Friday Night Flop: Boston College Basketball, Hockey Lose

Tonight, we had two simultaneous games, so the most efficient way to recap both is at the same time.

6:16pm (BB): Announced that Patrick Heckmann, perhaps the best player on the men’s basketball team at present, will be out as a result of the ankle injury he sustained during the New Hampshire game.

7:32pm (BB): Tip-off at Worcester.

7:45pm (H): Puck drops in South Bend.

7:47pm (BB): Announcers say “Humphries” for approximately the 78th time in the game.

7:51pm (BB): Holy Cross hits a 3 to take a 16-8 lead out of the under-12 timeout.

8:00pm (BB) : The Crusaders hit another 3 to go up by ten.

8:14pm (BB): Holy Cross takes a 38-30 lead into the half. The Crusaders have shot 7-11 from long-range; the Eagles are only 3-8 from the free-throw line.

8:19pm (H): At 17:18 of the first period, Boston College goes on their first power play of the game.

8:23pm (H): Boston College is awarded a penalty shot with just 12 seconds remaining in the period; Chris Kreider is the shooter, and he scores. BC takes a 1-0 lead.

8:27pm (H): The first period comes to an end with the Eagles ahead, 1-0 on the Kreider goal. Notre Dame is on the power play. BC outshot the Irish 15-11.

8:43pm (BB): Holy Cross takes a 58-44 lead in the second half; Steve Donahue takes a timeout.

8:44pm (H): Second period begins in South Bend.

8:53pm (H): Notre Dame ties the game, 1-1, at 6:54 of the second period on a TJ Tynan goal.

8:54pm (BB): The Crusaders take their biggest lead of the game, 65-50.

9:00pm (H): BC goes on their second power play of the game at almost half-way through the second period; it ends up being killed off.

9:08pm (H): Notre Dame takes a 2-1 lead at the 11:37 mark of the second period on a goal by Shayne Taker.

9:19pm (BB): Holy Cross wins the basketball game, 86-64. Boston College was never really in the contest, falling behind at 3-2 early and never getting back up off the mat.

It was a bad effort from end to end for the young Eagles, and though not completely unpredictable, especially without Heckmann, BC did not play well in any phase of the game. Their offense was off, their free throw shooting was again suspect, and worst of all, their defense was terrible with a capital “T.”

It isn’t worth BC fans getting angry about; this is going to be a long year. We can only hope that BC learns from this and that it wakes the young players up.

9:26pm (H): The second period ends with Notre Dame leading, 2-1. Boston College appeared to have gotten screwed out of a goal with 2.1 seconds remaining. The Eagles have outshot the Irish 26-17 for the game to this point.

9:43pm (H): The third period begins.

Special: 9:57pm (WSOC): Boston College women’s soccer wins their NCAA Tournament game on penalty kicks – good job, ladies!

10:12pm (H): At the 17:50 mark of the third period, John Gaudreau ties the game, 2-2 (Dumoulin assisted). The Eagles looked completely lifeless for most of the third period offensively, thanks in part to ND playing smothering defense, but BC found a way late.

10:16pm (H): With the score at 2-2, Boston College and Notre Dame go to overtime.

10:27pm (H): With 1.1 seconds left, Notre Dame scores the game-winner in overtime to take it, 3-2.

This was an absolutely crushing loss for the Eagles who are in pretty good position to go 0-for-the-weekend in their Catholic school rivalry games.

Friday night was a really, really bad night for the BC men, but the women did alright for themselves.

For the basketball team, look: you’re going to have nights like this, though a non-competitive blowout loss to a Patriot League team is concerning. We know we’re not going anywhere this year, anyway, but we didn’t see much to work with in this early-season game. With any luck, the guys will get better as they go along and can learn from this game.

As for hockey, it’s one thing to lose, another to lose thanks in part to what we suspect was a bad call, and quite another to lose to Notre Dame with 1.1 seconds left in the game. Now we know how Northeastern feels, except this is worse because that’s them and this is us.  Sleep it off, Eagles fans.