Boston College 3, Penn State 2: Eagles, Gaudreau, Hayes Extend Streaks
By Joe Micik
On Saturday night in State College, Pennsylvania, the #2 Boston College Eagles hockey team defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions, 3-2.
Boston College went 2-0-0 against the fledgling NCAA team from Happy Valley this season, giving themselves their 11th-straight unbeaten game (10-0-1 during stretch). The Eagles are now 18-4-3 on the season.
Two other streaks were extended by forwards Johnny Gaudreau and Kevin Hayes. For Gaudreau, his points streak reached 20 games in a row on Saturday, as the junior had a goal and an assist to hit 50 points for the season so far, including at least one point in all but one of Boston College’s 25 games. Meanwhile, Hayes extended his points streak to 12 games, giving himself two more goals.
Not necessarily related to a streak, but Bill Arnold also had a fine night, notching three points — assisting on all of the Boston College goals.
Goal Sequence
[BC] Kevin Hayes (7:40 1st; Arnold, Gaudreau): BC 1, PSU 0
[PSU] Eric Scheid (6:45 2nd; Williamson, Brooks): BC 1, PSU 1
[BC] Johnny Gaudreau (16:04 2nd; Arnold): BC 2, PSU 1
[BC] Kevin Hayes (4:28 3rd; Arnold, Brown; PP): BC 3, PSU 1
[PSU] Taylor Holmstrom (6:58 3rd; Juha; SH): BC 3, PSU 2
Thatcher Demko got another start in this game, and another win, as he made a number of big saves to keep the Nittany Lions at bay. One of those was a penalty shot by Tommy Olczyk, which Demko denied. In total, Demko made 33 saves en route to his seventh win of the year. His Penn State counterpart, Eamon McAdam, made 27 saves as he falls to 0-8-0 on the season.
Give Penn State credit for hanging in there with the Eagles, and there was definitely a buzz in the building as the Nittany Lions welcomed one of the nation’s best teams to their rink. Penn State sold the place out on Saturday night and there was plenty of doubt for the Eagles about the end result, but Boston College once again looks like that team on a mission to do great things when the spring rolls around. Wins are wins, even if they’re not blowouts, and this team will take it.
Boston College returns to Hockey East play on Friday night as they travel to Rhode Island to face the #7 Providence Friars.