Late heroics from Ryan Leonard save the day
What a game.
The Boston College men’s hockey team got a goal with under a minute left in regulation to bounce back from an early deficit and defeat Western Michigan on Saturday night 4-2. The Eagles got three goals in the third period to win this one, including two in the last minute from the hero of the night, Ryan Leonard. It was a thrilling end to a great game between two highly ranked teams, and one that managed to send another packed student section in hysterics.
Western Michigan started the scoring early in the first, with a goal just a bit more than two minutes into the game after both teams had a few decent scoring chances over the first handful of shifts. BC responded well over the next several minutes, creating a number of scoring chances and offensive zone time, but they were unable to tie things up. Western Michigan doubled their lead just about halfway through the period, scoring on a laser of a shot from the point the got past Jacob Fowler to make it a 2-0 game. The two teams traded power plays that came up empty, though Western Michigan did hit a post early in their attempt, and the Broncos took their two-goal lead into the first intermission.
The score remained the same for much of the second period, with Western Michigan managing to limit BC’s chances for the most part. The Eagles finally did manage to generate some consistent pressure later in the period, stringing together a number of shifts in the offensive zone before they finally broke through. It was Andre Gasseau who got the Eagles on the board with about three and a half minutes left in the period, when he took a nice pass from Teddy Stiga before firing a shot from slot that beat the Western Michigan goalie for his first goal of the season. BC continued to look dangerous after the goal and almost tied things up when Ryan Leonard’s shot on the rush beat the goalie but hit the crossbar to keep the score at 2-1.
Teddy Stiga got a goal of his own exactly one minute into the second period to make it a 2-2 game. The freshman forward scored with a heck of an individual effort, picking up the puck at center ice and dropping his shoulder to get around a defenseman and create a breakaway in close, which he put home for the first goal of his collegiate career. Both teams tightened things up defensively after Stiga’s goal and the game looked destined for overtime, but Ryan Leonard had other ideas. With a tripping penalty to Andre Gasseau expiring, Leonard and Gabe Perreault combined on a brilliant give-and-go that ended up giving Leonard a tap in goal into a wide open net to put the Eagles up for the first time with under a minute to play in regulation. Western Michigan did manage to pull their goalie after the ensuing faceoff, but Leonard put things away for good with an empty net goal to give BC the win by a 4-2 margin.
This was a great effort from the Eagles, who fell behind early but fought their way back into the game with some really strong play from about the halfway mark of the second period on. Western Michigan is a strong opponent and a team that has their sights set on an NCAA Tournament appearance, so this was a really encouraging result in the early part of the season. That makes two wins in a row for BC, who 3-1-0 in the young season. The Eagles will be on the road next weekend, when they’ll play two against another strong opponent in St. Cloud State.