Boston College’s (8-3-3) power play carried the Eagles to a 4-2 victory over the Cornell Big Red (8-2-2) Tuesday night in the first round the Florida College Classic.
Not one even-strength goal was scored in the contest, as at 2:01 of the first period, BC took the early lead during a two-man advantage.
Senior forward Ned Havern took the puck at the goal line extended and passed to sophomore Joe Rooney at the point. Rooney’s shot deflected off Cornell goaltender David McKee’s left blocker and freshman Dan Bertram buried the rebound top-shelf for his sixth goal of the season.
Cornell evened the score at 9:10. Defenseman Ryan O’Byrne intercepted a pass on a BC power play at the blue line and took it down the right side. He scored short-side over the glove on BC goalie Matti Kaltiainen.
In the first period, BC put nine shots on goal to Cornell’s three.
The first 10 minutes of the second were slow, with BC putting one shot on net. Both teams had power-play opportunities, but neither capitalized.
At 12:05, BC took its second lead of the game. On the Eagles’ sixth power play of the contest, Ryan Shannon took a pass from Patrick Eaves, who was parked in the slot, and went stick side over McKee. Andrew Alberts was also credited with the helper on the goal.
Cornell knotted the game at two at 19:15. Mike Knoepfli took a pass on the wing from Sasha Pokulok and scored on the short side.
The third began with BC shorthanded for over three minutes after a major penalty. Kaltiainen made some spectacular saves to preserve the deadlocked game.
As the game got more and more chippy, the teams repeatedly exchanged penalties, until at 8:45 in the third period, BC took the upper hand during another 5-on-3 situation. Sophomore Brian Boyle netted the goal from the right circle with a pass from Eaves. He and Rooney were credited with assists.
Stephen Gionta put the nail in the coffin with an empty-netter at 18:51 in the third.
There was a total of five 5-on-3 situations in the game. The Eagles capitalized on both of theirs and Cornell took advantage of one of its three.
Kaltiainen made 27 saves for BC. McKee stopped 17 for the Big Red.
Tuesday’s doubleheader drew 7,401 fans to Germain Arena, home of the Florida Everblades ECHL squad. The championship game between BC and St. Cloud State will take place Wednesday at 7:30 ET.
