After advancing to the quarterfinals of the Hockey East Tournament, the UConn men’s hockey team had a tall task in facing the No. 1 Boston College Eagles in Chestnut Hill, MA.
The playoff matchup did not get off to the best start for the Huskies, as they quickly dug themselves into a hole. Boston College scored three goals in just the first period. The scoring for the Eagles opened just two minutes into the game. Boston College scored their second goal one minute later as sophomore goaltender Arsenii Sergeev could not hold on to the puck after initially making the save, and the Eagles were there to finish for the goal. For the last goal of the first frame, the Eagles caught Sergeev out of position and notched their third goal. However, the Huskies had an answer and cut Boston College’s lead when senior Hudson Schandor assisted senior John Spetz for the goal. The Huskies entered the first-period break trailing the Eagles 3-1.
In the second period, Boston College’s goaltender Jacob Fowler was dominant, holding the Huskies scoreless after they generated many opportunities to net a goal. With 22 seconds left UConn was called for too many skaters on the ice and the ensuing faceoff. In that time, the Eagles scored to make the score 4-1 heading into the final frame.
The UConn offensive exploded in the third period with three unanswered goals to tie the game at four. Freshman Jake Richard got the Huskies going with a goal just 11 seconds into the period. Sophomore Mattew Wood followed Richard to score two more goals, putting the Huskies right back into the game. But Boston College responded and took back the lead four minutes later. Graduate student forward scored the goal for the Eagles, getting them over the Huskies.
Back-to-back penalties gave the Eagles the five-on-three power play, putting a lot of pressure on UConn’s penalty kill late in the period. The Huskies attacked the Eagles defensively and successfully killed off the penalties. As the clock ran down, Boston College had a penalty, and the Huskies pulled out Sergeev in favor of an extra skater. They could not score the tying goal they desperately needed to stay alive. The buzzer sounded, and UConn was eliminated from the Hockey East Tournament, with a 5-4 loss against Boston College.
This loss against No. 1 Boston College ends UConn’s season. The Huskies finished the year with a 15-20-2 overall record and 9-14-1 in Hockey East play.