Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Meg Kelly
February 23, 2024 | Men's Hockey, #ForBoston Files
Ratios are starting to look an awful lot like an old-time fact.
Rumors were swirling pretty hard last Friday night about what awaited top-ranked Boston College when it arrived at UMass for the first of its two games over the weekend against the Minutemen. The Minutemen had been on a tear that worked the team into the right side of the Pairwise Rankings' national tournament bubble and in the process threw a number of monkey wrenches at the NCAA Tournament selection committee because of their host site status for a regional bracket scheduled for Springfield's MassMutual Center. BC was the No. 1 team in the nation, but it had never been unanimous with the elevated powerhouse at North Dakota providing covering fire for voters harboring reticence towards the Eagles.
The Mullins Center crowd couldn't wait for its opportunity to stomp on BC's grave, and reports swirled on social media about a desire to storm the ice if UMass won. It was unclear if it paid homage to the two schools' prehistoric basketball rivalry or not, and it maybe didn't matter. UMass fans - as is the case with anyone facing the No. 1 team in the country - wanted to stomp on the best team's proverbial grave.
It never came to pass, and in a stroke of sadistic humor from the mythical and oft-referenced hockey gods, BC dominated a weekend home-and-home that did more to seal its incumbent status than Boston University's split with Providence or North Dakota's sweep at the hands of Colorado College. Wisconsin, the next nearest threat, had been swept by unranked Ohio State, and with Denver clearly lagging behind those teams with eight losses prior to its sweep over Minnesota-Duluth, the release of Monday's USCHO.com poll told the final story:
Two weeks after two intrepid voters prevented the Eagles from earning unanimous No. 1 honors, Boston College became the first undisputed No. 1 team in the country since St. Cloud State earned every first place vote in early November, 2017.
"We came out much more ready to play [on Saturday] than we were on Friday," said head coach Greg Brown after Saturday's win over the Minutemen. "We did a lot of good things, we were moving our legs and moving the puck well, and I thought the first 10 minutes of the second period was some of our best hockey all year."
Enlarging the unmistakable target on BC's back means the Eagles unquestionably face every team's heightened anticipation and expectations. More rosters, fan bases, coaches and media members - literally anyone with a pulse - are likely to throw their very best ways to break down the Eagles as the spotlight grows larger in the season's last month, but this past weekend's handling of the Minutemen is reason enough to illustrate the depth associated with BC's entire roster.Â
There's star power in players like Cutter Gauthier and goalie Jacob Fowler, but the top team in the land is loaded throughout its lines with young talent that's now taking on a life of its own. The all-freshman line of Gabe Perrault, Will Smith and Ryan Leonard is arguably the best line in college hockey with 135 combined points through 29 games, and while the three players are averaging 4.66 points per game - including just under 100 points in Hockey East play alone - they individually have enough to warrant mentioning for the Hobey Baker Award or NHL programs owning their draft rights.
Perreault, for example, has at least one point in 26 of his last 27 games and is riding an 11-game point streak with an active 15-game point streak after registering two points against UMass on Saturday. His 48 points top the nation's scoring numbers, and his 34 assists are No. 1 in Hockey East and No. 2 in the nation. Smith, meanwhile, has a 15-game point streak intact despite losing his six-game goal streak against Boston University and sits second behind Perreault in Hockey East for total assists.
Their success both anchored and was fed by Leonard's ability to put the puck in the net. An Amherst native, he blasted his hometown team with five goals over the weekend, including two at the Mullins Center, while scoring his first career hat trick on Saturday night at Conte Forum. Having now scored 20 of his 21 goals over the last 23 games, he's atop Hockey East with a plus-25 rating and third in the league in goal scoring.
"The Beanpot was a good test," Brown said. "We've had great crowds, and [the young players] are getting very comfortable in that [atmosphere]. We talk about keeping our game simple, so we just have to stay consistent. We want to play good hockey and move pucks, but we have to realize when percentages aren't in our favor and keep it simple."
That ready-made skill is something BC failed to harness in recent years, but pulling everything together now has the team at 126 goals after scoring 104 during all of last season. The top-heavy lineup that rarely cracked 10 goals on the season didn't have a 20-goal scorer after Gauthier, the team leader, registered a team-high 37 points with 16 goals. He and Nikita Nesterenko were the only players to finish the season with more than 30 points, and the failure to generate offense with a full-length roster was a component in why goalie Mitch Benson finished the season with a 2.62 goals against average.
