Eagles Grind Out Two Wins Against Maine, Improve to 15-3-1
As fans of No. 1 Boston College have come to expect, no win comes easy in Hockey East. That rang true this weekend against the Black Bears. Maine came into the weekend 2-7-1 and hadn’t played in a little under a month. They were also without two of their top forwards Eduards Tralmaks and Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup.
Nevertheless, Maine came into Conte Forum and gave BC all it could handle on consecutive nights.
On Friday night, the teams kicked off a stop-and-start first period with eight penalties and zero goals. Twice the Eagles cut short their man-advantage opportunity by taking a penalty. BC’s speed was evident from the drop, but Maine matched it with physicality, which led to tempers flaring. Late in the first Brady Gaudette, Adam’s brother, pinned Alex Newhook against the boards in the offensive zone. He continued to press him against the boards and the two jawed well behind the play. The sequence culminated with Gaudette throwing Newhook to the ground, earning them matching penalties.
In the second, the focus shifted to scoring. Just over a minute into the frame, Matt Boldy got the Eagles on the board with a spinning back-hander that found its way past Matt Thiessen. Maine evened it at one a couple minutes later with a Tristan Poissant goal, before BC pulled back ahead on Marc McLaughlin’s team-leading ninth of the season, set up by a great effort play from Casey Carreau who seems to have found his home on the third line.
BC continued to generate chances into the third, but Thiessen made a few sprawling saves. However, the Eagles lack of discipline allowed Maine to pull even again in the third. With Michael Karow and Drew Helleson both in the box, BC conceded a five-on-three goal midway through the third. But BC’s reinvigorated power play wouldn’t let the tie stand for long. Six seconds into a Maine penalty, Newhook went bar down on a beautiful snipe from the near dot. BC held the lead and Boldy flipped in an empty-netter from 150 feet to secure the victory.
The following night, BC came out on fire but was similarly unable to find the back of the net in the first. The Eagles peppered Victor Ostman with 23 shots in the first and a team high 59 overall, but Ostman turned all 23 away in the first.
The turning point came in the second when the Eagles, who had been living in the Maine zone, were forced to kill off a Harry Roy major that included two full minutes of five-on-three time. BC was able to do so and got on the board shortly after killing it off with a Patrick Giles second effort.
Still it was only 1-0 late into the game, until Newhook extended the lead with a power play marker at the midway point in the third, and Colby Ambrosio iced it a few seconds later.
▶️ You leave him open and he'll keeping doing this 🎯 pic.twitter.com/Ea0lwf4PI7
— BC Men's Hockey (@BC_MHockey) February 21, 2021
The wins keep BC atop the Hockey East Power Index as the season nears its conclusion. The Eagles likewise cling to the No. 1 spot in the nation over North Dakota who also went 2-0-0 this weekend. With one more weekend, possibly two, before the Hockey East Tournament BC will look to maintain these positions.
Photo courtesy of BCEagles.com
