BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
STORRS, CT – With two goals in the second period, the Boston College Eagles withstood a furious late third-period rally from the UCONN Huskies and upended the home team 4-2 Saturday afternoon.
UCONN drops to 5-6-2 and slips to fifth place, one point behind the Providence College Friars, who won another shootout over UMASS-Amherst. BC improves to 9-2-1, second place in Hockey East. The next opponents for both teams won’t be known until Tuesday under the new Hockey East policy of scheduling games on a week-to-week basis.
“I thought our game got away from us a little bit in the second (period),” UCONN Head Coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “We took some penalties and made some turnovers high in the offensive zone, and they capitalized on it.
“I was happy with the fight we had in the third period. We played very well and got a big powerplay goal, and we had a chance to tie this game up.”
Despite the loss, Cavanaugh chose a glass-half-full view of the weekend series.
“If I’m looking at the series, we’ve played Boston College four times. They’re the No. 1 team in the country. There are 12 points available. They got six, and we got six. So, I’m pretty happy with our effort his weekend and disappointed we didn’t fare better.
“We’re maybe not always had the best team, but we’ve always had a team that competes for sixty minutes. Now we’ve got a team that can go head-to-head with the top team in the country for six periods on the weekend.”
UCONN’s third period started as it has many times this season, with the team trailing.
Tomas Vomacka for UCONN and Spencer Knight for BC continued to make big stops for their respective teams.
The Eagles Trevor Kuntar came skating near the net, clipping Vomacka’s skate tripping the 6’4 goalie earning UCONN a power play that they took full advantage of.
Adam Schlaine started the sequence with a key offensive zone draw win. He got the puck to Carter Berger, who zipped it across to Jake Flynn at the right point. Flynn put a low shot on the net where Nick Capone used his 6’3 frame to screen Knight, who never saw the puck on its way into the net at 18:52. Capone’s first of the season brought the Huskies back within a goal at 3-2.
Dreams of another comeback were dashed by Jack St. Ivany’s turnaround empty-net goal, his first as a BC Eagle, making it a 4-2 final.
“A real good win for our club,” remarked BC Head Coach Jerry York, “It’s a significant win for our program. I think this is, by far, the best team he’s (Cavanaugh) had here at Connecticut. They’re dangerous They’ve got some really good players. It’s a great series. It was a split series, back and forth.”
The second period saw the Huskies give up 22 shots, with the Eagles scoring twice to gain a two-goal lead.
Vomacka was tremendous in stopping 20 of the 22 attempts with some spectacular, and even a few, sensational saves, to keep the game close.
What might be “The Save of the Year” so far came off a draw won by BC’s Harrison Roy. He retrieved the puck behind the net and sent a quick pass to Marc McLaughlin, who Vomacka stopped with his right pad.
With Vomacka down, and at the mercy of Danny Weight, who had the top half of the net to shoot the rebound at, Vomacka took away a sure goal with a glove save, stoning Weight, who had raised his stick thinking he had a goal, The brilliant save came at 3:04.
“He’s fantastic. The trademark of our program is wanting guys to keep getting better. We want to see improvement in their off-ice habits, improvements academically, and improvements on the ice. Tomas has continued his off-ice habits to act like a pro. He comes down every Tuesday, works with our goalie coach, and does all the right stuff to prepare himself to be a great goaltender.” Cavanaugh stated.
The BC Eagles broke through for their second goal with some of their quick transition hockey at 15:48.
UCONN got caught in a bad line change, and a missed drop pas by Berger for Capone that the Eagles recovered and made a tic-tac-toe play to score.
Jack McBain seized Berger’s errant pass and zipped the puck ahead to Nikita Nesterenko. He then sent it back to McBain, who was charging down the middle. McBain then dished off quickly to Casey Carreau, who had an easy tap in for his second goal in two games.
With 34.8 seconds left in the period, BC struck again with a shorthanded goal extending the lead to two in the final minute of play.
BC’s Drew Helleson was behind his net and won a battle with two Huskies, Jonny Evans and Jachym Kondelik, and put the puck on Matt Boldy’s stick, broke out, and raced to the UCONN zone on a two-on-one.
Huskies defenseman John Spetz was in between Boldy and Marc McLaughlin. Boldy slipped a pass over to McLaughlin, his captain, on the right-wing. His shot beat Vomacka for his seventh of the season.
It was BC’s sixth shorthanded tally of the season in just 12 games.
“A little bit of a turning point,” Cavanaugh said. “We had four guys down by the goal trying to win that puck battle, and in most cases, we’re going to win that battle. We didn’t. Their defenseman made a nice play and sprung that 2-on-1. We just need to be a little more patient there. Let our three battle their two, and keep two guys above the puck. We got antsy.”
In the first period, the Eagles struck first and early.
Defenseman Eamon Powell put a right point drive on the net. Vomacka made the initial save, but the rebound went right to Harrison Roy in the right-wing circle. He backed up a few feet and lifted the puck over a fallen Vomacka into the top shelf at 2:31.
After denied scoring chances for Capone and Artem Schlaine, at the 8:00 mark, UCONN struck gold.
Carreau broke out his zone into the neutral ice area and had the puck knocked off his stick by a backchecking Kondelik. The puck was picked up by Turnbull, who sped in on the left-wing.
Knight made the first save atop the crease, but the rebound went right back to Turnbull, who corralled it, and swept in his sixth of the season into the open net, tying the game at one.
Turnbull’s penchant for scoring key goals continues.
“He played great and had a really good weekend, and he’s another one of those kids who keeps getting better. He has tremendous leadership and brings a lot of energy and offense to our team. He is another one of our players who is becoming a 200-foot player, and we’re going to need him down the stretch to be a big offensive player for us,” Cavanaugh said of his junior forward.
The Huskies had a fantastic opportunity to go ahead of a two-on-one chance, but Knight flashed his top goalie skills, stopping Zach Robbins with his blocker and then the rebound that was shot by Marc Gatcomb, maintaining the tie game.
UCONN LINES
Evans-Kondelik-Turnbull
Firstov-Schlaine-Capone
Howarth-Schandoer-Tverberg
Robbins-Rigali-Gatcomb
Kuznetsov-Karashik
Berger-Spetz
Wheeler-Flynn
Kinal
Vomacka
NOTES:
With the last line change as the home team, Cavanaugh shifted one player to his first two lines, Turnbull and Firstov. He also put Capone and the second line while switching his wingers on third and fourth lines to their opposite sides.
UCONN’s seventh defenseman, Roman Kinal, sustained a leg injury with 1:14 remaining in the first period. While a PK battle ensued in front of the net, Kinal’s leg and BC’s Mike Hardman leg got entwined, causing him to fall. Kinal was very slow to get up, left the bench area, and did not return.
Cavanaugh confirmed medical personnel were examining him for a potential knee injury but had no updates on his condition in the post-game press conference.
York, a Hall-of-Fame coach, added another illustrious mark to his 49 years as a college coach (27 at BC), gaining his 1,100th win.
UCONN head women basketball coach, Geno Auriemma, was at the game and notched his 1,100th win on Friday.
“It was kind of cool—two guys with 1,100 wins. But I told (York) that I helped him get enough wins. I didn’t need to help him get another one. I wanted to keep him on 1,099,” quipped Cavanaugh, who sits at 99 wins at UCONN.
