BC outlasts UMass, 4-3, in season-opener

After not playing a game for more than eight months and having their season-opening series against New Hampshire postponed last week, Boston College was raring to go.

And it’s a good thing, too, because the Eagles weren’t exactly afforded a tune-up game in their belated start to the season.

In a terrific battle between top 10 teams, No. 2 BC outlasted seventh-ranked UMass, 4-3, at Kelley Rink on Friday night. Jack McBain scored a pair of goals and goalie Spencer Knight made 29 saves to lead the Eagles.

The two teams meet again in Amherst on Saturday afternoon (4:30 p.m.)

BC’s Matt Boldy snapped a 3-3 tie early in the third period after Colby Ambrosio made a nice touch pass in the neutral zone to the sophomore, who split the UMass defense and beat Minutemen goalie Matt Murray with a wrist shot from between the dots.

The Eagles killed off two penalties in the final 10 minutes of the game and survived a 6-on-5 situation with Murray pulled for the final 1:30.

BC got on the board first with the opening period’s only goal at 15:58. Logan Hutsko knifed his way toward the Minuteman net on the left side and left the puck for a swooping Jack McBain, who scooped it shortside past goalie Matt Murray for the 1-0 lead.

Just moments before that, the Minutemen had lost sophomore forward Reed Lebster to an apparent right leg injury. He did not return.

The game opened up in the second period, with the teams registering a combined five goals and the Minutemen pulling even by the second intermission.

The Eagles went on their fourth power-play of the game early in the second when Caron Gicewicz went off for slashing, but the Minutemen pulled even with a shorthanded goal. Defenseman Zac Jones appeared to have had his promising shorthanded rush up the left wing cut short and it looked he was searching for help through the middle. But Jones appeared to surprise BC goalie Spencer Knight with a sharp wrister from the left circle that beat Knight high to the far side at 1:52.

This deadlock did not last long, however. Just two seconds after Gicewicz stepped out the box, BC reclaimed the lead. From the right boards, Boldy sifted a pass to Mike Hardman in the slot and Hardman slipped a backhander past Murray for the 2-1 BC lead.

The Minutemen were threatening to even the game when they were operating on a delayed call coming against BC when Knight made a terrific save on Eric Faith on a backdoor play.

That allowed Eagles to gain a little breathing space after killing off the minor. McBain scored his second of the game off the rush, stopping short in the high slot and beating Murray with a hard wrister to the blocker side at 12:41.

But the Minutemen stormed back to tie it with two goals from freshman Josh Lopina in 1:13, the first coming on the power-play. With Boldy in the box for hooking, Lopina tipped a Colin Felix shot past Knight to make it 3-2.

At even strength, Bobby Trivigno sent a right wing-to-left wing pass to Oliver MacDonald, and then MacDonald zipped it back to to the top of the crease for a Lopina tap-in that evened it up at 3-3.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3o3WALY