Dudek Ices Eagles' First Home Win with Game Winner over MC

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – With 7:45 left in regulation, junior forward JD Dudek lit the lamp to give Boston College its second win of the season, first on home ice, as the Eagles skated to a 3-1 triumph over Merrimack on Friday night at Kelley Rink.

Christopher Brown ice the contest with a late empty-netter while Jesper Mattila scored his first goal of the season to lift BC's offense.

The Eagles outfired the Warriors, 34-23, while sophomore backstopper Joseph Woll turned in 22 saves in his second victory of the season.

SCORE
Merrimack – 1 / Boston College – 3

LOCATION
Kelley Rink / Chestnut Hill, Mass.

RECORDS
Merrimack (1-5-2 | 1-2-0 HEA) / Boston College (2-5-1 | 2-1-0 HEA)

BC HIGHLIGHTS & GAME NOTES
- Junior forward JD Dudek scored his second goal of the season, first in game-winning fashion, with 7:45 left in regulation for BC's second league win of the season and first on home ice. The Auburn, N.H. native has accounted for four-career game-winning goal as the third-year winger scored three GWGs last season.

- Junior captain Christopher Brown scored in consecutive games for the first time as an Eagle as the Bloomfield Hills, Mich. native iced BC's victory with an empty-netter with eight seconds to play. He now leads the Eagles in scoring with three tallies thus far. Brown also assisted on Dudek's game-winning goal for his first multi-point performance of the season and BC's fourth multi-point showing of the year.

- Sophomore defenseman Jesper Mattila scored his first goal of the season midway through the second period and his first tally since scoring against Boston University in the Hockey East semifinals at TD Garden on March 17, 2017.

- Freshman forward Aapeli Rasanen picked up his second assist on the season while Christopher Grando's helper on Mattila's tally stands as his first-career assist as an Eagle and third point thus far.

- Freshman defenseman Michael Karow notched his first point in the maroon and gold, providing the secondary assist on Dudek's game-winning goal.

- Junior captain Michael Kim attained his first point of the season with an assist on Brown's empty-net goal.

- Sophomore forward Graham McPhee assisted on Brown's empty-net goal and is in a three-way tie with Casey Fitzgerald and Logan Hutsko with three assists so far this season.

- Boston College is 28-1-3, all-time, against Merrimack in the history of Kelley Rink.

GOAL DESCRIPTIONS
FIRST GOAL (1-0 – Merrimack) SECOND PERIOD – Jonathan Kovacevic – 9:58 – EVEN STRENGTH
• Right at the midway point of the game, Merrimack was first on the board with a Johnathan Kovacevic wrister at 9:58 of the second period. Alfred Larsson dug the puck out of the far corner where Michael Babcock relayed it from the left dot into the slot. Kovacevic grabbed it and whizzed it through traffic to the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

SECOND GOAL (1-1 – Boston College) SECOND PERIOD – Jesper Mattila – 12:41 – EVEN STRENGTH
• Jesper Mattila knotted it back up quickly at 12:41 of the second period in tic-tac-toe fashion. Christopher Grando triggered the play off the far half wall, hitting Aapeli Rasanen in transition down the left side. Jes. Mattlia streaked down the other side and perfectly redirected Rasanen's feed through the middle to tie it up, 1-1.

THIRD GOAL (2-1 – Boston College) THIRD PERIOD – JD Dudek – 12:15 – EVEN STRENGTH
• Boston College took its first lead of the night on a great snipe by JD Dudek with 7:45 left to play. Michael Karow generated the play blasting the puck towards Merrimack's Craig Pantano. Christopher Brown wheeled into the play and redirected Karow's slapshot out to Dudek on the flank. Dudek crafted around three Warriors and sniped it past Pantano with a beautiful wrist shot at 12:15 to make it 2-1.

FOURTH GOAL (3-1 – Boston College) THIRD PERIOD – Christopher Brown – 19:52 – EMPTY NETTER
• The Eagles iced the game on a Christopher Brown empty-netter with eight seconds to go after Boston College managed to kick it out of a pile during Merrimack's final efforts. Michael Kim directed it out towards Graham McPhee in BC's slot and he wheeled it out to the neutral zone. Brown broke ahead of the play, accepted McPhee's feed and put it over the goal line to ice BC's first home win of the season, 3-1.

BOSTON COLLEGE GAME LEADERS
Points: Christopher Brown (1 – 1 - 2)

Goals: Christopher Brown (1 – 1 - 2) / Jesper Mattila (1 – 0 – 1) / JD Dudek (1 – 0 – 1)

Assists: Christopher Brown (1 – 1 – 2) / Michael Karow (0 – 1 – 1) / Michael Kim (0 – 1 – 1) / Christopher Grando (0 – 1 – 1) / Aapeli Rasanen (0 – 1 – 1) / Graham McPhee (0 – 1 – 1)

Shots: Christopher Brown ( 4 )

Faceoffs Won: Julius Mattila (16 – of – 21)

SPECIAL TEAMS
Merrimack: 0 – for - 1

Boston College: 0 – for – 3

PENALTIES
Merrimack: 3 – for - 6

Boston College: 0 – for - 3

BOSTON COLLEGE LINES
Cotton – Jul. Mattila – Tortora
Grando – Räsänen – Hutsko
McPhee – Brown - Dudek
Booth – Greco – Walker

McInnis – Fitzgerald
Jes. Mattila – Moore
Karow – Kim

Woll
Edquist
Milosz

UP NEXT
Boston College makes its way to North Andover, Mass. tomorrow night to close out the weekend against Merrimack at 7 p.m. The Eagles return to The Heights for their first mid-week matchup on Tuesday, Nov. 7, against Connecticut at 7 p.m.

Dudek Ices Eagles' First Home Win with Game Winner over MC

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Team Stats

Christopher Brown

JD Dudek

Jesper Mattila

Michael Kim

Players Mentioned

Christopher Brown

JD Dudek

Casey Fitzgerald

Chris Grando

Logan Hutsko

Michael Karow

Michael Kim

Jesper Mattila

Julius Mattila

Graham McPhee

Joseph Woll

Players Mentioned

Christopher Brown

JD Dudek

Casey Fitzgerald

Chris Grando

Logan Hutsko

Michael Karow

Michael Kim

Jesper Mattila

Julius Mattila

Graham McPhee

Joseph Woll