Late Brown Goal Gives BC The Win

Photo by Graham Beck of Height Sports.

If you had told me that BC would be trailing UMass with eleven minutes to go and the fourth line was going to score the game winning goal with just three and a half minutes left, I have to tell, I would think you were joking. After forty five sloppy and pretty carless minutes of hockey from the #1 team in the country, the Eagles took control of the game in the second half of the third period and defeated a hard working UMass team by a 3-2 score. Before I start with BC, I first want to say that I thought UMass was a really tough team and will certainly be a tough game for anyone in Hockey East and in the country this year. That team played hard for a long time but in reality, they just ran out of gas at the end of that hockey game. As for the Eagles, well once again, they found a way to win the hockey game and this time, it was thanks to a guy that doesn't get a lot of accolades and doesn't get on the scoresheet to often but is certainly a guy that deserves to be on this team and to be in that postion to score that goal tonight. When you watch BC play night in and night out, you'll always notice Johnny G, Mullane, Matheson, and Whitney but it's the guys like Pat Brown and Brooks Dyroff that will in the end, be huge factors in deciding whether we win a game or lose it. On the winning goal, I thought BC did a real good job of keeping the puck in the zone, keeping the pressure on the UMass defense, and that led to a nice pass from Dyroff to Brown who eventually fired one by Kevin Boyle to put BC on top. Awesome job the fourth line tonight...they certainly deserve some attention and the chance to play some more minutes as the season goes on.

Before the final eleven minutes of that game tonight, I thought BC reverted to the habits that lost them the game @ NU earlier in October. The defenseman turned it over a little too often, the forwards had a hard time making crisp plays and quite frankly, Boyle made some fantastic saves. UMass is a good hockey team and they will do some damage this year in this league but if BC plays like that versus Notre Dame and BU, the results won't be too pretty. There were two guys on the defensive side who I thought had their two best weekends of the year. Isaac Macleod, who had an assist and a game saving save (yup a save) to go along with a big goal in Orono on Friday was really solid tonight and was a key reason why BC won. Another defenseman who was absolutely phenomenal once again was Mike Matheson as he recorded his first colligate goal in the third period that tied the game. On the goal, Matheson did a great job of jumping up in the play, and putting the puck past Boyle (The goal was set up thanks to a nifty pass from Johnny G). After the game when asked who he would compare Matheson to, Coach York responded with Bobby Allen and Mike Mottau..not too bad.

All in all, the mission this weekend, as it always is, was to get four points and it was accomplished  At times, it wasn't pretty but thanks to timly goals, a strong power play, and some fantastic goaltending, BC was able to keep their lead in the league at five points. With this weekend in the books, it is now time to focus on the biggest non NCAA tournament weekend in BC Hockey history. Bring on the Irish and Parker.

Why BC Won- 

1. Parker Milner kept BC in it through two periods. If it wasn't for Milner, BC would have lost this game by three goals.

2. The Eagles stepped it up late in the game. It was funny because the refs went to review a UMass goal (that was a no goal call) and Coach York huddled the team up for a minute. Well, the rest is history.

3. They (finally) got some secondary scoring. With Linell getting an assist on Friday and Brown scoring thanks to Dyroff's assist tonight, the bottom six forwards are starting to improve. That's big for BC.

Problems 

1. The first forty five minutes of this game were not good. BC looked tired, sloppy, and lethargic for a long time before picking it up. We can't see that vs teams like Notre Dame and BU.

Player of the game- Patrick Brown

Next up- I shouldn't have to tell you.

Until next time,

GO EAGLES !