Last Friday night, the No. 6 Boston College Men’s Hockey team hosted No. 13 Quinnipiac at Kelley Rink for their season opener, suffering a 4-3 defeat. Despite goals from Stiga, Conmy and Fortescue, the Eagles were unable to stifle Quinnipiac’s fast paced offense.
BU transfer Jeremy Wilmer opened the scoring in the first for Quinnipiac, skillfully freezing goalie Jan Korec to find the back of the net. The goal was assisted by freshman Markus Vidicek. The Eagles outshot the Bobcats but were unable to answer back until the final seconds of the first period, when Massachusetts native Teddy Stiga blew one past former BC goaltender Dylan Silverstein all the way from the left faceoff dot. The goal occurred just 15 seconds into BC’s second power play of the night, the result of a holding penalty on Quinnipiac forward Mason Marcellus.
As the second period began, the Bobcats quickly jumped to a 3-1 lead, as a result of goals by 18 year old freshman Matthew Lansing and defenseman Graham Sward. Lansing’s goal occurred at the two minute mark, while Sward’s came three minutes later. Although Sward is in his first year of NCAA hockey, he played over 60 games in the NHL’s minor leagues last year, making the 22 year old’s presence in college hockey a bit unusual.
The Eagles swiftly responded with a slapshot from UNH transfer Ryan Conmy, finding the back of the net just over a minute after Sward’s goal. Despite this, BC still faced a 3-2 deficit. The deficit was then doubled by a goal from Quinnipiac forward Chris Pelosi. Korec initially blocked Pelosi’s shot, but the puck unluckily rolled off of his back and into the goal.
Trailing by two goals entering the third period, urgency was high for the Eagles. Regardless, BC did not do enough offensively, attempting just four shots on goal. A goal by Junior Drew Fortescue four minutes into the period was not enough to close the deficit, as the Eagles were held scoreless for the remaining 16 minutes in spite of several promising plays. Quinnipiac doubled BC’s shot total for the game, outshooting them 30-15.
Head Coach Greg Brown attributed the Eagles’ woes to the lack of in-game experience for a squad playing together for the first time. He optimistically pointed to a third period that showed improved cohesion. Crediting Quinnipiac, Brown described them as a team that “doesn’t beat themselves,” further stating, “they play together, they play well, they play simple.”
Brown further spoke about the penalty kill unit holding the Bobcats to zero power play goals, despite three chances, and the Eagles converting on two of their own chances.
Eagle fan turnout was exemplary, with a sellout crowd of 7,884 and an energetic student section.
The Eagles head to Minnesota this week for back-to-back games vs the No. 8 Golden Gophers.
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