Boston College Men’s Hockey Defeats Vermont 4-2

The Boston College men’s hockey team completed their weekend sweep of Vermont on Saturday night, knocking off their Hockey East foe 4-2. The Eagles had to deal with some (hopefully minor) injuries to key players, as both Eamon Powell and Gabe Perreault missed the game, but they were able to do just enough to take down the Catamounts and pick up all six points from their two games over the weekend.

The game started much differently than it did on Friday night, with Vermont grabbing the lead with a power play goal less than a minute after the opening puck drop. They had a chance to double their lead on another power play a few minutes later, but it was the Eagles who converted. Ryan Leonard forced a turnover in Vermont’s end with a big open ice hit and took a pass from Cutter Gauthier before making a move to get around the UVM goalie and slide the puck into the net to make it a 1-1 game. Leonard scored his second goal of the night with an amazing individual effort about six minutes later, controlling a cross ice pass with his skate at the offensive blue line before burning by a Vermont defenseman to create a breakaway. His first attempt was turned aside with a great save, but he managed to get to his own rebound and bury it to give BC the lead. The Eagles had some chances to extend their lead as the period continued, including a full minute of 5-on-3 power play time, but they had to settle for a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play.

They had even more chances to pull away from Vermont in the second, but the two teams skated to a scoreless middle period instead. The Eagles had three power play chances across the period, but they weren’t able to create many dangerous chances and came up empty on all three. Vermont wasn’t able to generate much of their own, however, so BC’s 2-1 lead held after 40 minutes of play.

Vermont tied things up less than three minutes into the third period, scoring on a delayed penalty when a bad line change from BC left them with only four skaters on the ice. The game didn’t stay tied for long, as Cutter Gauthier fired home a one timer from Ryan Leonard on the ensuing Vermont powerplay for BC’s second shorthanded goal of the night. The Eagles appeared to finally have their insurance goal when Connor Joyce tapped one in to an empty net a few minutes later, but it was quickly taken off the board after a Vermont challenge for goalie interference was upheld after review. And while that decision did help to keep Vermont in the game, the Eagles would eventually put them away later on. Will Smith stole the puck away from a Vermont defender in the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot into the net for an unassisted goal to give BC a two-goal lead with 2:06 left in regulation. Vermont would pull their goalie to try and mount a comeback, but Jacob Fowler stayed strong in his net and the Eagles took this one by a 4-2 score.

This one certainly wasn’t as dominant as Friday night’s 7-1 beatdown, but the Eagles did enough to complete the weekend sweep and stay at the top of the Hockey East standings. With just three games left in the regular season, the big news now will be how serious the injuries to Powell and Perreault are, as they are two players that BC can almost certainly not afford to lose. The Eagles will hope to have them back next weekend, when they take on New Hampshire in a Friday/Sunday home-and-home series.