Weekend Review: Hockey Sweeps UNH; Basketball Implodes Against ‘Canes
By Joe Micik
Two out of three ain’t bad, or so they say.
The three recaps of Boston College’s big sporting events this weekend:
Friday: Hockey defeats New Hampshire, 4-3
On Friday night, the Boston College Eagles men’s ice hockey team defeated the New Hampshire Wildcats, 4-3. For BC, it provided two much-needed points to a sagging team, moving their record to 15-10-1.
The Eagles got on the board first, just 35 seconds into the game, when Kevin Hayes – with his brother Jimmy in attendance – scored (Sit and Kreider assisted). Kreider would most certainly be heard from again.
The remainder of the first period was scoreless, but the second saw more of a flurry of activity. The Wildcats tied the game at the 2:10 mark on Austin Block’s third goal of the season (Henrion and Downing assisted). They took the lead about three game minutes later as Stevie Moses scored his 18th goal, giving New Hampshire a 2-1 lead (Sorkin and van Riemsdyk assisted).
Late in the second, while Danny Linell was serving a penalty for tripping, Chris Kreider turned the tables on the Wildcats. Just 12 seconds into the BC penalty kill, at 14:24, Kreider scored his 15th goal of the season and re-tied the game, 2-2, on a shorthanded goal (Mullane and MacLeod assisted).
New Hampshire was not done fighting. Late in the third period and the game, at 15:18, hope begun to fade for the Eagles as Scott Pavelski scored his second goal of the year to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead (McCarey and van Riemsdyk assisted). Luckily for BC, however, neither were the Eagles done. Austin Block went to the penalty box for interference at 16:05, and freshman John Gaudreau made them pay. Gaudreau scored his ninth of the year at 16:55 on the power play, tying the game at 3-3 (Dumoulin and Kreider assisted).
Boston College ended up getting the last laugh in this game, crushing New Hampshire’s hopes by taking a 4-3 lead with just 51 seconds to go in regulation. Steven Whitney got the game-winner past UNH goalie Casey DeSmith, his eighth score of the year, and sent BC fans home happy (Mullane and Almeida assisted).
Parker Milner was back in goal for the Eagles, as recommended by STG (thanks Jerry!), and he got his 11th win of the season. Of course, Milner’s stat line was not particularly impressive despite the win, stopping ten of just thirteen UNH shots. Casey DeSmith faced more bombardment, stopping 30 of 34.
Boston College went 1-for-5 on the man-advantage, while stopping New Hampshire’s penalty chances all three times.