In a battle of top-five teams in college hockey, a one-goal lead is not the most reliable. Puck luck bounces in either direction all the time, and there is no telling which side will come out on top until the final horn blows.
Thankfully for No. 2 Boston College men’s hockey, the puck seemed to have its allegiances with the Eagles in Saturday’s matinee affair against No. 5 Maine, especially midway through the third period.
The final frame remained scoreless through the first eight minutes, but a one-on-one corner skirmish between Maine’s Harrison Scott and Will Vote resulted in a Black Bears turnover which bounced off the boards and right to Andre Gasseau. The junior winger coasted in and swapped the puck from his backhand to his forehand before lifting a shot directly above the right shoulder of goaltender Albin Boija.
The Eagles then had a two-goal lead—much safer.
With seven seconds left, Gasseau netted his fourth of the season on a Black Bears empty net—even safer.
Behind Gasseau’s two goals, Ryan Leonard’s fifth of the season, along with Jacob Fowler’s third shutout of the year, BC (7–1–0, 2–0–0 Hockey East) topped Maine 3–0 to stay undefeated in conference play and hand the Black Bears (6–2–1, 3–2–1) their first two losses of the season.
“You know you have to be sharp every shift, especially against a team like Maine,” BC head coach Brown said. “If you relax for one second thinking the game’s over, all of a sudden you’re going to be in a dog fight again.”
Maine coach Ben Barr said the Black Bears were simply worse than BC, and that he sees potential with the character in his locker room but not the current level of competition.
“The takeaway is that we’re not good enough yet,” Barr said. “Everybody’s been telling us, ‘You guys are 6–0,’ you know? We just got swept by a better team, and that hurts. Part of it’s me being emotional right now and my ego being hurt right now. But at the end of the day, we’re just not good enough.”
It took just over five minutes for the Eagles and the Black Bears to each acquire power-play opportunities.
Oskar Komorav’s high-sticking penalty with 17 minutes left in the period put BC up a man, but the only high-chance scoring opportunity occurred for Maine.
Andre Gasseau mishandled a pass off the boards which fell right on the stick of Harrison Scott, but Jacob Fowler made the save with his chest.
The same thing transpired on Maine’s power play two minutes later, with Mike Posma nearly potting a short-handed goal on a 2-on-1.
Maine struggled staying out of the box in the first frame, racking up two additional penalties to give BC a man advantage for the majority of the first period.
The closest scoring chance came on the second Black Bears’ penalty, when Scott picked up a cross-checking Gabe Perreault in the defensive zone.
Perreault skated just outside of the crease and planted the puck on Ryan Leonard’s tape. Positioned to blast a one-timer, Leonard ricocheted the puck off the knob of Albin Boija’s stick, and it shot over the protective netting which beckoned the whistle.
Despite the lead in power-play chances, Maine finished with more shots in the first period, 10–6. At the end of the frame, Fowler stopped Ross Mitton’s backhand effort on a 3-on-1, and some scuffles between James Hagens and Thomas Freel ensued after the whistle. Nevertheless, the period ended scoreless.
“I’m a guy that likes to feel it early,” Fowler said. “You can’t really control some of that, but definitely like getting those couple of shots early in the game. It’ll get you into it.”
Tensions started to flare up midway through the second frame after a major collision between Mitton and Posma right in front of the Black Bears’ bench. Mitton decked Posma, who lost his stick and had to retreat off the ice all banged up, before Dean Letourneau lit up a Maine forward on the other end.
The Eagles transitioned to their first line following the series of body checks, and Ryan Leonard proceeded to lay down the final boom of the sequence—only this time, it was with his stick and not his body.
Leonard retrieved the puck just as he entered the offensive zone past the blue line and zipped a wrist shot to the upper-left corner of the net, which put the Eagles on the board. Perreault assisted Leonard’s fifth tally of the season as BC snagged a 1–0 lead with 9:21 remaining in the second, which it kept for the remainder of the period.
Gasseau’s first score of the third period gave BC a more relaxed advantage, but Brown commented they still were on edge.
“A great thing was in the locker room today, the team kept mentioning [that Maine was going to come back even harder after Friday’s loss],” Brown said. “So we learned from [the loss to Michigan State]. The kids kept reminding each other they’re going to come. So we got to be ready.”
According to Fowler, there is still a lot to refine—like the power play which went 0-for-3—and that picking up early wins only matters if you can sustain it for the rest of the season.
“I think the biggest thing is we’re not trying to be the best team in November,” Fowler said. “The points are huge, but … by March and April, we [want to be] in a position to win trophies—not a weekend series.”
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