Boston College
Vermont
Third-Ranked Hockey Tops Vermont, 5-3
October 04, 2003 | Men's Hockey
Oct. 4, 2003
Burlington, Vt. - The third-ranked Boston College hockey team opened the 2003-04 campaign with a 5-3 victory over Vermont this afternoon at sold-out Gutterson Fieldhouse on the UVM campus. Tony Voce's hat trick highlighted the afternoon for the Eagles.
At 8:42 of the first period, with the Eagles on the power play, Voce scored the first goal of the season and the 62nd of his career. Dave Spina and Greg Lauze recorded the assists. Had it not been for Vermont goaltender Travis Russell's 19 first-period saves, the deficit at the first intermission would have been much greater.
At 4:11 of the second, Voce struck again. Senior captain Ben Eaves, playing in his 100th career game, sent a pass across the crease to a streaking Voce who found the back of the net. Fifteen minutes later, junior Dave Spina scored off of assists from Ryan Shannon and Peter Harrold to give BC a 3-0 lead.
Less than three minutes into the third, freshman Joe Rooney scored his first career goal, stealing the puck from a Vermont defender and immediately depositing it into the goal.
As time wound down, the Eagles appeared to have things wrapped up, but Vermont mounted a comeback. Tim Plant scored with 4:32 remaining in regulation and then Jeff Miles added a power play goal less than a minute later. When the Catamounts pulled Russell for an extra skater, the team capitalized with Jeff Corey scoring off a pass from Miles. Vermont kept the pressure coming, but Voce finally broke loose with eight seconds left to net the unassisted empty-net goal and preserve the victory for the Eagles.
The Eagles will be back in action this Friday when they travel to Michigan State for the Ice Breaker Tournament. BC will match up with 15th-ranked Minnesota-Duluth in the first round on Friday at 5:00 p.m. On Saturday, BC will take on either Michigan State or Findlay.
