BC set to play for national championship
BU star Celebrini captures the Hobey
The Eagles have had a magical season. With one more victory, they can make it a historical one.
Boston College will battle Denver on Saturday in St. Paul, Minn., with the men’s national hockey championship on the line.
The Eagles, playing in their 26th Frozen Four, are looking to win their sixth national title. The nation’s top-ranked team skated past Michigan, 4-0, on Thursday night in the second national semifinal, an impressive performance.
“An interesting game. I thought we did a great job of capitalizing when we had chances, but Michigan did a great job of coming out of their zone with a ton of speed,” BC head coach Greg Brown said after the win over Michigan. “Even when we were ahead a few goals, it never felt like we were in control or the game was settled. Credit to them on being able to transition so well.”
Freshman Will Smith (Lexington) had two goals and Cutter Gauthier tallied his nation-leading 38th of the season in BC’s first Frozen Four appearance since 2016.
Boston College (34-5-1) will look to avenge an October loss to Denver when the teams meet Saturday. Denver advanced with a 2-1 overtime win over Boston University in Thursday’s first game.
BC and freshman goaltender Jacob Fowler, who made 32 saves, shut out Michigan (23-15-2).
Smith opened the scoring 80 seconds into the game by capitalizing on a 2-on-1 rush. Smith doubled the lead in the second when he curled around the net and sent a pass that went into the net off a Michigan defenseman’s skate. It was his nation-leading 71st point.
Gauthier, the nation’s top goal scorer, scored 49 seconds later on a breakaway.
“I said it earlier in the year. Any time someone commits to Boston College it’s to win championships, and we have an opportunity for that on Saturday. Been super proud of our groups up to this point. And we owe these guys — it was an early matchup at Conte Forum and unfortunately didn’t come out with the win then. Even since then we haven’t let that sour taste out of our mouth. And we’re going to be ready to go on Saturday,” Gauthier said Thursday night.
Fowler was a rock in net for the Eagles, as he’s been all season. Michigan couldn’t slip a shot by him even after BC’s defense broke down.
“I mean, going into every game, it’s nice having him back there. He has such a confidence in net. Coach touched on it, there were a few too many, too many odd-man rushes. So having him back there definitely helps. Looking at this he had 32 saves. I mean, he was unreal tonight,” Smith said.
Fowler downplayed his shutout.
“I mean, our ‘D’ was really good tonight eliminating the grade A chances against. So didn’t really feel like 32 shots against. They made it pretty easy on me to kind of be able to see everything and kind of limit the severity of the chances,” he said.
Gauthier’s 38 goals are the most by a Division 1 player since Ryan Potulny netted that many for the University of Minnesota in 2006.
With the 34th victory, BC set a program record. The Eagles won 33 games during the 2000-01 and 201112 seasons.
The Eagles improved to 12-14 in the national semifinals and advanced to their 12th national championship game.
While most Boston-area fans wanted to see a BC-BU national title showdown, Denver is a worthy adversary. The Pioneers are perennial contenders who have won close games all tournament.
Celebrini wins Hobey
Boston University freshman Macklin Celebrini was named the winner of the 2024 Hobey Baker Award.
Celebrini, just 17, became the fourth BU player to win the prestigious award. He scored 32 goals to rank second nationally and his 64 points are third best. The other finalists for the award were BC’s Gauthier and Jackson Blake of North Dakota.
Celebrini is the first BU player to win the Hobey since North Chelmsford native Jack Eichel won it in 2015. Eichel was also a freshman when he won the award.