Boston College Holds on to Edge New Hampshire in Hockey East Quarterfinals
Boston College scored three early, but New Hampshire clawed back with two in the second. In the end, however, it was the Eagles who scraped by 3-2 in their opening round Hockey East Tournament game.
BC came out firing on all cylinders, recording a trio of goals in under three minutes in the first. Alex Newhook got BC on the board thanks to a two-line pass from Drew Helleson. Newhook won the footrace to negate the icing and found himself in alone on Mike Robinson. He beat Robinson blocker side.
A minute later the first line was back at it, this time with Mike Hardman finding the back of the net. The sophomore tipped an Eamon Powell point shot and buried the rebound after Robinson made the initial save. Nikita Nesterenko made it 3-0 when he finished a Colby Ambrosio pass from below the goal line.
In second, the teams switched sides and the momentum shifted, with UNH notching back-to-back goals by Eric MacAdams and Luke Reid to quickly cut the deficit to one. UNH continued to apply the pressure, but Knight made a few crucial saves to preserve the one-goal lead heading into the third.
In the third, the Wildcats again outshot the Eagles but were unable to muster the tying goal. BC has to sweat out the final two minutes but did a good job preventing Robinson from vacating the crease and denying any scoring chances 6-on-5.
Hockey East will reseed heading into the semifinals, meaning that UMass Lowell will travel to Conte Forum Wednesday night. The Eagles swept the season series with a dominant victory on home ice and a come-from-behind win up at Tsongas Center last month. The two last faced off in the postseason in the 2017 Hockey East title game, when Norm Bazin’s Riverhawks (and a crossbar) denied the Eagles a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The winner of Providence and UMass awaits on the other side of the bracket.