There's One

After fielding over 1,000 questions this week about what the heck is wrong with BC Hockey, I think I can go to bed knowing next week won't be the same thanks to a hard fought 3-2 win @ Michigan State. I did not make the trip out to East Lansing and the highlights are only the MSU goals so I don't have much to go off of but it's nice to see the guys get of the snide. Is Michigan State the best team in the Big Ten? No but they will certainly win their fair share of games with that first line of Berry, Ferrantino, and Cox, a trio that certainly impressed Coach York. I said this after the BU game and I'll say it again here. We don't have the most talented forward group in the country but come March, we will have the most talented D core (knock on wood) and in my opinion, we have without a doubt the best goaltender in college hockey, when he is at 100%. Apparently, he had a painfully high temperature prior to the BU game as well but was given the OK to start. Shows a lot about his toughness.

From what I can gather, BC continued to get pucks deep and attack MSU's defense, especially in the first period in which BC outshot MSU 14-11 and scored two goals in the first 12 minutes of the game, including one just 39 seconds in by Zach Sanford, his first career goal. While the comeback BU had was tough to watch, I feel a lot more comfortable about this team when they're ahead by goal as opposed to when they're down. As we saw vs Harvard, they can tend to be over aggressive and try to create something out of nothing and it can come back to hurt them. While the power play didn't get many chances (o for 1), the penalty kill seems like it came up big in key situations as MSU was 0 for 4 and was held off the board for the final two minutes of the game in which they had a 6 on 5. Certainly a step in the right direction for that particular special teams unit. 

Perhaps the brightest spots for the Eagles were the facts that Matthew Gaudreau recorded a goal in his second straight game, cementing his spot in the lineup and senior Quinn Smith had a goal and a team high five shots on goal. The three freshmen all had a point and combined for +2 rating. Michael Matheson, Ian McCoshen (who has drastically improved in Santini's absence), and Noah Hanifin all recorded assists from the back end. 

Obviously, this was as much of a "must win" as any BC Hockey team has had in the regular season in a long time. Like I said, if they take it one game at a time, focus on playing better team defense, and start executing on the power play, then they will be able to win some hockey games. They have a chance to win two games next weekend vs a pair of struggling Hockey East teams in UMass and Maine so if they can find a way to go out to Amherst and come back with two points on Friday night, maybe things will settle down before a huge non-conference tilt vs the University of Minnesota. 

It's great to finally write about a win. Go Eagles !