It’s hard to forget last year’s top-five matchup between Boston College men’s hockey and Maine, when three third-period goals lifted the Eagles to victory in a thrilling showdown.
No. 15 BC found itself in a similar situation to the one they were in back then on Saturday night. The Eagles were losing 2–0 in the third and were down in shots on goal after missed opportunities and turnovers.
In this go-around, however, there was no Andre Gasseau, Mike Posma, or Ryan Leonard—the three goalscorers in the Eagles’ 2024 win—to save the day. Ultimately, BC (7–5–1, 5–3–0 Hockey East) suffered a 3–0 loss to No. 10 Maine (8–5–1, 5–3–0), snapping its five-game win streak.
“It didn’t feel like it had the same rhythm that it did last night,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “Last night, both groups were attacking and pressuring the net, and tonight we didn’t have that—credit to them.”
The goal-scoring frenzy that was Friday night’s matchup quickly picked up where it left off in the latter part of the teams’ two-game series. Aram Minnetian pushed a pass to an oblivious Will Moore, and then Maine’s Miguel Marques swooped in and shelved a top-right snipe to put Maine in front just 1:32 into the game.
“Miscommunication, unfortunately,” Brown said. “[Moore] shoulder checked right as Aram was giving him a puck, and he was open, but they weren’t on the same page.”
Shortly after, James Hagens hit a nifty through-the-stick deke and found an open shooting lane for himself, but his shot was redirected by Mathis Rousseau to keep the Black Bears’ lead intact.
The Quebec goaltender was given the start after Albin Boija surrendered six goals on 21 shots on Friday. Although he started only two previous games and let up a combined nine goals, Rousseau came up big, earning his first collegiate shutout on 21 saves.
“He was outstanding,” Maine head coach Ben Barr said about Rousseau. “We needed a performance like that on the road against a really good team, and he made some unbelievable stops.”
A 2-and-10 penalty handed to Owen Fowler near the halfway mark of the first period cracked open the door for the Eagles to tie it up, but Maine shut it right back in their faces.
After Charlie Russell won a race to the puck along the boards, he stopped and fired a perfect pass to Josh Nadeau, who sat back door and shoved it home for a Maine insurance goal.
“Clearly, that’s another freebie,” Brown said. “It was something that wasn’t dangerous, and we made it dangerous by not being sharp enough.”
Despite two first-period goals that seemingly cannot be entirely blamed on him, Louka Cloutier remained level-headed and delivered some big saves in the second period.
Following a quality shot from Dean Letourneau, Maine’s offense quickly turned around and fired one itself, but Cloutier used his 6-foot-2 frame to eat it up.
Then, after Letourneau was given his second penalty of the night, the Black Bears hammered Cloutier in the crease in the final seconds of their power play. The freshman netminder used every last inch of his pads to keep BC’s deficit to just two.
The Eagles tried to capitalize while shorthanded as well, but a high-and-wide shot from Jake Sondreal on a 2-on-1 quickly put an end to those hopes.
“I thought we did have some good flurries, and when you get one goal closer, then everything changes for both teams,” Brown said. “We weren’t able to get that [one] goal.”
BC was only able to post four shots in the second period, leaving Maine in the driver’s seat as the game headed into the third period with BC on the man-up advantage following Jeremy Langlois’s interference penalty.
A dangerous cross-ice pass from Moore gave Nadeau a breakaway opportunity, but Moore salvaged his hiccup by catching up and relieving the pressure from Cloutier. Another shorthanded goal would’ve been the icing on the cake for Maine.
The Bears ultimately did get their cherry on top, though, as Miguel Marques put in his second of the night just under nine minutes into the third. A shot from Sully Scholle rang off Cloutier’s pad and directly into the slot. Marques was right there on clean-up duty and found the back of the net for a 3–0 lead.
“I don’t know if we did anything better tonight than we did last night,” Barr said. “I think we cared a little bit [more]—we were willing to block a few more shots, maybe we finished a few more hits.”
Marques stopped and stared down the BC bench following his goal, delivering the dagger into what would’ve been a momentous home-and-home sweep of a top-10 team for the Eagles.
“I think we’re kind of figuring out what’s working for us, which is great, but when we make a few costly mistakes like that, it can set you back a little bit,” Brown said. “But in general, the tone is good—the guys believe in how they’re playing and what we’re doing.”