In contrast, this year's BC team is on a blistering pace and could pressure 150 goals for the first time since the 2017-2018 team finished its run to the Frozen Four with 156 goals scored and 82 goals allowed. Having been the Eagles' most recent to hockey's national semifinal, it also ties directly to the 2013-2014 team that lost to Union in the Frozen Four with 164 goals scored and 94 goals allowed, as well as the 2011-2012 team that won the national championship after scoring 157 goals while allowing 89.Â
The direct correlation between scoring and allowing goals might be coincidence, but consider that the 2019-2020 team would have earned a No. 1 seed in the national tournament after scoring 136 goals compared to 71 goals allowed prior to COVID-19 canceled the entire postseason. Three years before that, the team that advanced to the Hockey East championship produced a 20-win season by scoring 130-plus goals, but it also allowed 100 on the year and missed the national tournament after losing to UMass-Lowell at TD Garden. In the interim, teams that failed to score 130 goals while allowing higher numbers typically missed the NCAA Tournament or finished under .500.
All of that is tied to the two-way hockey employed by a style that's reinventing what it means to play at Conte Forum. It wasn't too long ago that open whispers in college hockey wondered aloud if the rest of the nation caught or surpassed the tradition established by the four national championships won under head coach Jerry York. Emergences within Hockey East didn't help the situation, but national championships by ECAC teams at Yale and Union created the feeling that teams like Northeastern, UMass-Lowell, and UMass were passing the traditional Boston powerhouses. An emerging Merrimack left the power structure upended after the Warriors won 23 games and advanced to the national tournament last season. Consecutive national championships by the NCHC in its early existence was broken up by the Minutemen, who made their first national championship appearance in 2019 before winning their first title during the 2020-2021 COVID year.
Those voices salivated at the possibility of BC hockey being unable to flex its old muscle, but having rebuilt the ship now gives the Eagles the option to do something that hasn't been done in years in Chestnut Hill. And anyone who questions it needs to look at what's currently undisputed.
"We're just focused on playing one game at a time," said Brown. "We want to be playing our best hockey at the end of the year. We haven't really talked much about the standings or anything like that, and it's what we need to do to keep getting wins."
No. 1 Boston College hosts Vermont this weekend in two games scheduled for Conte Forum. Both games are slated to start at 7 p.m. with Friday's broadcast available on NESNÂ and Saturday's game available via the Hockey East on ESPN-Plus streaming option.
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The Mullins Center crowd couldn't wait for its opportunity to stomp on BC's grave, and reports swirled on social media about a desire to storm the ice if UMass won. It was unclear if it paid homage to the two schools' prehistoric basketball rivalry or not, and it maybe didn't matter. UMass fans - as is the case with anyone facing the No. 1 team in the country - wanted to stomp on the best team's proverbial grave.
It never came to pass, and in a stroke of sadistic humor from the mythical and oft-referenced hockey gods, BC dominated a weekend home-and-home that did more to seal its incumbent status than Boston University's split with Providence or North Dakota's sweep at the hands of Colorado College. Wisconsin, the next nearest threat, had been swept by unranked Ohio State, and with Denver clearly lagging behind those teams with eight losses prior to its sweep over Minnesota-Duluth, the release of Monday's USCHO.com poll told the final story:
Two weeks after two intrepid voters prevented the Eagles from earning unanimous No. 1 honors, Boston College became the first undisputed No. 1 team in the country since St. Cloud State earned every first place vote in early November, 2017.
"We came out much more ready to play [on Saturday] than we were on Friday," said head coach Greg Brown after Saturday's win over the Minutemen. "We did a lot of good things, we were moving our legs and moving the puck well, and I thought the first 10 minutes of the second period was some of our best hockey all year."
Enlarging the unmistakable target on BC's back means the Eagles unquestionably face every team's heightened anticipation and expectations. More rosters, fan bases, coaches and media members - literally anyone with a pulse - are likely to throw their very best ways to break down the Eagles as the spotlight grows larger in the season's last month, but this past weekend's handling of the Minutemen is reason enough to illustrate the depth associated with BC's entire roster.Â
There's star power in players like Cutter Gauthier and goalie Jacob Fowler, but the top team in the land is loaded throughout its lines with young talent that's now taking on a life of its own. The all-freshman line of Gabe Perrault, Will Smith and Ryan Leonard is arguably the best line in college hockey with 135 combined points through 29 games, and while the three players are averaging 4.66 points per game - including just under 100 points in Hockey East play alone - they individually have enough to warrant mentioning for the Hobey Baker Award or NHL programs owning their draft rights.
