PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Falling behind the defending national champions three different times, Boston College stuck with what made them the top-ranked team for most of the season.
The result was the program’s 26th trip to the Frozen Four.
Jack Malone scored in overtime to give BC a 5-4 win over Quinnipiac (ECAC Hockey) before a crowd of 5,835 at Mass Mutual Pavilion in the NCAA regional final on Sunday.
“We felt if we continued on the path we were going, one was going to go for us,” Malone said. “Just trying to keep the boys focused on what was at hand — not to get too high or get too low.”
Hockey East champion BC (33—5-1) advanced to the Frozen Four for the first since 2016. Quinnipiac’s defense of its 2023 NCAA title ended with a 27-10-2 record. The Eagles have now won 13 straight games.
“It was an even hockey game,” BC coach Greg Brown said. “They kept throwing the first punch, and we kept having to respond. Fortunately, we got the last one. It was definitely a game that could have gone either way.”
The Eagles rebounded from deficits of 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3. Boston College forced overtime when Aram Minnetian scored to make it 4-4 with 4:44 left to go in regulation.
Malone notched the game winner when he intercepted an attempted clear by Quinnipiac’s Christophe Tellier and pounded it into an open net. Bobcat goalie Vinnie Duplessis made the initial save on a long-range shot by BC’s Drew Fortescue, but couldn’t scramble back on his feet quickly enough, leaving an open net for Malone to feed. Fortescue and Colby Ambrosio were credited with assists.
Fate of the universe on the line?
We want Malone. pic.twitter.com/56twUE4n2H
— BC Men's Hockey (@BC_MHockey) March 31, 2024
“Colby obviously did a great job of getting a piece of it, creating some chaos in front,” Malone said. “I just tried to funnel it to the net and pick up the change and it just shot right out to me. I saw it and tried to rip it, and luckily it went in.”
After a goal-free first period, the teams combined for six in the second, the first three coming in a span of 61 seconds. Jacob Quillan deflected a Travis Treloar shot between the pads of BC goalie Jacob Fowler (26 saves) for a 1-0 Quinnipiac lead 1:19 into the frame. Just 35 seconds later, Iivari Rasanen’s shot from the faceoff circle sailed over Fowler’s left shoulder on the far side and the Bobcats were up 2-0.
BC’s Ryan Leonard redirected a power-play shot-pass by sophomore Cutter Gauthier into the net at 2:20 to put the Eagles on the board and cut Quinnipiac’s lead to 2-1. The assist was the 100th point of Gauthier’s career.
Things settled down after that, but not by much. Andre Gasseau scored for BC to tie the game 2-2 at 11:35 when, from the top of the faceoff circle, he one-timed a pass from Oskar Jellvik past Duplessis (27 saves). The teams traded goals to close out the period — Christophe Fillion buried a rebound to give the Bobcats a 3-2 lead at 15:59, while Leonard scored his second of the night on a wraparound at 17:55 to tie the game 3-3.
“It was a great college hockey game,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said. “Frustrating to lose like that, to not be able to put them away. But (BC’s) a great hockey team. I’m really proud of our guys. The battle level was excellent. The passion was off the charts. We wanted it.”
It didn’t take long in the third period for Quinnipiac to regain the lead. Quillan took a shot from the end line that bounced off the right pad of Fowler and into the net to break a 3-3 deadlock just 16 seconds into the final frame. Boston College forced overtime when Minnetian scored exactly 15 minutes later.
Quinnipiac held a 29-28 shot advantage after regulation.
BC will face either Michigan or Michigan State on April 11, at 8:30 p.m. ET in Saint Paul, Minn.
