Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Northeastern
Men's Hockey Stopped Up in Beanpot, 3-2
February 04, 2015 | Men's Hockey
BOSTON – No. 11 Boston College tied Monday’s 63rd annual Beanpot semifinal on two occasions but could not equalize late in the third as the Eagles dropped a 3-2 decision to Northeastern at TD Garden.
Senior Destry Straight and sophomore Ryan Fitzgerald each scored for BC but NU’s Dustin Darou tossed in the game-winner with 1:34 left in regulation to clinch victory for the Huskies.
Northeastern gained six power play opportunities to the Eagles’ one and capitalized on two of them. Northeastern finished 2-for-6 on the power play while Boston College missed out on its one chance.
Both teams registered the same shot numbers with low totals for both clubs. BC and Northeastern finished with 23 attempts apiece while sophomore goaltender Thatcher Demko stopped 20 shots. Northeastern’s Clay Witt blocked 21 Eagle attempts.
Fitzgerald finished the evening with two points (1-1-2) and logged his second short-handed goal of the season. His first short-handed goal occurred on Nov. 7, 2014, against BU.
The first period concluded with little action offensively from either side but Northeastern came out swinging with time remaining on an Alex Tuch penalty at 18:49 of the first period.
Roy accepted a cross-zone feed and patiently needled the puck to the front of the net. The pass was intended for Mike McMurtry, but the disc caromed off his stick and landed right in front of Saucerman on the crease. Demko was still holding the near post and could not shift over in time to deny Saucerman’s power play tally 21 seconds into the middle frame for a 1-0 lead.
The Eagles tied it quickly a few exchanges later after a great play by sophopmore Austin Cangelosi and Fitzgerald, capped by Straight.
Cangelosi made the crisp breakout pass to Fitzgerald in the flank, giving him enough room to bust through for the breakaway. Fitzgerald’s initial bid was blocked by Witt, but Straight was in close pursuit and banged home the loose carom at 4:35 to tie it up, 1-1.
Northeastern cashed in on its second power play goal of the night after Steve Santini was cited for holding at 9:42 of the second period.
With just a few seconds left in the power play, Mike Szmatula and Garrett Cockerill worked the puck to the left dot. With the Eagle penalty kill still protecting the right side, John Stevens accepted Szmatula’s feed and zipped the one-timer from the right dot past Demko at 11:21 to grab the 2-1 advantage.
Boston College was called for a too many men call at 16:31 of the second frame, negating the Eagles’ first power play of the night at 15:49.
Just as BC was about to kill off the too many men call, rookie Zach Sanford busted up Northeastern’s huddle in the neutral zone and chipped it up to Fitzgerald in motion. Fitzgerald corralled the puck with half a step on his pursuer and beat Witt top shelf on the backhand to tie it up with a short-handed tally at 18:29, 2-2.
Each team posed their threats in the third, but it was Darou’s wrister from deep through traffic that proved to be the game-winning goal late in the third.
Darou hauled in a pass from Kevin Roy just within the blue line and took his chance. With several players from both teams blocking Demko’s view, the puck banged its way through traffic to the back of the net at 18:26.
Head coach Jerry York lifted Demko for the extra skater, but the Eagles could not find the equalizer as the Huskies skated onto a 3-2 victory.
Boston College will play its requisite Hockey East contest between the Beanpot and will travel to Merrimack on Friday, Feb. 6, for a 7 p.m. faceoff. The Eagles will close out the 63rd Beanpot in the consolation game against Harvard on Monday, Feb. 9, at 4:30 p.m.
