Boston College 9, Northeastern 3: Whitney Notches Hat Trick as Eagles Crush Huskies

For as disappointing as last night’s Boston College hockey game was for the Eagles, not to mention the last couple weeks, eventually, they’re going to take it out on someone.

That unlucky team was the Northeastern Huskies as they were on the wrong end of an offensive outburst from the #2 team in the nation. On Saturday night at Northeastern, the Eagles defeated the Huskies, 9-3. The win brings BC’s record to 14-5-2 and gives them a four-point lead in the Hockey East standings.

Two curiosities from this game stand out immediately: there were nine Boston College goals scored and none of them were by Johnny Gaudreau, and none of the twelve on either side were on a man-advantage. Gaudreau did, however, have a four-point evening with all of them coming on assists. Captain Pat Mullane and Steven Whitney, who put a hat trick on the scoreboard, also had four points each. Freshman Travis Jeke was an outstanding +6 despite not scoring any points.

The first period was probably of quite a bit of concern to BC fans watching the game, as they allowed the Huskies to score three times in the first and were tied despite having scored three themselves. What saved the Eagles is that Parker Milner got better for BC and nobody in-goal for Northeastern could stop the onslaught. Starting goalie Chris Rawlings got tagged six times in the first 29 minutes of the game, but backup Bryan Mountain still gave up three more goals himself. Milner notched 21 saves in the victory.

In total, ten Eagles managed at least one point, with five players totaling at least three. The eighth of those BC goals came off of the stick of Quinn Smith midway through the third, for whom it was his first goal of the season.

Freshman defenseman Mike Matheson left in the middle of the contest with an unspecific upper body injury and did not return. His condition is as yet unknown.

Some caution is perhaps in order for Boston College hockey fans and observers. It might be somewhat relieving to see the Eagles blast Northeastern, perhaps allowing one to think that the typical January slump is ending, but kindly recall that BC played an unimpressive game against an equally-bad UMass team just 24 hours earlier. Rarely is it discouraging to see a team post nine goals and see seven different players get in the goal column, but there is still a long way to go, and there might be more inconsistency in the near future.

The Eagles return to action on Friday and Saturday nights to play a two-game home series against Maine.