Recap: Boston College outlasts Northeastern, 3-2 (OT)

On Friday evening, the Boston College men’s hockey team hosted the Northeastern Huskies for a weekend series in conference play. BC is coming back from their road trip against Denver, where they lost 5-2 and tied 2-2. Now they play against a Hockey East opponent for the first time this season, the 2-1-0 Northeastern Huskies.

This Halloweekend game (which was very lightly attended by the BC student body) got off to a roaring start when Matias Vanhanen scored an impressive deke and goal just 26 seconds into the game. That was then followed by a Boston College powerplay, on which Ryan Conmy fought through a scrum and found the back of the net to put BC up 2-0. After taking such an early lead, the Eagles did not let up on their offensive attack. They racked up 20 shots in the period to Northeastern’s 6. They consistently made their zone entries cleanly and got direct pressure on the goalie. They controlled the game for most of the opening period.

Northeastern finally started to show signs of life in the final minutes before the first intermission. They created a handful of opportunities in front of  BC goaltender Louka Cloutier, but big defensive plays by guys like Kristian Kostadinski kept NU out of the net. BC took their 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Northeastern quickly got into trouble again to start the second period. Oscar Hemming went sliding down the ice on a Huskies penalty, and BC got a quality powerplay out of it. But the Eagles didn’t actually score, and Northeastern’s Miguel Marques cut into the lead shortly after with a goal on the other side. 2-0 became 2-1 just like that.

Boston College then appeared to have scored soon after when Alex Pelletier made a gritty play in front of the net to get a puck slipped past NU goaltender Lawton Zacher. But the play was challenged for being offsides and, after a very lengthy review that seemed inconclusive, the refs called it No Goal.

Then the Hockey East referees went on a power trip. After disallowing the goal, they called matching roughing minors and then another roughing minor on Dean Letourneau for a small scuffle with another player. Northeastern cashed in on that 4-on-3 opportunity to tie the game at 2-2. The Boston College players looked absolutely dejected, losing urgency on the ice and getting outworked by the more aggressive Huskies. The 2-0 collapse was hitting them with a full head of steam.

More unsportsmanlike conduct and unnecessary roughness penalties came for both teams as the period entered its final few minutes. The teams were getting nasty with each other and it seemed that Northeastern’s strategy of mucking up the game was working against the more talented Eagles. The BC players were undisciplined, responding to Northeastern’s taunts and falling right into the slog. They would need to return to their up-tempo style and start controlling the puck again if they wanted to reverse the Northeastern momentum.

(Side note from the author: this was one of the most nauseating refereeing performances I’ve seen in years. Extra long reviews, unnecessary penalties, and several aborted faceoffs resulted in a dismal viewing experience.)

BC started the third period on another powerplay, but the coaching staff switched up the PP lines and it resulted in probably their worst powerplay of the night. Nonetheless, tempers were lower after the intermission and Boston College settled into a much better groove when they started using their speed to push back against the slower NU defense. About 10 minutes in, Ryan Conmy grinded out a play and forced a Northeastern penalty that felt like a real momentum shift in the game. But BC once again failed to score as Zacher made some incredible plays in net for the Huskies.

But it wasn’t as dominant as they were in the first 10 minutes of the game. Northeastern was still penetrating the Eagles defense and getting off awkward shots on Cloutier. The BC goalie let a few odd rebounds bounce off of him, but otherwise was solid in net. But time was running out, and any decent shot near the net could be enough to win the game.

With under two minutes and the BC attack getting hotter, Northeastern was still being pesky and physical after the whistle. They got a couple really nice chances at the end, including a bouncing puck that almost dropped into the net but instead landed directly on top of the mesh. Nothing made its way inside the goal, though, and the game went into overtime.

3-on-3 OT didn’t last long. After a couple back-and-forth possessions, BC established themselves in the offensive zone and Teddy Stiga tilted the defense. With a couple of backsliding skating moves, Teddy Stiga drew two defenders to one side and slotted a pass behind his back to the waiting Luka Radivojevic, who passed it again across the ice to Dean Letourneau for a beautiful one-timer. The shot went in and the Eagles claimed a 3-2 victory over the Huskies.

The two teams play again tomorrow night at 7PM in Conte Forum.