Boston College men’s hockey hoisted the Beanpot trophy over Boston University at TD Garden for the first time in 10 years, less than a week ago. It seemed like the Eagles were riding that high as they held a two-goal lead in their first game after the fact, a matchup at Merrimack.
But by the time the game had ended, No. 14 BC (16–10–1, 10–7–0) had been brought back down to Earth, as Merrimack (15–12–1, 8–9–1 Hockey East) dealt the Eagles a 4–2 loss in Andover on Friday night.
James Hagens started the scoring 11:57 into play, driving one home off an Andre Gasseau assist from behind the net.
Even though Merrimack went on the power play shortly after Hagens’ inaugural goal, Dean Letourneau followed up just 2:24 later with a red-hot shot that hit the crossbar and dropped down behind Merrimack goaltender Max Lundgren’s shoulder.
The Warriors logged their first goal with less than two minutes to go in the opening frame, when Caelan Fitzpatrick shelved a rebound. It was Merrimack’s only power-play goal of the night, despite their six man-up opportunities.
“Our PK didn’t let them get set up very long, and when they did, we were able to pressure them into not staying in the zone for too long—most of the time,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “Penalty kill did a real good job.”
As the first frame wound down, Brown challenged a slashing call, pushing for a major penalty to be called on Merrimack’s Joseph Henneberry. But BC lost the challenge and its timeout along with it, which proved costly as Merrimack picked up momentum in the latter portion of the game.
“The players believed it was worthy of a major penalty,” Brown said. “It’s hard to get a great angle from the bench. But if they’re that adamant, then you trust them. So yeah, we tried for it. It didn’t work out.”
Parker Lalonde tied the game 2–2 with a short-handed goal four minutes into an otherwise uneventful second frame. And in the third, the Warriors gave the Eagles a taste of their own medicine with their own quick succession of goals. Brown said Merrimack’s one-two punch shifted the energy for the Eagles.
“They came quickly, and all of a sudden, we went from tied to being down to then we had our backs to the wall,” Brown said.
Halfway through the final period, Nolan Flamand worked the puck up to the front of the net and fired a shot, then grabbed his rebound and stuffed the puck past Louka Cloutier for a Merrimack lead. Just 41 seconds later, Justin Gill received a long-range pass from Jack Richard, putting him in a one-on-one situation against Cloutier.
With a single shot, he added another goal to BC’s deficit. The Eagles were unable to recover and dropped their second straight Hockey East matchup following a 6–1 loss to Vermont a week prior.
