BC wins thriller
Three goals in third get Eagles through
Senior captain Chris Calnan scored twice, including the game-winner with 4:01 to play, and 13th-ranked Boston College rallied past No. 15 Notre Dame, 6-4, in front of a wildly enthusiastic sellout crowd at Kelley Rink.
BOSTON COLLEGE 6 NOTRE DAME 4
“Given our ability to bounce back, we’d score and they’d score, we still had to answer the bell,” said coach Jerry York, whose Eagles (17-9-2, 12-3-1 Hockey East) erased deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 4-2 in the final conference meeting between the rivals. “That says a lot about determination.”
Calnan’s linemates, fellow winger David Cotton (three assists) and center Julius Mattila (goal, assist), each had multiple-point nights, as did sophomore defenseman Casey Fitzgerald (three helpers).
The clubs played as if bent on making the final Hockey East edition of college hockey’s “Holy War” memorable, with heavy hitting, heavy shots and hard end-to-end skating. BC had a 44-33 edge in shots, with both BC’s Joe Woll and ND’s Cal Petersen making multiple breakaway stops.
“This rivalry is special,” said York, who vowed to maintain playing relations with Notre Dame, which heads to the Big Ten next year.
BC had difficulty moving the puck from its own end in the opening minute, as the Irish swarmed and took a near immediate lead at a place where they’d won 4-of-5. Bruins prospect Anders Bjork (goal, assist) — who had two goals in a December win — scooted through the slot before flicking a backhander home at 1:04 for his 16th goal.
A turnover after a nice Peterson stop led to the tying goal, Calnan converting a 2-on-1 into the open side at 4:58.
“All credit to my linemates. I call them the magicians,” said the Norwell native.
The Irish (14-9-3, 7-5-2) needed just 1:12 to regain the lead. Sophomore right winger Andrew Oglevie had the puck while being pursued in the BC end, and his backhander somehow slipped between the wickets of Woll to put ND up 2-1 at intermission.
Notre Dame had a similar reaction after BC’s Chris Brown tied the score off a Casey Fitzgerald feed at 4:48 of the second, retaking the lead again less than two minutes later. The Irish won a numbers battle down low and Swedish import Felix Holmberg fired in a rebound for his first goal at 6:35. Oglevie pushed the lead to 4-2, boosting himself to 29 points (14 goals) in 26 games, with a shorthanded goal at 8:36 — only the second allowed by BC this season.
It was the last they’d allow on the night, however. Late in the middle frame, JD Dudek rimmed the puck around the end boards to Matthew Gaudreau stationed behind the Irish net. Gaudreau backhanded a pass out front to Colin White, who buried the chance for his 12th goal at 15:20.
BC then tied it at 1:59 of the third when freshman center Julius Mattila snapped home a shot from the low slot for his fifth goal, and — after Calnan’s second at 15:59 — salted it away with senior Ryan Fitzgerald’s empty-netter with 1:07 remaining.
That nearly wasn’t all, though. Irish coach Jeff Jackson noted postgame the matching minors at 10:48 of the third on Notre Dame’s Bjork and BC’s Casey Fitzgerald. The whistle for their penalties — holding the stick and hooking, respectively — came a split second before the puck trickled into the BC net for what would have been another Notre Dame lead.
“The call on Bjork was the difference in the game. Enough said,” Jackson said. “We played a pretty good hockey game but at times we were our own worst enemy. That plays into the hands of BC, which is a good transition team.”