2013-14 Year in Review, Part IV: Boston College Men’s Hockey

2013-14 Boston College Men’s Hockey: January to Beanpot, 2014

Once the calendar turned over, the Eagles picked up where they left off. On January 4, they played their first Hockey East meeting against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, beating them in a 4-3 game at Frozen Fenway. The poor quality of the ice and the net dislodging every time a player even looked at it were the lasting memories, but wins are wins, inside or out.

Boston College men’s hockey then dismissed a hot Providence team by a 5-2 score; the Friars had been playing well and were rising up in the conference standings. Despite then tying Brown, the Eagles’ unbeaten streak kept alive with wins against BU, Maine, Merrimack, Penn State, and Providence again.

Undefeated in 12-straight games, “trophy season” hearkened to them.

2013-14 Boston College Men’s Hockey: Beanpot to 2014 Hockey East Tournament

The Eagles soared into the Beanpot at 19-4-3, among the best records they had ever had entering the local competition. Their draw in the first round was a new-look, new-coach Boston University team whom they had already dispatched twice before. Jack Parker evidently took the wins with him as the Terriers suffered through one of their worst seasons in ages, and losing a 3-1 game in the Beanpot to Boston College did not help matters.

Before they could take to the ice again at the TD Garden, they would have to first beat last-place Merrimack at Kelley Rink, which they did.

Once back to the Beanpot action against the Northeastern Huskies, another Hockey East rival, Boston College again prolonged Husky misery by taking the title in a hard-hitting, exciting 4-1 game. Both teams played very tough games in a contest that was tied well into the third period; captain Patrick Brown put home the game-winner with five and a half minutes to go, and then the floodgates opened. Thatcher Demko was brilliant and Johnny Gaudreau continued building his resume for the Hobey Baker Award.

By the time Boston College men’s hockey won this Beanpot, their fifth in a row (while posing for the team photo, players held up the number of fingers corresponding to how many they had won), Gaudreau had gotten his 50th point of the season on an empty-net goal in the third period. His points streak was an eye-popping 24 games, the Eagles were on a tremendous streak, and the Hobey seemed all but his already.

Gaudreau’s top line, also including Kevin Hayes and Bill Arnold, was the most prolific in the nation by a wide margin. At one point, the trio made up three of the top four points scorers in the nation while the Eagles boasted the nation’s best offense.

The Eagles would end their regular season sweeping Vermont and winning and tying in a tough home-and-home with UMass-Lowell, but their 19-game unbeaten streak came to an end at home against the Fighting Irish. It mattered not, as Boston College had wrapped up the Hockey East regular-season crown two weeks earlier in Vermont.

Regardless, with everything seemingly falling into place and one trophy already in the bag, Boston College men’s hockey was thinking one thing: winning it all.

Next page: Hockey East Tournament and NCAA Tournament