By: Jason Mastrodonato, News Staff
The men’s hockey team busted through top-ranked Boston College Saturday night, tightening up on defense in a 2-1 victory to clinch a playoff spot in front of a capacity crowd of 4,666 at Matthews Arena.
“Extremely gutsy effort,” said interim head coach Sebastien Laplante, filling in for head coach Greg Cronin, who was suspended by the university along with assistant Albie O’Connell.
“We’re extremely proud of them for the focus and the poise they played with. The resiliency was amazing all week long – from the Beanpot to last night coming back from all these goals down is an amazing accomplishment.”
Cronin and O’Connell are being investigated for potential NCAA violations regarding the recruitment of prospective athletes for the men’s hockey team.
Throughout the course of routine internal compliance monitoring, the university uncovered possible violations relating to phone and text message legislation.
The two teams were facing off for the third time in six days, with the first two games of the wild series yielding 27 goals, both ending in overtime. BC took the Beanpot on Monday with a 7-6 victory, and the Eagles scored with 39 seconds left on home ice Friday to earn the 7-7 tie.
Boston College (22-7-1, 16-6-1) coach Jerry York said he’s happy his squad won’t have to face the Huskies (11-12-7, 9-8-6) again for at least a couple of weeks. And despite the 2-1 loss Saturday, York thought it was the best game of the series.
“That was more of a hockey game,” he said. “The other two nights were [bad] games that we were playing. It kind of reminded me of summer hockey with [27] goals in two games. This was much more of what hockey in February should be like.”
The Eagles appeared to have the edge in the opening period, outshooting Northeastern 14-4, but sophomore goalie Chris Rawlings was unbreakable until the final few minutes.
Freshman forward Brodie Reid netted the game’s first goal on what York called a “high school play” midway through the second period.
Freshmen defenders Anthony Bitetto and Luke Eibler earned possession in the defensive zone, and Eibler sent a long pass up ice to Reid, who was waiting near the opposite blue line.
Reid skated into the zone unmarked and made a back-handed deke to send the puck through the legs of BC goalie John Muse.
“They caught us with the long floater play,” York said after the game. “That guy was hanging on the far blue line and walked in on a breakaway. You know it’s a gamble if you don’t turn up extra players in the zone, but they kind of caught us.”
Northeastern doubled its lead eight minutes into the third period, when an Eagle defenseman turned the puck over in his own zone to freshman forward Braden Pimm. Pimm converted a low wrist-shot from the right circle to give NU a 2-0 lead.
BC amped up the pressure late in the final minutes, finally beating Rawlings with 2:11 left to play. Eagles forward Cam Atkinson, tied for third in the nation with 24 goals this season, sent a quick shot to the top-right corner to put his team within one.
The Huskies defense fended off another late charge from the Eagles, who sent Muse to the bench in favor of the extra attacker, as NU held on for a 2-1 victory.
With the win, Northeastern is guaranteed a spot in the Hockey East playoffs.
“That was huge,” Rawlings said. “Especially after the last couple games against these guys. It just helps us climb up the ladder in Hockey East. Three out of four points against the number one team in the country, we’ll take that anytime.”
Friday night at Conte Forum, the offensive outburst shown at the Beanpot championship game was on display again, as the two squads battled to a 7-7 tie in overtime.
The Huskies held the lead four different times throughout the game, but with 39 seconds left in regulation, forward Bill Arnold buried one for the Eagles, who were skating with an empty net.
Rawlings stopped 30 of 37 shots, but said he wasn’t affected by the Beanpot.
“The day after everybody’s thinking about it still, but after that, it’s old news,” he said. “The biggest thing we had to focus on was just kind of getting over it and moving on and getting ready for this weekend.”
The university hasn’t said much about the suspension of Cronin and O’Connell, but it is looking like Laplante will hold the coaching reigns for the upcoming home-and-home series with No. 9 New Hampshire, the eighth most explosive offense in the country.
“I wouldn’t say the pressure is off because now we’re facing UNH,” Laplante said. “The main thing we’ll be focusing on is tightening up our defense. Because you cant give up too many shots to the good teams.”
