Ugly Tie

Photo from BC Athletics

For the first time all season, the Boston College Eagles got badly outplayed, but thanks to another stellar performance from Thatcher Demko, they were able to salvage a tie with Northeastern. First of all, give NU a ton of credit because they played hard-as all Jim Madigan teams do versus the Eagles. The obvious difference in the game was the amount of penalties taken as BC spent a whopping thirty five minutes in the box while their opponents took just one penalty all night. I'm not going to sit here and rip the officials because in all honesty, most of the calls they made were the correct ones. The trip on Ryan Fitzgerald was bad and they somehow missed a hit from behind right before the second NU goal, but other than those two, there weren't any "horrible" calls. I don't understand why BC keeps taking this many infractions because it has almost cost them a couple of games over the past few weeks. There is not much Coach York can do, at the end of the day, it comes down to smarter decisions on behalf of the players. Thirty five penalty minutes? That is ridiculous.

There was one thing I liked from BC's game tonight. I thought Alex Tuch played solid, recording his sixth point in five games. The Tuch-Sanford-Gilmour line was certainly BC's best combination because outside of a mishap at the blue line, the Huskies did a good job of containing Colin White and Ryan Fitzgerald. Northeastern kept coming at BC with a super aggressive forecheck and for whatever reason, the Eagles were not able to adjust. The defense had a difficult time getting the puck out of the zone which led to a litany of turnovers in BC's end.

The turning point of the game was Miles Wood's five minute major and game misconduct. Look, I think the kid is an absolutely incredible hockey player, perhaps one of the best in the country, but with that being said, you can't cross check people to the head like that. It put the team in a really bad spot. Coach Ayers' penalty killing unit did an admirable job all night long, especially on the five minute major when NU didn't seem to generate any chances within the high quality scoring areas. Despite the terrific penalty killing, it was impossible for BC to generate any momentum because of the amount of time they spent in the box. When you don't manufacture any offense and have to spend an entire period blocking shots and icing the puck, it can take a toll on your players. I can't say enough about Thatcher Demko's play. In fact, I thought it was his best performance of the season. BC handed Northeastern that game on a silver platter, but their goaltender stood tall and allowed them to salvage a point they had absolutely no business in taking. Give him all the credit in the world because he deserves every ounce of it.

The two teams will meet again this afternoon at Matthews Arena, a building that has not been kind to the maroon and gold over the past decade. They have to clean up two things- penalties and turnovers. If they were able to chip the puck into the neutral zone, they would have multiple odd man rushes on a relatively weak Northeastern defense, but they need to be careful to avoid turning the puck over at the defensive blue line such as they did multiple times last night. The penalties, obviously, have to stop.

Positives- 

1. Demko was out of his mind. Best performance of the year.

2. Tuch played great- hopefully this continues.

3. Penalty kill was outstanding.

Negatives- 

1. Penalties. They seemingly feel the need to take some of the most boneheaded penalties I've ever seen.

2. Turnovers. They probably gave away the puck over twenty times last night.

Next- @ NU today. 4 PM

Go Eagles