Minnesota 8, Boston College 1: Gophers Obliterate Eagles in ’12 Finale

There are bad ways to close out a year, and then there are bad ways to close out a year.

Boston College hockey, just one night after Jerry York made history, found the worst possible way to end 2012. At Minnesota on Sunday evening, the Eagles were soundly defeated by the hosting Golden Gophers, 8-1. BC finishes this portion of the schedule at 12-3-1, but they will certainly lose their #1 ranking on Monday.

For the Eagles, even in spite of the fact that Johnny Gaudreau is still participating in the World Juniors and Patch Alber is done for the season, it was a tremendously bad performance. The defense and goaltending were poor, but Boston College’s offense also had great difficulty generating sustained pressure, with a few bad-luck, near-miss shots here and there. The Eagles had trouble staying out of the penalty box, and as a result, Minnesota had the opportunity to net three power play goals.

Meanwhile, in all due credit to Minnesota, the Golden Gophers played a very good game and were the team that deserved to win.

Now let’s never speak of this unpleasantness again.

BC’s next game will be on Friday night at Conte Forum against Yale.