MANCHESTER, N.H. — Just under two weeks ago, No. 1 Boston College men’s hockey suffered a 3–1 defeat to Northeastern in the Hockey East Tournament quarterfinals.
And on Friday afternoon, it once again looked like BC might fall in the first round of a tournament despite being the heavy favorite in both games.
With time winding down, No. 4-seed Bentley found itself in an ideal position—tied 1–1 with one of the best teams in college hockey. The Falcons were pressing for their winner, and it looked like they might just get it.
But the Eagles remained calm and collected.
“If you look at our whole year, when we’re in those types of games, we always find a way to come out on top,” Ryan Leonard said. “And you look down the bench, and you just see all the belief in there.”
And believe they did.
With just 1:17 remaining in the third period, Aram Minnetian fired a shot at Bentley goalkeeper Connor Hasley that ricocheted off the boards before finding the stick of James Hagens, who wrapped it around the net and deposited it to put BC up 2–1.
An empty-netter from Leonard would seal the deal just 45 seconds later, as BC (27–7–2, 18–4–2 Hockey East) narrowly escaped Bentley (23–15–2, 16–9–1 Atlantic) 3–1 to advance to the NCAA Tournament Manchester Regional Final.
“We’ve become more and more comfortable getting in those types of games, and Bentley was clearly very comfortable,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “So, it was gonna come down to who could make a play at the end, and we were fortunate that this guy to my right [Hagens] made the play.”
The Eagles came out firing to start the first frame. Teddy Stiga, Jake Sondreal, Dean Letourneau, and Will Skahan all kept Hasley on his heels in the opening 2:41, as Bentley looked unable to find its footing.
But a roughing call on Aidan Hreschuk at the 11:31 mark gave Bentley the game’s first power-play opportunity with the teams knotted at zero.
Right off the faceoff, though, Mike Posma broke out of BC’s third and found himself one-on-one with Hasley, who managed to make the save. BC then staved off the Falcons for the remainder of the power play, escaping unharmed.
The game went back and forth for several minutes until the breakthrough came at the 16:45 mark.
After a BC interception in the defensive zone, the Eagles quickly flew down the ice in transition. Hagens received the puck first before hitting Leonard, who dished it to Gabe Perreault in the crease for an easy finish.
The second period didn’t go nearly as well for the Eagles.
A Lukas Gustafsson roughing call just 1:55 into the frame put BC on the back foot, and Bentley quickly capitalized.
Nick Bochen received the puck at the top of the Eagles’ defensive zone and slid it to Stephen Castagna left of the net. BC netminder Jacob Fowler had almost no time to react as Castagna slid the puck across the crease, and Ethan Leyh buried it to even the score.
The Eagles had a nearly immediate opportunity to respond, thanks to a holding penalty on the Falcons’ Jake Black at the 4:26 mark. But BC couldn’t capitalize on its first power play of the game.
That would become a trend for the Eagles, as it has been the whole regular season.
Their next power play came at the 10:56 mark when Bentley was penalized for having too many men on the ice. A point-blank miss from Leonard squandered the power play, though, and the two teams entered the final period tied 1–1.
“Low-scoring, one-goal games—we’re used to those,” Brown said.
It didn’t look like that was the case for much of the final frame.
BC got its first power-play opportunity at the 6:15 mark off Nik Armstrong-Kingkade’s kneeing penalty. Just 1:42 later, the Eagles would be gifted another power play, putting them in a 5-on-3 situation.
But despite the brief two-man advantage, BC struggled against Bentley’s penalty-kill unit.
The Falcons’ dominance on the penalty kill seemed to energize them as the game clock wound down. Bentley lived in the Eagles’ defensive zone, forcing four straight icing calls between the 15:40 and 17:24 marks.
Ultimately, none of that mattered, though, as Hagens broke the hearts of the Bentley players and fans, punching his team’s ticket to the regional final.
“It felt great just—knowing that that’s our season on the line—to be able to get that goal there,” Hagens said. “And just to be able to celebrate with your teammates after that, it’s something special.”
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