CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. –The futility of the Massachusetts defensive effort in the second period of Tuesday night’s game could be summed up in one play.
A defensive lapse resulted in a 3-on-0 situation in the UMass defensive zone with Colin White, Ryan Fitzgerald and Miles Wood closing down like wolves on UMass goalie Nic Renyard. All Renyard could do was watch a Fitzgerald shot go through his pads into the back of the net.
The futility of the UMass defense resulted in six Boston College goals in the second period, and the No. 3 Eagles used these six tallies to take Tuesday night’s game in a 7-0 rout.
Like a single rain droplet that falls preceding a thunderstorm, the BC onslaught started out innocently. Adam Gilmour found the UMass defense out of the defensive zone. He utilized the space and buried a shot past Renyard.
The rain began to fall a little bit more heavily when Travis Jeke received a feed across the crease from Christopher Brown, who was down by the faceoff circle. By the time Scott Savage sniped a shot past Renyard, the skies had opened up, and the monsoon was evident.
“We didn’t react very well [to the first goal],” UMass head coach John Micheletto said. “Mistakes happen and how you respond to it is ultimately the important part. We let our energy dip, that impacted our execution, and BC smelled blood in the water and took advantage in a very short period of time.”
Renyard did not survive the balance of the monsoon. After the Fitzgerald goal, and a goal from White just 11 seconds later, Renyard’s time had come and he was pulled.
Renyard’s successor, Alex Wakaluk, did not fare much better. He allowed a goal from Teddy Doherty to extend the BC lead to six and add an exclamation mark to the torrid of goals from the Eagles in the second period.
The second period, however, did not solely contain goal scoring. Eighteen seconds after the White goal, a scrum developed in front of Thatcher Demko. The end result was Fitzgerald throwing punches at a UMass player on the ice. While not the only scrum a BC player was involved in during that play, Fitzgerald’s fight turned into the most costly for the Eagles. Fitzgerald was thrown out of the game for the fight. With the game misconduct, Fitzgerald will not be available Friday night at home against Maine.
BC coach Jerry York noted that the Eagles will notice Fitzgerald’s absence during the game Friday, but remarked, “it is what it is.”
Along with Fitzgerald, UMass defenseman Ben Gallacher was assessed a match penalty for spearing and will be suspended for the Minutemens’ next game Friday at Connecticut.
The third period saw dissolution of the tension found in the third. Micheletto said that the release of tension was due in large part to his team’s desire to get back into the game, and their inability to do so from in the box.
The Eagles tallied one more goal in the third period on a Doherty wrist shot from the face off circle. The goal sealed the Eagles’ fifth straight win. The win was particularly remarkable as it marked the fourth BC opponent that was shut out when playing the Eagles. The Eagles have never shut out four of five opponents in program history.
The Minutemen have cooled down since opening up the season 4-0-1. The Minutemen were outscored 13-1 in their past two games, the first of which was against No. 13 Yale in the Capital City Classic in Trenton, N.J.
“Right now, we need to learn to manage games well enough when the other team’s got momentum so that it doesn’t put us in such a big hole that we can’t come back,” Micheletto said. “We certainly have enough talent when we play the way that we can, we certainly show we can play with anyone.”
