Friday, March 22
Boston, Mass. / TD Garden
4:00 PM
Boston College
30-5-1
8
vs
1
UMass
20-13-3
1
2
3
F
Massachusetts
1
0
0
1
Boston College
1
4
3
8
Photo by: Joe Sullivan
Boston College Moves on to Hockey East Title Game
March 22, 2024 | Men's Hockey
No. 1 Eagles overpower UMass, set up championship tilt with BU.
BOSTON – Top-seeded and No. 1 Boston College men's hockey ran away from fifth-seeded Massachusetts in an 8-1 win at TD Garden in the Hockey East Semifinals on Friday evening. The Eagles advanced to Saturday's championship against second-seeded Boston University, which defeated Maine, 3-1 in the nightcap.
Led by four players with three or more points, Boston College (30-5-1) overcame a brief deficit by scoring seven-unanswered goals.
UMass scored first with Lucas Mercuri finding the back of the net 6:33 into the game. BC went on the power play soon thereafter and freshman Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) provided the early equalizer. Sophomore Cutter Gauthier (Scottsdale, Ariz.) held the zone at the right point and sent a pass to freshman Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) on the left, whose shot was saved off a pad and backhanded into an open net by Leonard.
In his first game action in four weeks, freshman Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill.) gave the Eagles their first lead of the day with a second-period score. Sophomore defenseman Charlie Leddy (Fairfield, Conn.) ripped a shot that was deflected by Leonard and fell to Perreault, who snuck it behind the goalie with a player on his back. The Eagles doubled their lead to 3-1 when Gauthier took the puck one-on-one and then laid it off to sophomore Andre Gasseau (Garden Grove, Calif.) for the score.
Boston College took a four-goal lead into the second intermission as Smith and Gauthier added goals 46 seconds apart to push the score to 5-1. Smith scored on a tip in front of the net and Gauthier sent home his NCAA-leading 33rd goal of the season as he spun around and fired it home.
Freshman goalie Jacob Fowler (Melbourne, Fla.) made 27 saves in the win. For UMass, Michael Hrabal stopped 24 shots.
SCORING
1st 6:33 UM Lucas Mercuri (Ryan Lautenbach, Scott Morrow)
1st 8:02 BC Ryan Leonard (Will Smith, Cutter Gauthier) - PP
2nd 4:41 BC Gabe Perreault (Leonard, Charlie Leddy)
2nd 6:43 BC Andre Gasseau (Gauthier, Oskar Jellvik)
2nd 16:03 BC Smith (Leonard, Perreault)
2nd 16:49 BC Gauthier (Jellvik, Gasseau)
3rd 3:01 BC Aram Minnetian (Jack Malone, Aidan Hreschuk)
3rd 5:04 BC Perreault (Smith, Lukas Gustafsson)
GAME NOTES
● BC will play in its first Hockey East Championship Game since 2017.
● BC is 78-37-2 all-time in the Hockey East Tournament and 110-1 against UMass in the playoffs.
● BC reached 30 wins for the first time since winning 33 in 2011-12; the Eagles last National Championship.
● BC has won 11 in a row; the first unbeaten streak of 10 or more games by a Hockey East team since UMass' 14-game streak on the way to its 2021 National Championship.
● BC is 6-3-1 this season when the opponent scores first.
● BC became the first team to score eight or more goals in a Hockey East semifinal since Maine scored 11 in 1988.
● Leonard scored his 27th goal of the season, which is tied for the second most by a BC freshman with Chuck Kobasew (2000-01) and Richie Smith (1972-73).
● Gauthier posted his 15th multi-point game of the season and fifth with multiple assists.
● Smith posted his 21st multi-point game of the season and 10th with multiple assists.
● Smith pushed his season point total to 61, which now sits just one back of Brian Gionta (1997-98) for the second most by a BC freshman in a single season. He is the first BC player to surpass 60 points in a season since Johnny Gaudreau's 80 in 2013-14.
