Men's Ice Hockey Upended at #3 Boston College, 6-3
Links: Box Score | Dennehy Postgame Comments
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – A four-goal first period for the hosts set the tone early, and the Merrimack College men's ice hockey team was never able to recover, as the Warriors dropped a 6-3 decision at No. 3 Boston College on Friday night at Conte Forum.
The Basics
Score: Boston College 6, Merrimack 3
Records: Merrimack (8-15-6, 2-9-6 HEA) | #3 Boston College (21-4-4, 12-1-4 HEA)
Location: Conte Forum | Chestnut Hill, Mass.
How It Happened
Merrimack and BC opened the season series on Friday night at Conte Forum, where the Warriors were looking for their first win in nearly two decades (Oct. 31, 1997).
But the Eagles would hop in front just over a 90 seconds into the contest, as Adam Gilmour found some space in the near circle off a give-and-go feed and buried a wrister into the left side of the net to make it 1-0 in favor of the hosts early in regulation.
Boston College would double the lead while on the man advantage moments later, as Zach Sanford tucked in a backhander at 5:27 to push the Eagles up by a 2-0 margin.
Austin Cangelosi would draw a penalty shot three minutes later and would score to make it a 3-0 affair, and the Eagles would capitalize again on special teams – albeit while Merrimack had the man advantage – later on in the frame, as Colin White registered his team-leading 17th tally of the year with the Eagles shorthanded.
After both sides were levied penalties, sophomore Jared Kolquist (Hermantown, Minn.) ripped home a one-time slapper from the top of the far circle to get the Warriors on the board at the 18:21 mark of the first frame. Sophomore Jace Hennig (Port Moody, British Columbia) and senior Ben Bahe (Stillwater, Minn.) helped set up the score.
The first three quarters of the second period went by with a few near-misses by both sides, but nothing to show on the scoreboard until sophomore Marc Biega (Pointe-Claire, Quebec) deposited a blast from the top of the far circle into the net to cut the deficit in half at 14:55. Freshman Alex Carle (Anchorage, Alaska) and sophomore Brett Seney (London, Ontario) each assisted on the tally.
But that momentum was quickly siphoned away after Alex Tuch walked in and scored from the middle of the right circle to restore the Eagles' three-goal lead just 13 seconds into the third frame. Sanford would then notch his second of the night midway through the frame before Biega did likewise with just over four minutes to play, as freshman Derek Petti (Tewksbury, Mass.) fed him a pass to the top of the near circle for a one-timer strike to account for the final margin of defeat.
How They Scored
BC #1 (Gilmour/Fitzgerald/Cangelosi) | P1 1:38 – Give-and-go pass to Gilmor, who wrists it home from the near circle.
BC #2 (PPG) (Sanford/Gilmour/Savage) | P1 5:27 – Backhander at the edge of the crease off diagonal pass from the goal line.
BC #3 (PS) (Cangelosi) | P1 8:57 – Penalty shot.
BC #4 (SHG) (White/Gaudreau/Fitzgerald) | P1 16:36 – Tipped in at the weak side of the crease off a centering feed.
MC #1 (4x4) (Kolquist/Hennig/Bahe) | P1 18:21 – One-time slap shot from the top of the right circle.
MC #2 (Biega/Carle/Seney) | P2 14:55 – Slap shot from the top of the far circle over the glove.
BC #5 (Tuch/Sanford/Santini) | P3 0:13 – Wrister from middle of the near circle.
BC #6 (Sanford/Kim/Santini)| P3 10:43 – Poked in off a scrum.
MC #3 (Biega/Petti/LeBlanc) | P3 15:36 – One-time slapper from the top of the near circle squeezes through the pads and in.
Notes and Numbers
- Biega's two-goal performance was the second such outing of his career and first since scoring twice at Mercyhurst on Oct. 24, 2014
- Merrimack surrendered four goals in a single period (P1) for the first time since the penultimate game of the 2014-15 campaign, when BU struck four times in the second period on the way to a 6-2 defeat in Game 1 of the Hockey East Quarterfinals
- Carle ran his point streak to three straight games, during which he has tallied five points (1g, 4a)
- Altogether, seven different skaters from each teams lit the lamp on Friday, with only Biega (MC) and Sanford (BC) registering multiples tallies
- Goaltenders: L – Collin Delia (19 saves, 7-12-6) // W – Thatcher Demko (30 saves, 20-4-3)
- Power Plays: Merrimack (0-3) // BC (1-1)
- SOG (MC-BC ): 9-10 // 10-8 // 14-7 // 33-25
Up Next
Merrimack and BC continue their weekend home-and-home series with the return trip to Lawler Rink tomorrow night beginning at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on regional (WBIN-TV) and national (Fox College Sports Atlantic) television and will stream worldwide on ESPN3. Limited tickets remain for tomorrow night's contest; call 978-837-5324 to purchase.
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