BC 1, UMass-Lowell 0: Whitney, Milner Heroes for Eagles

On Friday night at the Tsongas Center, in what both teams considered a big early-season test, the #1 Boston College Eagles defeated the UMass-Lowell River Hawks, 1-0. The Eagles have now won three games in a row, the last two of which have been shutouts by goalie Parker Milner.

This game was completely devoid of scoring until the third period, but a senior came through for Boston College. That man was Steven Whitney, who took advantage of some good passing and scored the game-winner at 3:17 in the final period to give BC a 1-0 lead (assists Gaudreau and Mullane). It was Whitney’s third goal in the first four games of the young 2012-13 season.

While the contest might have been bereft of scoring, it was surely not lacking in UMass-Lowell shots. To remedy that, another senior stepped forward: Milner. He faced 38 River Hawk shots and turned all of them aside, as UML consistently outshot the Eagles in all three periods. Unfortunately for the home team, BC needed just 20 shots to come up with the difference in the game. Taking the hard loss for UMass-Lowell was Doug Carr, who recorded 19 saves and falls to 1-1-1 on the year.

Boston College committed four penalties in the game while UML had none at all; the lack of whistles and scoring had this over in just a shade over two hours.

UMass-Lowell fought hard and put a great deal of pressure on Milner, but the national champion goalie was more than up to the task. As the old adage goes, good teams find ways to win games, and Boston College did so again, despite the other team outshooting them almost 2 to 1 and not taking a single penalty.

The Eagles and River Hawks will face each other once again on Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum, as Boston College will be seeking a “four-point weekend” against the team tabbed as BC’s chief Hockey East rival this season.