The regular season is over for the Boston College Men’s Hockey team, with the Eagles winning two against UNH to clinch the top spot in Hockey East before knocking off Merrimack in the regular season finale last weekend. The Eagles are absolutely rolling right now despite some injuries, with eight straight wins overall and a ridiculous 13 straight wins in conference play. With the Hockey East tournament set to get underway this week, let’s take one final look back at some of what has stood out over the past few weeks of games.
COLBY AMBROSIO GETS ON THE BOARD
Colby Ambrosio has had a really tough season for BC. The senior forward had a pretty consistent first three seasons as an Eagle, scoring at more than a half a point per game pace in all three, but his numbers have been way down this season. Coming in to the final game against Merrimack, Ambrosio had just one goal and six points total, a steep drop off from the 21 he put up as a junior. In fact, from October 27 until the game against Merrimack, Ambrosio had just two points over a 27 game stretch, a number that gets even harder to understand when factoring in just how much BC was scoring over that stretch. It’s been a bit of a bummer to watch him struggle to produce, he’s a fun player to watch when things are going well and he’s been a really nice player for the entirety of his time as an Eagle.
Which is why it was so nice not to just seem him score in Saturday’s regular season finale, but score an absolutely gorgeous goal that gave BC their first lead of the night. It was a nice display of speed and quickness from Ambrosio that lead to a perfect shot just under the crossbar for his much needed second of the season. And you could tell just from his celebration that it was a goal he really needed going forward.
It’s too late for Ambrosio to save his season in terms of how his final numbers look, but hopefully this gets him and his line going as the playoff season gets started. The Eagles were looking like a one line team for a while with Gabe Perreault missing the last few weeks, but they finally got some depth scoring on Saturday night with Ambrosio’s goal and two from his linemate Jamie Armstrong. Getting some consistent contributions from the third line could go a long way in both the Hockey East Tournament and beyond, so hopefully Ambrosio’s goal Saturday is the start of a hot streak that we know he’s capable of putting together.
GAUTHIER FITTING IN ON TOP LINE
Not that he hasn’t been fantastic all season, but it has been a lot of fun watching Cutter Gauthier get a chance to play next to Will Smith and Ryan Leonard recently. With the aforementioned injury to Gabe Perreault, Greg Brown decided to load of on his top line instead of keeping Gauthier with Andre Gasseau and Oskar Jellvik, and Gauthier has thrived. In the four games that he has been with Smith and Leonard, Gauthier has four goals and three assists, including back-to-back three point games against Vermont and New Hampshire as soon as they were put together.
Getting Cutter Gauthier back for his sophomore year felt like a huge boost for BC and he has been nothing short of spectacular the entire season. He’s leading the country in goals, he’s tied for third overall in points, tied for sixth in power play goals, and tops in game winning goals, including two overtime winners from earlier in the season. He’s leading the country in shots on goal and he’s doing all of this while drastically cutting down on his penalty minutes from his freshman season. Gauthier has 32 goals so far this season and depending on how much longer the Eagles play, the team’s single season record of 38 by David Emma and Scott Harlow absolutely does not seem out of reach. He’s been an absolute force all season and it’s been a blast to watch him on the top line these past few weeks even if it did take an injury to get him there.
PENALTY KILL REMAINS ABSURD
The Eagles fell behind 2-0 in the second period against Merrimack on Saturday night and took a penalty a few minutes later to give Merrimack a big chance to extend their lead. Instead, after the two minutes had expired, the Eagles had tied the game up at two, with goals from Jamie Armstrong and Will Smith just over a minute apart.
The penalty kill has been a massive strength for BC all season long and we’ve talked about it a few times, but some of these end of season numbers are truly ridiculous to look at. They were the only team in the country to have a penalty kill percentage above 90 percent and on the season, they allowed just 12 power play goals in 123 chances. Add in the fact that they scored seven shorthanded goals this year – from seven different players – and they essentially come out of those 123 shorthanded opportunities at just a -5 in goal differential. Considering their power play was a +37 in their 141 chances (38 goals for and one shorthanded goal allowed) and you can see just how impressive that number is for BC. The PK might just be the biggest strength of this year’s team, and it’s something that will have to be a huge part of any extended postseason run that the Eagles hope to go on.