Drew Fortescue sat on the ice with a Denver player held in headlock. Before getting up, he gave one last shove of his helmet while laughing. 

As a long-standing university and having a rich history on the ice, Boston College men’s hockey is bound to hold some intense rivalries: Boston University, Northeastern, Notre Dame. 

And sometimes rivalries—a one-sided rivalry one might say—can become reignited, especially with teams that send you packing your bags earlier than anticipated. 

“You can see and feel the intensity,” Denver head coach Rick Carle said. “I thought last year in the regional game was probably the most physical game we’ve ever had with them.”

Fortescue’s gotten a taste of Denver’s (3–1–1) bitter medicine in the playoffs both of his years as an Eagle, and Friday night’s matchup with the Pioneers was nothing short of the same. 

Although putting up three of its own, BC (2–2–1) couldn’t match that of Denver, as a 7–3 loss marked the Eagles’ fourth-straight loss to the most decorated program in the nation. 

“As we expected, we played against a very good hockey team tonight—they play with a maturity, they don’t beat themselves,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “They know how to manage the game, as well as having great scale and playing at a great tempo.”

The tone was set in the first period. Both offenses were flowing effortlessly, trading chance-for-chance the entire opening frame.

Although both teams surrendered a penalty in the first two minutes, neither could capitalize on the man up. It wasn’t until right near the halfway mark when Andre Gasseau kicked off the beginning of a four-goal period for both teams. 

Taking his time on the right side, Will Moore waited for Gasseau to catch up before he slid a cross-ice pass to BC’s captain who faked forehand and finished backhand for a BC 1–0 lead. 

A little over two minutes later, in the blink of an eye, defenseman Eric Pohlkamp was fed a one-timer and drilled the top-right corner to tie the game. And exactly six minutes after that, Kristian Epperson drove along the left hash and snuck a shot between Louka Cloutier’s five hole for Denver’s first lead of the night.

“There were some breakdowns and some very good shots,” Brown said. “So it didn’t seem like there were soft goals where the bench was deflated.”

The Eagles were relentless, though, piling on shots even while shorthanded. And it would pay off, as Jake Sondreal’s third goal of the season off a one-timer tied the game at 2–2 with 1:05 remaining.

Combining for four goals in one period is no common occurrence, meaning whoever came out of intermission with the first goal would tilt the outcome heavily in their favor. 

Unfortunately for BC fans, David Carle and his team just couldn’t get enough of seeing the smiles fade off the faces that filled Conte Forum. 

It was straight off the draw at 14:58 when the tie-breaking goal was delivered from Denver’s Eric Jamieson off a shot from the point. Sam Harris then doubled the lead a little over a minute later—as Kristian Kostadinski took the puck back into the Eagles’ defensive zone after a faceoff win, Harris flew in, pick-pocketed Kostadinski, and scored on a second-chance shot for a 4–2 lead. 

The Eagles were not “giving up” by any means, though—last year’s team was known for its high-energy, remarkable comebacks. They continued to pressure in the offensive zone, delivering shots that rang the post and forced goaltender Quinten Miller to forget about the numbers on the scoreboard.

“Of course you want to convert on those—you’re gonna win games when you can score,” Brown said. “But I think if you’re doing a lot of things right, you can generate chances, and the progression of how we were operating in the offensive zone and on a couple of our rushes was doing the right thing.”

But Denver’s Brendan McMorrow dealt a stab in the chest with 5:41 remaining, relinquishing any offensive momentum BC had. McMorrow’s quick release from near the top of the circle found space above Cloutier’s right shoulder and pushed Denver’s lead to 5–2. 

“As the game wore on, I just thought we matured and managed the puck better,” Carle said.

James Hagens notched his third goal of the season just under three minutes later on a top-right snipe of his own, but things looked grim for Brown’s squad heading into the locker room.

The Eagles’ offense did all it could, even while facing a two-goal deficit entering the final frame. BC outshot its opponent in all three periods of play, totaling 34 shots on goal to Denver’s 27. 

But the defense could not contain a fiery Denver offense that went on to score two more—including an empty-netter—in the third, and freshman Cloutier posted his welcome-to-the-show performance with a .750 save percentage on the night.

“Fortunately, there’s a lot of season and those are things you can correct,” Brown said. “So get back to work Sunday correcting some of those.”