet and still attacking. In that attacking mindset, you definitely don’t want to give up anything for free, so you have to manage the puck, you know, make good decisions at the blue line. If we have speed, let’s carry it in and make a play.”
Leonard’s rowdiness was on display all night, and it wasn’t all super clean, either.
Despite scoring his 25th goal of the season—which increased his point total to 37 for the year—on an empty-netter late in the third frame, Leonard’s two penalties on the night and overall physicality were blatant.
Both his drive to attack and his mindset of hunting down opponents for the sake of gaining dominance have played a factor in Leonard’s playstyle all year. He leads the Eagles in total penalties with 18 after Saturday’s contest—seven more than the next player, Teddy Stiga.
“Ryan’s competitiveness, toughness, as you know, are huge staples for our team,” Brown said. “Of course, he gets notoriety for the offensive output, but he’s so competitive, and he makes sure everyone’s in the fight. So it’s not only his goal scoring, it’s his whole attitude.”
UMass freshman Cole O’Hara recorded a goal with 4:28 remaining in the second frame, but BC had already established a three-goal lead by then thanks to a breakaway goal from Hagens nearly 10 minutes earlier.
Hagens swiftly entered the zone off a feed from Leonard after a Minutemen turnover. He didn’t deke or attempt to fake out Hrabal once, instead firing the puck into the lower-middle section of the net.
Hagens’ nine goals on the year might not have been expected by those who assumed he would light up the college ranks as the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, but Brown has seen nothing but great things out of the rookie.
“I mean, he should be a senior in high school,” Brown said. “He’s playing against everybody older than him.”
The Eagles entered the road game after doing something they hadn’t done since Nov. 11, 2023, playing back-to-back games and not winning either of them.
That two-game losing streak, consisting of a loss to Boston University in the Beanpot on Monday and a home loss to UMass on Friday night, seemed to have little effect on Brown and co. BC outshot the Minutemen 45–22 on the night, which willed the Eagles to the win alongside Jacob Fowler’s steadiness in net.
“The talk in the locker room by the guys was excellent, just to stay focused, stay with our game plan, and make sure we don’t have a let-up or don’t get too eager and take risks, because we only had one goal after the first,” Brown said.
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