Eagles late comeback attempt falls short
The Boston College men’s hockey team fell to Boston University in the opening round of the Beanpot on Monday evening, falling to their rivals by a 4-3 score. The Eagles had a chance to make it three wins in 11 days against BU, but they came out slow and made a few ugly mistakes in their own end that proved costly as a late comeback attempt wasn’t enough to erase a three-goal deficit.
The Eagles had an early power play chance that started less than a minute in, but it was BU who got on the board first, scoring just about four minutes in from a shot on the rush to take a 1-0 lead. They followed it up with a power play goal a few minutes later when Macklin Celebrini fired a laser of a one-timer past Jacob Fowler for his second of the period. That was all the scoring in the first, as BC had a few chances to get on the board but spent most of the period scrambling to keep BU from extending their lead. They killed off a power play where BU controlled the puck for the full two minutes and Fowler made a few nice saves and the score remained 2-0 heading into the second period.
BC started the second period with some of their best shifts of the night, holding possession for a long stretch of play before eventually ending up with a power play chance. Gabe Perreault made the most of the opportunity, scoring his 11th goal of the season off of a give-and-go with Will Smith to make it a 2-1 game. They had another power play chance to tie things up a few minutes later that came up short before BU regained their two goal lead after a brutal turnover by the Eagles on a breakout attempt with no pressure in their defensive zone. BC had been controlling the period until that point, but they lost some of their momentum and had to settle for the same two-goal deficit at the end of the period that they faced at the start.
The Eagles had a good push to start the period, starting with some good shifts and putting together a lot of time in the offensive zone. They were unable to convert on any of their chances, however, and eventually another bad turnover in their defensive end lead to a goal for BU to stretch the lead to 4-1. Gentry Shamburger got one back for BC with a bit over 12 minutes left in regulation with his first goal of the season with a nice wrist shot to give the Eagles some life. BC’s comeback attempt continued a few minutes later when Gabe Perreault got his second of the night to make it 4-3, but that was as close as BC would get. The Eagles had some great chances as the period continued and they pulled Fowler late, but they were unable to get the tying goal as they dropped their Beanpot opener.
This was a frustrating game to watch, as a few of the goals that BC allowed came off of some inexplicably bad unforced turnovers. They showed some nice fight after falling down by three in the third, but it wasn’t quite enough to overcome their earlier mistakes. The Eagles still haven’t won a Beanpot since 2016 and while this wasn’t the most important trophy they’ll be going for this season, it would have been a nice one to have. They’ll have a chance to bounce back from this one soon at least, when they host New Hampshire on Friday night before taking on Harvard in the Beanpot consolation game on Monday.