BC 2, Northeastern 1: Eagles Beat the Buzzer to Drop Huskies
By Joe Micik
This game had “tie” written all over it, until it didn’t.
The Boston College Eagles defeated the Northeastern Huskies on Friday evening at Conte Forum’s Kelley Rink by a 2-1 score. The Eagles have improved their record to 9-2 (7-1 Hockey East) while the Huskies have fallen to 1-6-2 in both. How the Eagles won, however, will be the talk of BC fans tonight.
The first period was spirited, but not particularly good for the Eagles. Northeastern scored the only goal in the period at 12:41 off of the skate of Cody Ferriero (Vermeersch and Tuckerman assisted) for his first of the season. If the last name seems familiar to you, it is: Eagles fans may remember his older brother, Benn Ferriero, who played for Boston College and was a part of the 2008 national championship team. Otherwise, BC outshot the Huskies 9-4 in the frame and went 0-for-3 on the power play, while also holding Northeastern to 0-for-2 on their man-advantage.
In the second, Boston College got that goal back thanks to a highlight-reel play by Chris Kreider, who dished in front of the net to Kevin Hayes for the easy one-timer (Kreider was the only assist). The goal at 11:50 was Hayes’ fourth of the year.
From then on, the game featured many shots and many opportunities for the Eagles, but no scoring. It is fitting, then, that BC captain Tommy Cross finally took it upon himself to end the tie, and not a moment too soon. At the 19:57 mark of the third period, with only seconds remaining until the game would go to overtime, Cross found the net during a power play to give Boston College a 2-1 victory (Dumoulin and Hayes assisted). For Cross, it was his first goal of the year, and a meaningful one it was.
This is not the first time during this young season that the Eagles have shocked Northeastern: earlier in the year, on October 22, the Eagles came back from a 3-1 third-period deficit on the Huskies’ home ice to beat them, 4-3, in overtime.
Boston College outshot the Huskies 36-18 on the game and converted on one of their five power play opportunities, namely the Cross game-winner. Northeastern, meanwhile, had all four of their man-advantages killed off by the Eagles.
This is yet another gutty win by Boston College, who have continued to find ways to win even when the other team is putting forth a strong challenge. The Eagles will get one more day than usual to enjoy their victory: they play again on Sunday, not Saturday, as they will take to their home ice again for an even more meaningful game against Boston University.