Tonight was a sweet night to be a Boston College hockey fan at first. But then when I got home and looked at the NCAA bracket predictions, I was very upset. Even with the fantastic win, it looks like our Eagles will be heading out west. Let me first talk about the game. The game started out when Patty Mullane picked off MC D man Kyle Bigos at center ice, skated in on Joe Canatta an gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead 9:15 into the game. Once again though, BC's opponent was able to take advantage of lazy defensive play, and tie the score just 30 seconds later. MC took advantage of a Paul Carey give away, and Ryan Flanigan took advantage an tied the score up. Two minutes after the MC goal, Brian Gibbons was able to give Coach York's crew the 2-1 lead with nine minutes to play in the first period. Gibbons was able to put away Cam Atkinson's drive from the point to put it past Canatta. With about a minute to play in the period, Pat Mullane hooked a MC forward skating in, and was called for a two minute minor. MC quickly took advantage as they scored just 26 seconds later to tie it at two going into the middle frame.
In the seond period, BC was presented it's biggest opportunity of the game. They were given a 5-3 for about 40 second about half way through the period. BC was able to set up pretty well, but they just did not shoot the puck. They kept looking for the fancy play, instead they need to fire pucks at the net. Now Tommy Cross is my favorite player, but he does not shoot the puck. When you the hardest shot in the league, you need to be shooting the puck more often. You have to credit MC though for killing off almost 2:40 with a man down. That led us to be tied at the end of two. When does a game not come down to the wire for these Eagles.
The third period in this game was not as crazy as last nights, but it was pretty close. BC took advantage of a MC turnover at the red line, Joe Whitney skated in, got a shot off, and Cam Atkinson was able to put home the rebound to get the lead back in BC's favor. About four minutes after the goal, Joe Whitney was called for a elbowing call. Lets get one thing straight the officiating in this game was HORRIBLE. This call on Joe Whitney was probably the right call, but just seconds earlier an BC hit Brian Gibbons up high, and the Refs did not make the call.So MC went on a PP, their PP was amazing on the night, they were able to set it up beautifully, and were awarded with a rebound goal to tie it up with ten minutes to play. this is where the coaching experience and the playing experience in big games came into play.
With about 6:40 to go, Cam Atkinson blasted home his second goal of the game and it ended up giving BC the Lamorlillo cup. On a great pass from line mate Joe Whitney, Cam blasted it home on a bomb of a one timer to put the Eagles ont op for good. You think all the fun ended there? NO.MC was awarded a PP with 4:30 to go and it looked like this was going to be a tie game. Once again the hard work I saw in practice this week on the PK payed off and the Eagles were able to kill it off. Just as the penalty was to expire, Barry Almeida was able to chip the puck up to Phil Samuelsson who was tripped on his way in with 2:35 to go. The Game was over. Brian Dumoulin added a PP goal with about 1:30 to go to ice it. And just like that, the sea of MC fans were sent back to North Andover with hard feelings towards the Eagles. I just want to say what a great job coach Mark Denahey has done with that program. That was automatic W for BC every year until this year. I really think that two teams could meet again later in the year.
Now because UNH must play in Manchester because they host that regional, it looks like we may have seen the last of our Eagles in person. BC will have to go out to St.Louis this year and it looks like they will get Colorado College in the first round. Here is the bracket predictions from USCHO. Stay tuned for updates!
16 Air Force vs. 1 Yale
9 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 8 Union
Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.)
13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Miami
11 Notre Dame vs. 6 Merrimack
Midwest Regional (Green Bay, Wis.)
15 Rensselaer vs. 2 North Dakota
10 Western Michigan vs. 7 Denver
West Regional (St. Louis)
14 Colorado College vs. 3 Boston College
12 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 5 Michigan
Read more: http://www.uscho.com/2011/03/19/bracketology-our-final-answer/#ixzz1H76RIYWx
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