Perreault, for example, has at least one point in 26 of his last 27 games and is riding an 11-game point streak with an active 15-game point streak after registering two points against UMass on Saturday. His 48 points top the nation's scoring numbers, and his 34 assists are No. 1 in Hockey East and No. 2 in the nation. Smith, meanwhile, has a 15-game point streak intact despite losing his six-game goal streak against Boston University and sits second behind Perreault in Hockey East for total assists.
Their success both anchored and was fed by Leonard's ability to put the puck in the net. An Amherst native, he blasted his hometown team with five goals over the weekend, including two at the Mullins Center, while scoring his first career hat trick on Saturday night at Conte Forum. Having now scored 20 of his 21 goals over the last 23 games, he's atop Hockey East with a plus-25 rating and third in the league in goal scoring.
"The Beanpot was a good test," Brown said. "We've had great crowds, and [the young players] are getting very comfortable in that [atmosphere]. We talk about keeping our game simple, so we just have to stay consistent. We want to play good hockey and move pucks, but we have to realize when percentages aren't in our favor and keep it simple."
That ready-made skill is something BC failed to harness in recent years, but pulling everything together now has the team at 126 goals after scoring 104 during all of last season. The top-heavy lineup that rarely cracked 10 goals on the season didn't have a 20-goal scorer after Gauthier, the team leader, registered a team-high 37 points with 16 goals. He and Nikita Nesterenko were the only players to finish the season with more than 30 points, and the failure to generate offense with a full-length roster was a component in why goalie Mitch Benson finished the season with a 2.62 goals against average.
In contrast, this year's BC team is on a blistering pace and could pressure 150 goals for the first time since the 2017-2018 team finished its run to the Frozen Four with 156 goals scored and 82 goals allowed. Having been the Eagles' most recent to hockey's national semifinal, it also ties directly to the 2013-2014 team that lost to Union in the Frozen Four with 164 goals scored and 94 goals allowed, as well as the 2011-2012 team that won the national championship after scoring 157 goals while allowing 89.Â
The direct correlation between scoring and allowing goals might be coincidence, but consider that the 2019-2020 team would have earned a No. 1 seed in the national tournament after scoring 136 goals compared to 71 goals allowed prior to COVID-19 canceled the entire postseason. Three years before that, the team that advanced to the Hockey East championship produced a 20-win season by scoring 130-plus goals, but it also allowed 100 on the year and missed the national tournament after losing to UMass-Lowell at TD Garden. In the interim, teams that failed to score 130 goals while allowing higher numbers typically missed the NCAA Tournament or finished under .500.
All of that is tied to the two-way hockey employed by a style that's reinventing what it means to play at Conte Forum. It wasn't too long ago that open whispers in college hockey wondered aloud if the rest of the nation caught or surpassed the tradition established by the four national championships won under head coach Jerry York. Emergences within Hockey East didn't help the situation, but national championships by ECAC teams at Yale and Union created the feeling that teams like Northeastern, UMass-Lowell, and UMass were passing the traditional Boston powerhouses. An emerging Merrimack left the power structure upended after the Warriors won 23 games and advanced to the national tournament last season. Consecutive national championships by the NCHC in its early existence was broken up by the Minutemen, who made their first national championship appearance in 2019 before winning their first title during the 2020-2021 COVID year.
Those voices salivated at the possibility of BC hockey being unable to flex its old muscle, but having rebuilt the ship now gives the Eagles the option to do something that hasn't been done in years in Chestnut Hill. And anyone who questions it needs to look at what's currently undisputed.
"We're just focused on playing one game at a time," said Brown. "We want to be playing our best hockey at the end of the year. We haven't really talked much about the standings or anything like that, and it's what we need to do to keep getting wins."
No. 1 Boston College hosts Vermont this weekend in two games scheduled for Conte Forum. Both games are slated to start at 7 p.m. with Friday's broadcast available on NESNÂ and Saturday's game available via the Hockey East on ESPN-Plus streaming option.
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