In Defeat, Iron To Sharpen Iron

Saturday's loss to Northeastern felt strangely out of the cards for a Boston College team destined to claim the No. 1 spot in the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey tournament. The Eagles dominated their crosstown rivals during the Beanpot tournament in early February to the degree that nobody expected an upset bid by the No. 9 seed in an 11-team conference. Playing to double overtime in a First Round game at Merrimack added early exhaustion to the Huskies, and BC's home domination behind its 14-2 record at Conte Forum left little room for an unprecedented advancement to TD Garden.

The 2024-2025 season wasn't built on reasonable expectations in Hockey East, though. A league bidding for seven of the 16 bids within the NCAA Tournament, the parity and ability within the conference is far beyond what anyone could have seen coming. Even in a playoff game, a No. 1 seed in a single elimination setting was apparently ripe for the picking, and the 3-1 loss left little doubt about what awaits BC when Sunday's selection sends the No. 1 team to its future regional.

"Northeastern did a great job getting all five guys above the puck right from the beginning of the game," said head coach Greg Brown. "If they didn't have pressure, they got back in the neutral zone and clogged it up. [They] made it difficult, being tactical and waiting for their one or two chances. When they got it, it was on [Cam] Lund's stick, and he's a guy that can finish. Then they did a nice job of playing with the lead."

Saturday night offered eerie similarities to February's Beanpot championship loss to Boston University where BC wasn't necessarily the worst-performing team over the whole 60-minute game. The Eagles outshot the Huskies by a huge factor in the third period and pounded goalie Cameron Whitehead throughout the last period, but controlling the pace of play did little to crack the Northeastern net after the back line grew more confident throughout the game. Blocking 20 shots helped, but BC did everything but put the puck in the back of the net despite a late surge producing an extra attacker goal for James Hagens.

Like that BU game, Whitehead and the Huskies understood how to rope-a-dope the fight, and they minimized damage by forcing BC to play from behind. They allowed the Eagles to dictate the game speed, but they flushed the depth lines away from the net until Brown shortened his bench. Once the depth chart started double-shifting or quick-shifting certain lines, the ability to hang back and avoid penalties allowed the back to continue preventing too many quality chances.

"We had chances to score," said Brown. "When it was 0-0, even when it was 1-0, we had some chances to get it right back. Their goalie made some great saves. We missed chances, and then in the third period, we were all-in again and creating chances, spending a lot of time in the offensive zone, but they blocked a ton of shots. They were selling out to get in front of pucks, and if it did get through, their goalie made the save."

None of that surprised Brown, who understood the depth of talent within Hockey East. Strictly by numbers, Northeastern was a No. 9 seed, but finishing three points ahead of tenth place and two points behind eighth place Merrimack did little to replace the Huskies throughout the national picture. They'd remained a factor in the Pairwise Rankings and spotted ahead of two different conferences' automatic bid spots, and their No. 23 spot entering this week is still ahead of both teams competing for the Atlantic Hockey America championship.

That didn't translate too much within the realm of the Hockey East tiers, but the more national picture separating the league from its peers places a sub-.500 team on the verge of a top-20 spot in the tournament. The pure numbers again tilted to show the difference between Northeastern and a team like Harvard, which dragged its quarterfinal opponent to three games before losing an overtime game on Sunday: if Northeastern wins Hockey East, a team without a .500 overall record could climb higher than the ECAC league champion.

"You feel the sting [of a loss] and use that as energy," admitted Brown, "and then we're going to look at what we can do better. Teams are going to sit in the neutral zone a lot, and we have to get guys skating away from the puck. We did that at times but not as consistently as we'd like to. We have to do that and just be a little sharper in our execution."

Softening the loss isn't easy, but BC was able to gather a bit of security from failing to advance to TD Garden. The Eagles won't defend their Hockey East championship under the TD Garden rafters, but remaining locked into the No. 1 spot in the Pairwise Rankings all but guarantees a regional appearance in Manchester, New Hampshire. The likely opponent is emerging from one of the three-bid leagues, and the Harvard loss all but assured either Holy Cross or Bentley of a matchup with the Eagles in the Northeast Regional.

There's also now an extra week for Brown's troops to prepare for the future.

"We shortened the bench a lot at the end of the game," said Brown. "We have a competitive team. They're definitely going to fight for every inch. A big part of the plan is now to map out our two weeks. We have to keep it fresh and up-tempo [while also] giving them rest. You have to have a good combination of hard skates and sharp skates while getting enough rest. You can't go all-out and [enter the tournament] exhausted."

The Hockey East playoffs continue this weekend when the four teams advance to TD Garden for the semifinals and championship games on Thursday and Friday. The NCAA Tournament Selection Show is then Sunday night with BC still loaded into the No. 1 spot in the bracket. Regionals begin the following week on Thursday, March 27 with the Frozen Four semifinals on April 10 ahead of the national championship game on April 12, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Players Mentioned

James Hagens

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