BC lost the opening game of the Greg Brown era on Friday night, falling to Quinnipiac 4-0- BC remains winless in six meetings against the Bobcats. I have a few quick thoughts on the game.
First off, BC was missing two of their top forwards. Oskar Jellvik was suspended by the NCAA for playing professional games in Sweden. I do not think Jellvik will be out for long- perhaps two more games, but that remains to be seen. Secondly, BC's top player, freshman Cutter Gauthier, was out because he had to attend to a family matter. I would be very surprised if he is not in the lineup at UNH on Saturday.
Despite the two holes in the lineup, I honestly thought BC came out of the gates playing hard. They had a few golden opportunities to take the lead- Cam Burke's first period breakaway being the best example- but, an interference penalty on Cade Alami followed by a bad loss at the face-off dot led to an immediate Quinnipiac power play goal. I did not think it was a bad goal on Benson's part- you just can't lose a face-off like that while killing a penalty. I thought BC made their best push of the night both at the end of the first and into the start of the second. BC was generating chances, particularly around the net front area, but Quinnipiac goalie Yaniv Perets was the best player on the ice for either team- he made two or three really good saves in the first 30 minutes to keep the Eagles off the board.
The air came out of BC's tires when Quinnipiac went up 2-0 midway through the second period. It was a fluky goal from my vantage point, one that Benson looked like he was not expecting to be thrown his way. It was a perfect recipe for disaster if you're BC- not only are you in a hole against one of the top defensive teams in college hockey year in and year out, but you were missing a couple of guys that could have provided a spark. Now, Gauthier and Jellvik make BC a better, more complete team, but don't get me wrong, that Quinnipiac team is going to be in the hunt come late March and early April- they're deep, they have a ton of skill, and they have great goaltending. Not much needs to be said about what happened after the second Quinnipiac goal- they took over the game and controlled the pace for the final thirty or so minutes of game time.
Despite the loss, there were a few things that stood out to me. First of all, I really liked freshman defenseman Lukas Gustafsson- he was, in my mind, BC's top defenseman on Friday. He is a fantastic skater and can quarterback the power play, something BC desperately needs after the losses of Jack St. Ivany and Drew Helleson. Secondly, I thought transfer Cam Burke was BC's best forward- he had three or four really good chances to score, including the aforementioned breakaway. Obviously, you want to see a few of those go in, but if Burke keeps playing like that, he will be a really good third line center for the Eagles- something they will need because I thought that third line had some real problems all night with Quinnipiac's size and speed.
So, big picture, where does this team stand? Obviously, it is a work in progress, but they need to make sure they play with consistent energy for 60 minutes- if they play like they did in the first half of that game for the rest of the season, they will win a decent amount of hockey games. If they play like they did in the final 30 minutes, they will lose a lot of hockey games- it's not rocket science. They are not talented enough to doze off for large chunks of the game. I thought they had some very nice movement on the few (really just one full length) power play opportunities they had, but had nothing to show for it. Obviously, the face-off loss on the penalty kill that led to a goal is something you want back, but they will improve over time, I have no doubt.
Lastly, like I said in my season preview, BC is going to live and die by the production it gets from Nikita Nesterensko, Colby Ambrosio, and Trevor Kuntar. Those guys, along with Marshall Warren, are the leaders of this team and they need to step up their games if BC wants to have any success this year. Yes, it will help when they get Gauthier and Jellvik back, but absences are going to take place this year, it can't just be a situation where BC loses one or two of their top guys and the production of the entire offense sinks like the Titanic. This game on Saturday at UNH is a pretty big one- the Wildcats are 2-0 after sweeping Clarkson and St. Lawrence on the road this weekend and will undoubtedly be ready to go for their home opener. Hopefully, BC is ready to match that intensity and win their first game of the season.
Until next time, Go Eagles.
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