Boston College chipped away at an early Vermont lead and ended up skating to a 3-2 victory at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
Freshman Bill Arnold, junior Cam Atkinson, and sophomore Chris Kreider scored for Boston College, while sophomore Chris McCarthy and senior Wahsontiio Stacey netted the two goals for Vermont.
“I thought it was a hard-fought, physical game, both sides competed very well; it was a game that certainly could have gone either way,” Boston College coach Jerry York said.
“[I’m] very pleased with so many aspects of the way we played tonight,” Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon said. “We asked our team to play with pace, knowing that we had to compete against a very fast team, I thought we looked like the quicker team at times. They played great, we played very well, it was a good college hockey game.”
The action started early in the first period when Boston College senior Brian Gibbons was called for a hitting from behind penalty less than a minute into the game.
Vermont took advantage of this early power-play opportunity and captured the lead. Sebastian Stalberg couldn’t get his shot past goaltender John Muse, but McCarthy picked up the rebound near the crease and knocked it in at 59 seconds.
“We withstood an outstanding first ten minutes from the Catamounts,” York said.
The Eagles had an answer soon after McCarthy’s goal when Arnold sent a one-timer into the net as goalie Rob Madore dove for the puck at 3:53.
The Catamounts took back the lead at 10:16 when Stacey scored with a wrist shot from the left circle. This lead carried over into the second period.
Vermont came exceedingly close to increasing its lead to start the second period. Anthony DeCenzo picked up a pass from H.T. Lenz and shot the puck, but it deflected off the shoulder of Muse and did not make it into the net.
Not having an extra goal to distance themselves from the Eagles would prove costly for the Catamounts at 5:39 when Boston College tied the game. While Vermont’s Nick Bruneteau was serving a roughing penalty, Paul Carey passed the puck to Atkinson, who scored from the edge of the crease.
As the period was winding down at 17:33, the Eagles broke through the tie and grabbed the lead for the first time in the game. Kreider slid the puck past Madore after receiving a pass from Pat Mullane.
The Eagles never gave the lead back, but the Catamounts again came very close to scoring in the third period, this time by way of a breakaway by Jack Downing. Downing carried the puck into the offensive zone and shot it from the slot, but the puck rang the top corner of the post instead of hitting the back of the net.
Both teams took timeouts in the final minutes of the game and Madore was pulled from the net in favor of an extra skater for the Catamounts. In the end though, neither team was able to score in the third period and Boston College secured the victory.
With the loss, the Catamounts remain winless on the season so far.
“There’s a level of frustration you know?” Sneddon commented. “I mean, you work so hard for something and you don’t have anything to show for it, it’s hard not to be frustrated. The life lesson we can teach our guys right now is you get knocked down, you get right back up; at some point, the tide’s gonna turn and when it does, it could be a very successful season. Still, it’s early.”
The two teams meet again tomorrow to wrap up the weekend series.
“I think both teams will be better tomorrow because of tonight’s game,” York said.
