Julius Mattila Scores Pair As #5 Boston College Downs #10 Northeastern 3-2
#5 Boston College earned a huge win last night at Matthews Arena, defeating #10 Northeastern 3-2 in a thriller. Senior forward Julius Mattila was the difference maker, scoring two goals, while Spencer Knight made 27 saves for the Eagles. Northeastern was without star forward Tyler Madden (37 points), who missed the game and will be out 2-3 weeks.
Like every game at Northeastern, the arena was filled with an electric energy as the two teams faced off. "It was a playoff type atmosphere" said head coach Jerry York after the game. Northeastern jumped ahead first on a Matt Filipe's wraparound that slipped through Knight's pads. The two teams continued to battle for most of the period, staying off the scoreboard until David Cotton got the puck to Mattila who rifled it home from the face off dot. After one period the two teams were locked up 1-1.
Boston College scored two more goals in the second period. Jack McBain took a shot that was deflected by Alex Newhook and Marshall Warren past Craig Pantano. Five minutes later Logan Hustko got credited for his 50th college assist when he hit Mattila on a 2-1 breakaway for the third goal. The Eagles seemed to be much more in control in the second period, out shooting Northeastern 18-6. "Our team was pretty solid especially in the second period" Jerry York told reporters after the game, "it was our best twenty minutes of hockey"
The third period was much more evenly matched as Northeastern roared back to life. Spencer Knight made a huge save on a point blank shot by Matt Demelis in the ninth minute. However, the Huskies scored their second goal of the game on a one timer by Jordan Harris that was perfectly screened by Biagio Lerario. As the game wound down, BC lost two huge zone face-offs, but were still able to close out the game and grab their 20th victory of the season.
"They are a good team, down 3-1 there is going to be some pushback" said York on the Huskies "it's going to happen. We got to survive those." To BC's credit they were able to go to a very tough road arena against a Top 10 team and still pull off the victory. But the Eagles still have work to do, "Two playoff teams" York explained with "five more of those type of games in front of us."
Boston College and Northeastern will face off against tonight at Conte Forum.
Goals:
Mattila #1
Marshall
Mattila #2