UP NEXT
Boston College faces the two-seed BU at TD Garden on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. on NESN.
Led by four players with three or more points, Boston College (30-5-1) overcame a brief deficit by scoring seven-unanswered goals.
UMass scored first with Lucas Mercuri finding the back of the net 6:33 into the game. BC went on the power play soon thereafter and freshman Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) provided the early equalizer. Sophomore Cutter Gauthier (Scottsdale, Ariz.) held the zone at the right point and sent a pass to freshman Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) on the left, whose shot was saved off a pad and backhanded into an open net by Leonard.
In his first game action in four weeks, freshman Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill.) gave the Eagles their first lead of the day with a second-period score. Sophomore defenseman Charlie Leddy (Fairfield, Conn.) ripped a shot that was deflected by Leonard and fell to Perreault, who snuck it behind the goalie with a player on his back. The Eagles doubled their lead to 3-1 when Gauthier took the puck one-on-one and then laid it off to sophomore Andre Gasseau (Garden Grove, Calif.) for the score.
Boston College took a four-goal lead into the second intermission as Smith and Gauthier added goals 46 seconds apart to push the score to 5-1. Smith scored on a tip in front of the net and Gauthier sent home his NCAA-leading 33rd goal of the season as he spun around and fired it home.
Freshman goalie Jacob Fowler (Melbourne, Fla.) made 27 saves in the win. For UMass, Michael Hrabal stopped 24 shots.
SCORING
1st 6:33 UM Lucas Mercuri (Ryan Lautenbach, Scott Morrow)
1st 8:02 BC Ryan Leonard (Will Smith, Cutter Gauthier) - PP
2nd 4:41 BC Gabe Perreault (Leonard, Charlie Leddy)
2nd 6:43 BC Andre Gasseau (Gauthier, Oskar Jellvik)
2nd 16:03 BC Smith (Leonard, Perreault)
2nd 16:49 BC Gauthier (Jellvik, Gasseau)
3rd 3:01 BC Aram Minnetian (Jack Malone, Aidan Hreschuk)
3rd 5:04 BC Perreault (Smith, Lukas Gustafsson)
GAME NOTES
● BC will play in its first Hockey East Championship Game since 2017.
● BC is 78-37-2 all-time in the Hockey East Tournament and 110-1 against UMass in the playoffs.
● BC reached 30 wins for the first time since winning 33 in 2011-12; the Eagles last National Championship.
● BC has won 11 in a row; the first unbeaten streak of 10 or more games by a Hockey East team since UMass' 14-game streak on the way to its 2021 National Championship.
● BC is 6-3-1 this season when the opponent scores first.
● BC became the first team to score eight or more goals in a Hockey East semifinal since Maine scored 11 in 1988.
● Leonard scored his 27th goal of the season, which is tied for the second most by a BC freshman with Chuck Kobasew (2000-01) and Richie Smith (1972-73).
● Gauthier posted his 15th multi-point game of the season and fifth with multiple assists.
● Smith posted his 21st multi-point game of the season and 10th with multiple assists.
● Smith pushed his season point total to 61, which now sits just one back of Brian Gionta (1997-98) for the second most by a BC freshman in a single season. He is the first BC player to surpass 60 points in a season since Johnny Gaudreau's 80 in 2013-14.
UP NEXT
Boston College faces the two-seed BU at TD Garden on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. on NESN.
Team Stats
MAS
BOS
Shots
29
36
PPG
0
2
SHG
0
0
Penalties
4
3
Penalty Mins
8
9
Faceoffs Won
38
21
Game Leaders
Skaters
+/-
2
Goals
2
Sh
6
A
2
+/-
3
Goals
2
Sh
2
A
2
+/-
3
Goals
1
Sh
5
A
3
+/-
3
Goals
1
Sh
4
A
2
Players Mentioned
G
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F
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D
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F
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F
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