Friday, March 4, 2011

BC Moves into First with 4-0 Win over UNH

In a must win game for The Eagles, the young men of Boston College started the game on full throttle and did not let up until the final buzzer with the score reading 4-0 over UNH.  

Before tonight’s game, UNH had a one point lead over BC in the standings.  It was UNH’s big chance to seal the deal on the Hockey East Championships.  But as Boston College is famous for, they show up for the big games and tonight they did not let their Eagle faithful down.

With the Hockey East Championship on the line, BC played the game like it was a must win and fed off the energy of the fans all night.  They had a game plan and did not divert from it once.  A strong defensive system with quick outlet passes to create offense lead the Eagles to 42 shots on the night.  As the game wore on, BC never faltered, even with UNH coming out in the 2nd period with some extra jump.  

Tonight’s game was Seniors Night for 3 players on The Eagles roster and all 3 proved to their loyal fans why they are some of the best to don the BC colors.  Brian Gibbons lead the way with a 3 point night with a goal and 2 assists while Joe Whitney finished the game with 2 assists.  Lastly John Muse, who only faced 12 shots, shutout the high flying UNH forwards.  

With all the hardware that these 3 seniors have won over the last 4 years, the one thing that has eluded them is being crowned Hockey East Champions.  While one would believe that the team would rally around that cause and win one for the seniors, Coach Jerry York said that was not the focus. “We didn’t say lets win it for the seniors because I mentioned the fact that our seniors have never been about themselves.  They are team guys.  They don’t feel that way about it.  They want the team to win.”

Boston College had all the jump in this game and really treated it like a playoff game.  2 of their 4 goals were short handed (10 total short handed goals on the year) and their cycle game down low was something that New Hampshire could not keep up with.  

Defensively, all the players were on the same page blocking shots and clogging up the neutral zone so that UNH could not get any puck movement.  Even with a younger group of defensemen, Coach York had lots of praise for his players, especially Tommy Cross as he has been able to come back from a knee injury and be a leader.  “He is kind of instrumental in our success back there.”    

Sadly the team was not all smiles after the game as news came out that top line forward Chris Kreider broke his jaw after being hit with the puck in the second period.  It is unknown the severity of the injury and there are no details on if he will be able to return to the line up in the playoffs.  He will be missed from the line up and could be a big hole to fill going forward.  

Tomorrow the Championship will be decided.  Boston College needs either a win or a tie and they will clinch the league title.  This will be no easy task as they have to enter the whiteout of UNH and face a hostile crowd looking for revenge from tonight’s loss.  

If all goes according to plan for BC, the 3 seniors can add the final piece of hardware to their collegiate careers.  

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