Boston College-UNH Final: Eagles, Wildcats Skate to 2-2 Tie

Boston College-UNH Final: On Friday night in Durham, New Hampshire, the #17 Boston College Eagles and the New Hampshire Wildcats tied, 2-2.

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The result was Boston College’s first tie of the season; their overall record is 7-7-1, now with a 3-4-1 record in Hockey East play. New Hampshire is 4-8-1 overall.

Boston College-UNH Final: Game Synopsis

Boston College’s Zach Sanford opened up the scoring with a goal at 13:06 of the first period. His second of the season made it a 1-0 Eagles lead, despite the fact that the Wildcats outshot them 11-8.

New Hampshire owned the second period of the game, scoring both goals while leading in shots by a 15 to 9 margin. Boston College hockey struggled with the Wildcats as Tyler Kelleher tied it and an unassisted Matt Willows goal gave UNH the lead as the second intermission approached.

The Eagles thought they had the game-tying goal late in the second period off of the stick of Ryan Fitzgerald, who had not scored a point in the previous six games. It was waved off:

It would have been a rare power play goal for Boston College, but this tough call kept New Hampshire in the lead.

Yet, with 4:45 to go in regulation, Austin Cangelosi did get the puck over the goal line to tie the game at 2-2. That was also reviewed, but it stood, and Ryan Fitzgerald did get his first point in seven games on an assist.

New Hampshire led every period in shots except for the third, which was an 8-8 tie, and Thatcher Demko made 37 saves for the tie.

Boston College-UNH Final: Bottom Line

At least Boston College did not lose, but they are getting to the point very quickly where they need wins more than anything else. The Eagles can at least withstand their tie on Friday night, but while the best teams in Hockey East keep adding two points, one will not cut it much longer.

Clearly, this is not the worst-case scenario for Boston College, and they well could have won if they had not had that power play goal waved off, but it was not to be and they’ll take the partial credit.

The hockey team needs a win on Saturday night to at least make it a three-point weekend; anything less would mean a continuation of their slow decline this season.

Boston College-UNH Final: Next Up

The Eagles and Wildcats tie up their home-and-home weekend on Saturday night at Conte Forum.