BC Hockey: One Game at a Time, a Recap of BC’s 5–0 Win vs. Maine.
By Luke Ballard.
In dominant fashion Friday night, the Boston College Eagles (20–14–1, 13–11–0 Hockey East) ended the University of Maine Black Bears’ season with a decisive 5–0 victory at Conte Forum.
The scoring started early for the Eagles. Teddy Stiga and James Hagens netted two opening goals just 39 seconds apart. BC’s strong defensemen pairs aided both goals, as Luka Radivojevic and Drew Fortescue assisted Stiga, while Lukas Gustafsson assisted Hagens.
Stiga’s opening goal came off a fortunate bounce on a dump from the red line by Radivojevic, as the puck knicked the corner and bounced into the slot where Stiga was waiting. Making no mistake, Stiga buried the puck in the roof of the net as Conte Forum exploded. As I mentioned in my previous article, the home-ice advantage would be huge for the Eagles as Conte was rocking all night long.
In the following moments, Hagens would skate into the offensive zone in a 3-on-1 and fire a shot into Black Bear defensemen Grayson Arnott; as the puck spilled through his legs, Hagens was able to catch Mathis Rousseau off guard and bury the second of the game for BC.
The second period was relatively quiet for both sides as neither scored. Maine did come close on multiple occasions, ringing the ironwork twice. The hero of the middle frame would be freshman goaltender Louka Cloutier, who played an outstanding game for the Eagles. With multiple diving and outstretched saves, Cloutier was able to keep the Black Bears at bay in the second period. If not for Cloutier’s efforts, it was quite plausible that Maine would have clawed their way back.
Period three opened with an Oscar Jellvik goal from a Ryan Conmy assist, as BC fans are more than delighted to welcome back Jellvik to the ice, as he has struggled with injuries since February of last year. BC’s dominance would continue as in the last moments of desperation, Maine pulled Rousseau, allowing both Dean Letourneau and Hagens to net two more.
This win, and the way it unfolded, came as a shock to many in Hockey East, as Maine has been a notoriously strong team on the road. BC, which had previously dropped its last four regular-season games, did not look convincing coming into the game either, especially because Maine had won four of their last five before Friday night’s contest.
As for what’s next for the Eagles, they will travel to TD Garden, where they will await their opponent after tonight’s slate of games. The Hockey East postseason bracket reseeds after every round, so it is uncertain who the Eagles will face in the next round.