By Eoghan Kelly, News Staff
In a rematch of last weekend’s Homecoming showcase, No. 3 Boston College romped the 14th-ranked men’s hockey team, 3-0, in front of a sold-out Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill
Both teams now sit at 2-1 and are tied atop the Hockey East standings.
“BC deserved to win, they were the better team,” head coach Jim Madigan said. “They took it to us from the opening faceoff. We didn’t match their emotional level. It was a good night for them and they certainly displayed it on the ice.”
On the night they raised their 2011-12 NCAA Championship banner, the Eagles were the beneficiary of an electric crowd and a nervous Northeastern team as BC scored two goals in a four-minute span midway through the first period. The Eagles never looked back.
Senior forward Kevin Hayes opened the scoring 6:16 into the game when he snuck a wrist shot from the right circle under the arm of senior goaltender Chris Rawlings on the power play. Four minutes later, sophomore forward Johnny Gaudreau broke in on a breakaway and beat Rawlings five-hole to make it 2-0.
Northeastern was held to just five shots and kept scoreless in the first period for the first time in three games.
The Huskies started to come alive midway through the second period and created chances off their forecheck. But inopportune penalties proved to be their downfall.
Freshman forward Cam Darcy and sophomore defenseman Dax Lauwers took penalties within 10 seconds of each other to give the Eagles a 5-on-3 with less than two minutes to play in the second period. Senior forward Steve Whitney made them pay almost instantaneously, one-timing a feed from Gaudreau from the point over the glove of Rawlings 15 seconds later to make it 3-0.
The third period was scoreless. Rawlings finished with 24 saves, and BC senior goaltender Parker Milner made 26 stops in the shutout.
The two sides close out their season series on Jan. 19, 2013, at Matthews Arena.
Northeastern will look to bounce back next weekend as they face the University of New Hampshire on Friday and Saturday nights in a home-and-home series.
