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Following Jerry York's 1000th win against UMass Friday night, the Eagles faltered Saturday to tie UConn 3-3.
Play started off pretty slow for the Eagles, who were coming off the high from last night's win against UMass. While BC was able to muster up some shots to begin the period, Tanner Creel came up big for UConn making some major saves.
7:16 into the first period, UConn took the lead as Jesse Schwartz hammered home the go-ahead goal from close range over Thatcher Demko's shoulder. The Huskies continued to pressure the lethargic Eagles throughout much of the first period and were rewarded with some good chances. But, Demko came up with some big saves to hold their lead at one, most impressively stopping a shot with the blade of his skate.
A penalty attributed to Ian McCoshen for hitting from behind late in the period gave the Huskies some good chances, but once again Thatcher came up big when there were holes in the defense.
BC was awarded a power play when Miles Wood was hooked on a solid breakout chance on net, but failed to generate quality chances on the advantage. It wasn't until minutes later when fourth-liner Travis Jeke tied the game up for the Eagles, when he managed to pull the puck out of traffic in front of the UConn net and lift it over the stick of Creel.
The second period was the Eagles' best period all night. They were able to generate chances and shake things up offensively, Alex Tuch was a monster on the ice playing one of his best games this season, getting the second goal of the night. Zach Sanford played his linemate into the neutral zone, as Tuch then took the puck into UConn's zone and hammered home a rocket from deep in the zone to get the go ahead goal. "He was a man out there," said York of Tuch, "he was a dominating player in tonight's game."
Kristen Morse / Gavel Media
It was soon after Tuch's goal that Patrick Kirtland struck back for UConn to tie it up. The Huskies continued to press the Eagles, forcing Demko to make some big saves on the goal line. Tuch looked like he was going to strike again as he took off down the ice like a freight train skating through UConn defensemen, ripping a shot off the crossbar.
Minutes later, deja vu hit as Miles Wood took an identical shot off the crossbar from the point, but good positioning, an extra skater -- due to a delayed penalty -- and quick reactions led to Colin White taking advantage of a bounce right outside the crease to tap the go-ahead goal in.
The Eagles went into the third holding the one goal lead, but they seemed to regress to lethargic and sloppy play. They failed to connect passes and gave up some good chances to the Huskies, but were able to come up big defensively when needed.
With 8:50 left in the game, the Huskies got the power play goal to tie the game at three and continued to put the pressure on the Eagles for the remainder of the game. Sloppy play all around led to both teams failing to capitalize through the remainder of the third and into the overtime period.
The Eagles return to action Friday in South Bend to take on Notre Dame at 7pm.
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Too pale for people to actually believe that I’m from Florida. Can rap Nicki Minaj's Super Bass in its entirety. Leslie Knope is my hero. Breakfast is the only meal that matters.
