Boston College 2, New Hampshire 1: Eagles Sweep Wildcat Weekend

On Saturday night in Durham, New Hampshire, the #9 Boston College Eagles defeated the #18 New Hampshire Wildcats, 2-1, in the second game of their weekend hockey home-and-home series.

Having won the previous game on Friday night, Boston College swept the two-game set from New Hampshire and improves to 10-4-2 (5-1-1) on the season. By virtue of the sweep, they have moved past New Hampshire in the Hockey East standings to second place and now trail the Providence Friars by two points with two games in hand.

Johnny Gaudreau assisted on Bill Arnold’s goal in the first period, stretching his streak of games with at least one point to eleven. Gaudreau’s career-high is 12.

Kevin Hayes led the Eagles with two points, including owning the game-winning goal late in the second period.

Goal Sequence
[BC] Bill Arnold (16:07 1st; Hayes, Gaudreau): BC 1, UNH 0

[UNH] Matt Willows (7:11 2nd; Sorkin, Goumas): BC 1, UNH 1
[BC] Kevin Hayes (17:51 2nd; Brown): BC 2, UNH 1

For the second straight night, the Eagles went without a power play opportunity; the Wildcats were only called for one minor penalty, which was matched by two minors for Boston College. The Eagles killed all four New Hampshire power play opportunities and still have not allowed a power play goal since November 20 against Harvard.

Boston College was again outshot by New Hampshire, by a 29-19 margin on Saturday and by a 70-40 margin for the weekend, despite sweeping the series. Tonight, freshman goalie Thatcher Demko earned the victory, stopping 28 of those Wildcat shots to get a bounce-back win following a tough performance against Holy Cross. Casey DeSmith again took the loss for New Hampshire, making 17 saves in defeat.

All Hockey East points are big, but New Hampshire is a key competitor and this weekend sweep may end up looking very good late in the season as the Eagles aim to take first place in the conference. With two games in hand over the first-place team, though there is a long way to go, Boston College enters the mid-season break with forward momentum.

This is the Eagles’ final game before the lengthy Christmas and finals break. They will return to the ice after Christmas on December 27 as they face Jerry York’s previous head coaching stop, Bowling Green, in the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh.