Eagles Prevail over Notre Dame

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Trailing 2-1 midway through the second period, the No. 15/15 Boston College men's hockey team outscored Notre Dame 4-1 over the remainder of the game to pick up a 5-3 victory in non-conference action on Friday afternoon at Kelley Rink. James Hagens led the way with his first career hat-trick, while Will Skahan and Dean Letourneau also lit the lamp for the Eagles. Seven different players recorded an assist, while Letourneau had two to finish with three points. Louka Cloutier made 20 saves to pick up the win.

Boston College improves to 8-5-1 overall while Notre Dame is now 4-9-1 overall.

Notre Dame jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a power play goal from Danny Nelson. Evan Werner shot one from close range that was saved by Cloutier, but Nelson followed up on the rebound to put the Fighting Irish in front.

Midway through the opening period, Cloutier was forced into making a huge stop from close range on 2v0 to keep the score within one.

Cloutier made another outstanding save early in the second period when Sutter Mazzotti tried to score from just outside the crease, but the freshman acrobatically kept it out of the net.

The Eagles got on the board midway through the middle frame after Skahan ripped one from the point that went five-hole on Notre Dame goaltender Nicholas Kempf. BC dumped it into the Notre Dame zone and battled along the boards to prevent the Fighting Irish from ever getting possession before it dumped across the middle for the slap shot from Skahan.

After Notre Dame reclaimed the lead, Boston College ripped off three-straight goals in the later half of the second period to go up 4-2.

Letourneau started the scoring run less than a minute after Notre Dame's second goal. Nolan Joyce split the defense with a pass from the point that found Letourneau in front of goal. The sophomore flipped the puck into the top right corner to tie the game at 2-2.

Later in the period, Hagens scored his first of the afternoon after following up on a loose puck right outside the crease, finishing back-handed around Kempf to put the Eagles in front 3-2. With just seconds to go in the period, Hagens snuck a shot under the pads of Kempf to push the Boston College lead to two.

The Fighting Irish cut into the BC lead early in the final frame off a goal from Paul Fischer, but five minutes later, Hagens went bar down on Kempf's glove side to complete the hat trick and push the lead back to two.

Boston College held a 34-23 shots on goal advantage.

SCORING
1st         3:23    ND       Danny Nelson (Evan Werner, Cole Brown) - PP
2nd 7:04    BC       Will Skahan (Will Traeger, Gavin Cornforth)
2nd      11:46    ND       Evan Werner (Danny Nelson, Henry Nelson)
2nd      12:40    BC       Dean Letourneau (Nolan Joyce)
2nd      17:03    BC       James Hagens (Dean Letourneau, Ryan Conmy)
2nd   19:47.6    BC       James Hagens (Dean Letourneau)
3rd   2:27    ND       Paul Fischer (Cole Knuble, Sutter Muzzatti)
3rd 7:23    BC       James Hagens (Will Vote, Aram Minnetian)

GAME NOTES

Boston College is now 26-22-3 all-time against Notre Dame
The Eagles have won six of their last seven games
James Hagens recorded his first career hat trick
Hagens is the first Eagle to score a hat-trick since Ryan Leonard on Jan. 31, 2025 against UMass Lowell
Will Skahan scored his first goal of the season
Dean Letourneau tallied his sixth goal of the season
Letourneau finished with a career-high three points
Will Traeger picked up his first assist of the year

UP NEXT
BC closes out the semester with a home-and-home series against UMass Lowell next weekend. The two teams play at the Tsongas Center on Friday at 7:15 p.m. before closing out the season series on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at Kelley Rink. Both games will be available to watch on ESPN+.

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Team Stats

James Hagens

Dean Letourneau

Will Skahan

Ryan Conmy

Players Mentioned

Louka Cloutier

Ryan Conmy

Gavin Cornforth

James Hagens

Nolan Joyce

Ryan Leonard

Dean Letourneau

Aram Minnetian

Will Skahan

Will Traeger

Will Vote