BC Bulletin

No. 15 Boston College Men's Hockey Shut Out by No. 10 Maine, 3-0, in Series Finale

The Eagles' five-game win streak was snapped by the Black Bears on Saturday night.
Graham Dietz|
Boston College men's hockey (@BC_MHockey) via X.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Stationed behind Boston College men’s hockey’s goal, Aram Minnetian let go of the puck a second too soon, maybe even two.

Minnetian intended to make a short breakout pass to Will Moore for a defensive-zone exit, but Moore did not catch up to the pass in time. The puck slid right past Moore’s stick into one of the most dangerous quadrants on the ice—right in front of the net between the circles.

“He was open, but they weren’t on the same page,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “Usually, you want eye contact if you’re gonna make that pass, and [Moore] had just looked away at the wrong time and didn’t see the puck coming. So the execution was not good.”

To the Eagles’ misfortune, the only player skating through that zone was Miguel Marques, who corralled the puck and roofed a shot into the upper-right corner to hand Maine a 1-0 advantage just 1:32 into the contest.

Giving away the puck in the defensive zone on the boards or near the blue line is one thing. Doing it right behind the net with a forward breakout pass up the center of the ice is another, and it virtually gave BC an immediate disadvantage with the score differential.

In addition to the early mishap, the Eagles were only able to send nine shots on net in the first two periods combined—Maine only generated 12 shots in that span—and freshman goaltender Mathis Rousseau, who Maine head coach Ben Barr elected to start after Albin Boija surrendered six goals in Friday’s contest, a 7-3 Eagles’ win, did not relent.

Combine that with surrendering a shorthanded goal, which BC did with 8:50 left in the initial frame to Josh Nadeau, and it becomes a recipe for a loss, which is exactly what No. 15 BC (7-5-1, 5-3-0 Hockey East)) experienced on Saturday night, falling to No. 10 Maine (8-5-1, 5-3-0), 3-0, to split the home series.

“We didn’t get anything sustained,” Brown said. “Didn’t feel like it had the rhythm that it did last night. Last night, both groups were attacking and pressuring the net, and tonight, we didn’t have that. … So a lot of it was little details, it’s winning faceoffs and then recovering loose pucks, and they were better at that tonight.”

Marques registered a second goal to make it 3-0 in Maine’s favor in the middle stages of the third period from nearly the same exact position on the ice, following up a rebound off of Louka Cloutier’s right pad, which redirected right onto his stick.

The Eagles were able to manufacture three more shots in the third frame (12) than they had in the first two periods combined, but Rousseau made it look easy on the ice with an impressive post-to-post speed.

Rousseau’s agility showed off, and Barr felt that his team needed a spark after Friday’s four-goal loss in which Boija did not look like the player who earned Second Team All-American honors last year.

“[Rousseau] was outstanding,” Barr said. “We needed a performance like that on the road against a really good team, and he made some unbelievable stops. … That’s a really good hockey team, [and] we took advantage of some fortunate bounces.”

On Nadeau’s shorthanded goal before the end of the first, Moore was again on the receiving end of the stick because of his failure to properly protect the backdoor, and a nifty cross-ice pass by Charlie Russell put Nadeau in the ideal position to score, which he did.

Despite the shutout loss, Brown was satisfied with the way BC played across its last three series, in which the Eagles have picked up five out of six possible wins.

“We’re managing the puck better, playing with a pretty good tempo,” Brown said. “I think we’re kind of figuring out what’s working for us, which is great, but when you make a few costly mistakes like that, then it can set you back a little bit. But in general, the tone is good. The guys believe in how they’re playing and what we’re doing.”

In the final 10 minutes of regulation, Maine defenseman Jeremy Langlois was knocked onto the ground by a colossal Brady Berard check, which forced Langlois to be stretched off the ice.

Both Brown and Barr confirmed that Langlois was able to move his extremities after the game and are hopeful that the injury was not tremendously serious.

“He’s moving and talking,” Barr said.

Brown added: “Got a report that he’s at least moving. Probably got his head hit pretty hard, that’s what it kind of looked like when we watched the replay. But hopefully he’ll be fine. Those are always scary.”

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Graham Dietz
GRAHAM DIETZ

Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.

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