Boston College 7, Maine 2: Hayes Hat Trick Powers Eagles Over Black Bears
By Joe Micik
On Saturday night at Conte Forum, the #4 Boston College Eagles hockey team swept their weekend with a 7-2 win over the Maine Black Bears.
With the win, the Eagles are now undefeated over their past nine games, improving their record to 16-4-3 (10-1-1) on the season. They are Hockey East’s first ten-win team this season, increasing their first-place lead to six points over defeated Northeastern.
Kevin Hayes led the way with three goals on the evening, powering Boston College’s hot offensive attack. Hayes’s hat trick was the first of his career; he finished the game with four points. Johnny Gaudreau, however, ended up with five points, all on assists. With the first of those, Gaudreau ran his points streak to 18 games in a row.
Goal Sequence
[BC] Kevin Hayes (1:10 1st; Gaudreau, Savage): BC 1, ME 0
[ME] Jon Swavely (19:59 1st; Renouf, Schurhamer): BC 1, ME 1
[BC] Bill Arnold (4:18 2nd; Savage, Hayes): BC 2, ME 1
[BC] Bill Arnold (5:04 2nd; Brown, Gaudreau; PP): BC 3, ME 1
[BC] Ian McCoshen (5:56 2nd; Brown, Fitzgerald): BC 4, ME 1
[ME] Stu Higgins (18:40 2nd; Shore, Hutton; PP): BC 4, ME 2
[BC] Patrick Brown (1:16 3rd; Gaudreau, Matheson; PP): BC 5, ME 2
[BC] Kevin Hayes (15:30 3rd; Gaudreau, Demko): BC 6, ME 2
[BC] Kevin Hayes (17:47 3rd; Gaudreau, Arnold; PP; HT): BC 7, ME 2
Eagles goalie Thatcher Demko not only won the game, he also got a point on Hayes’s second goal.
The offense in front of Demko potted seven goals, including three on the power play. Speaking of, Boston College went 6-for-7 on the penalty kill.
The Eagles are an offensive machine right now, and Johnny Gaudreau, who was already an exceptional player, is putting together the best stretch of hockey of his career. This is a very dangerous team to face, and given that the Beanpot is approaching, we know that the Eagles are just starting to warm up for their trophy-time stretch run.
Boston College returns to action Tuesday night at Merrimack in another Hockey East contest.