Eagles win 5-4, advance to Hockey East title game
By Joe Micik
We don’t know Boston College hockey’s opponent yet**, but we do know that when the 2011 Hockey East championship is played on Saturday night at 7pm in Boston, the Eagles will be in it. At the TD Garden on Friday, they netted a 5-4 victory over the Northeastern Huskies, ending NU’s season and sealing themselves in the title game for the second-straight year.
Northeastern got on the board first with 6:12 to go in the first period on a Tyler McNeely goal, assisted by Silva and MacLeod. That only lead for the Huskies was short-lived, as the Eagles scored two minutes, seventeen seconds later thanks to Brian Gibbons (assists Cross and Joe Whitney).
Boston College took their first lead of the game, 2-1, with 13:04 to go in the second period thanks to Kevin Hayes on the power play (assists J. Hayes and Mullane). The Eagles had 25 seconds to celebrate, however, as the Huskies came right back and tied the game. That was an unassisted goal by Wade MacLeod.
Almost six minutes later, Steven Whitney would get the lead back for Boston College, scoring on a goal assisted by Brian Dumoulin. They would add one more before the end of the second period, with 18 seconds remaining, on a power play goal by Tommy Cross (assisted by Dumoulin and K. Hayes).
In the third period, BC added to the lead (crucially, as later events would show), with 11:38 to go on a power play goal by Pat Mullane (assisted by both of the Hayeses). The finish would be a little more wild than most Eagles fans expected, however. A string of late penalties were called on BC, leading to a 5-on-3 advantage for the Huskies. Northeastern would then pull their goalie to make it a 6-on-3 advantage, and it paid near-immediate dividends. With 3:16 to go, Garrett Vermeersch (assists Ferriero and Daniels) made it a 5-3 game, and with 1:03 to go, on another power play, Wade MacLeod (assists McNeely and Bitetto) made it a 5-4 Eagles lead. John Muse and the BC defense would hold it there, though, and the Eagles have secured their date in the Hockey East championship with a chance to defend their title.
Boston College played well in the second period and for the majority of the third, but some ineffectiveness plagued much of the first and penalties/difficulty closing out marred the ending. Still, it was a meaningful win against a team that had recently given BC trouble and was desperate to win to keep their season going. The 29-win #2 Eagles have marched one step closer to the NCAA Tournament and a chance to defend their national championship, but will doubtlessly face stiffer opposition tomorrow and must be ready.
Finally, for those like me on the “Jerry York is #1” watch, this was career victory 879 for the coach. He is 45 wins from tying Ron Mason for most wins all-time in college hockey.
** – We now know, as of the late edit, that BC’s opponent is Merrimack. Yes, this article was written before that game ended.