BOSTON, MA – Hockey East Semifinals. No. 4 seeded Boston College took on No. 3 seeded UConn at TD Garden on Friday night. Just before the Eagles and Huskies faced off at an approximate 7:00PM start time, the first semifinal took place between No. 8 seeded Merrimack and No. 2 seeded UMass at 4:00PM. 

The “cinderella” Merrimack Warriors upset the UMass Minutemen by a score of 2-0. Ryan O’Connell tallied early on in the third period, and Merrimack would later add an empty net goal to send UMass home. The Minutemen will by all means most likely be outside the NCAA Tournament field with their loss on Friday. 

BC and UConn knew what a great opportunity their semifinal would be at TD Garden. With No. 1 seeded Providence and No. 2 UMass now out of the field, either team would go into Saturday night’s Hockey East Championship game as a favorite to hoist the hardware. 

The Eagles and Huskies matched up for a series a month ago across the weekend of February 20-21. BC swept the series, picking up a 5-2 victory in Chestnut Hill for game #1, and a 2-1 overtime win in Storrs for game #2. These however would be the Eagles’ final two positive results of the regular season as BC went onto drop their final four contests before the Hockey East Tournament. 

After stopping the bleeding with a season saving 5-0 win over 5th seeded Maine in the quarterfinals last week at Kelley Rink, BC travelled into Massachusetts’ capital to continue its quest for a conference title. Here’s how it went…   

UConn (20-11-5) defeated Boston College (20-15-1) in overtime on Friday night by a score of 4-3. Tristan Fraser scored the OT winner for the Huskies to send the Eagles home. The UConn win, after the Merrimack victory earlier, means that Hockey East will have a guaranteed first time Tournament champion for the first time since 1988.

And for the first time since 1981, NONE of the four Beanpot Schools will compete in the NCAA Tournament after Boston College’s loss. 

Special teams were a major factor in the game, and the impact was felt almost instantaneously. There were nine power plays total across the night (5 BC, 4 UConn).

Oskar Jellvik went to the box for holding at 1:13 to put the Eagles on the kill just over a minute in. The BC penalty kill was outstanding for 99% of the power play until Louka Cloutier was forced to make a mind-boggling triple save at the end of the man-advantage. 

Viking Gustafsson Nyberg next picked up a penalty for tripping at 4:20 to send the Eagles to their first power play of the night. The Eagles recorded 1 SOG on the PP. 

The next man-up opportunity came for BC when Jake Richard received two minutes for cross-checking at 14:59. This PP would end up being the talking point of the first period. Andre Gasseau thought he had the game’s opening goal on a rebound opportunity that found the twine, but the referees blew the whistle before Gasseau’s shot attempt, negating the goal. 

Greg Brown had this to say postgame on the referee’s explanation: 

“He [the referee] said that he lost sight of the puck, so he blew the whistle. So I asked if it’s challengeable, but then if he says his intent is to blow the whistle even sooner then you can’t really challenge it. There’s nothing to challenge there, so, [it] looked from our point that he didn’t have it, but from his [the referee] vantage point he thought the goalie had it tied up so tough break.”  

Gasseau went to the box himself later in the PP at 16:38 to set up :21 of 4-on-4 hockey and then 1:39 of UConn PP time. No SOG for the Huskies on their PP. 

At the tail end of the period, Trey Scott picked up a penalty for cross-checking at 19:40 that set up a BC PP that bled into the second frame. 

The first ended 0-0. Power plays led to an advantage for the Eagles in the SOG department by a mark of 10-6 in the period. The remaining 1:40 of the BC PP to start the second would lead to some success… 

In their future building, the Boston Bruins’ prospects combined for a pretty team effort tally.  Dean Letourneau opened up the scoring at :39 to begin the second period. James Hagens, dancing along the blue line, slid the puck to Gasseau in the near circle, and Gasseau threaded a beauty of a cross-crease pass to Letourneau in the far circle for a one time finish. 1-0 BC.

Credit to UConn, they responded promptly after each BC power play goal in the second period. Just 53 seconds after Letourneau’s tally, Trey Scott, along the far boards, fired a weak shot that snuck through traffic and past Louka Cloutier to square the game for the Huskies at 1:32. 1-1. 

The following PP for BC came off a Tom Messino penalty for holding at 4:10. Again, it was Letourneau on the man advantage, this time striking at 5:09. Lukas Gustafsson, along the blue line, passed low to J. Hagens, and the puck deflected off the skate of Hagens right in front to Letourneau who finished the play off. 2-1 BC. 

Yet again, UConn answered BC just 3:19 after Letourneau’s second goal. Mike Murtagh made his first of two great individual efforts on the Huskies second goal. Murtagh, low, behind the Eagles net, set up Ethan Whitcomb for the equalizer at 8:28. Murtagh made his pass to Whitcomb at the ideal moment, just as Whitcomb crept in front of Cloutier’s crease. 2-2. 

One more PP chance came for both sides before the second period. A minor to Gasseau for holding at 9:04 resulted in 4 SOG for UConn, and a minor to Brendan Dunphy at 15:28 created 1 SOG for BC.

An action packed second period yielded two goals a side to set up a 2-2 tie going into a winner take all final period. UConn took the slight edge in SOG after two periods (19-16).

The Huskies came out of the locker room as the significantly better side to start the third period. After the initial media timeout of the third at 7:19, UConn’s pressure had already generated 5 SOG to BC’s 0 SOG. A goal for the Huskies seemed inevitable…

And that goal would come courtesy of Mike Murtagh with his second terrific piece of solo work at 12:28. Murtagh, along the far boards, quickly skated through the neutral zone, made a power move past Drew Fortescue, and got to the crease to lift a shot past Cloutier. 3-2 UConn.

BC could have dropped their heads, seen a single-digit amount of minutes left on the scoreboard, and thrown in the towel early, but the Eagles fought hard to tie the game back up.

Ryan Conmy saved the season for the moment with a one-time blast from the slot at 14:13. On somewhat of a broken play, a bouncing puck drifted right into Conmy’s path in the slot, and the UNH transfer made no mistake, rocketing home the biggest goal of his season. 3-3. 

Before the game would move to OT, the Eagles made one more difficult penalty kill after a minor to Gasseau for interference at 15:08. The Huskies had 1 SOG on the PP, a gusty Eagles PK late in the third. 

The final minutes expired after the UConn PP, and OT would be needed to settle the Hockey East Semifinal between the Eagles and Huskies. SOG totaled 30-25 UConn after regulation.

Just over a minute into OT, Tristan Fraser scored the winner for the Huskies at 1:18 to clinch a spot in the Hockey East Championship game and send the Eagles to a premature offseason. Fraser, in the near circle, body turned towards the boards, spun around and fired a puck into traffic that took a wild deflection and somehow snuck past Cloutier. 4-3 UConn. 

This will be the first time BC has missed the NCAA Tournament since 2023 after making the big dance in the 2024 and 2025 seasons. 

What’s Next?

The Eagles will lose their three senior captains – Brady Berard, Andre Gasseau, and Lukas Gustafsson, as well as senior forward Oskar Jellvik. Greg Brown commended the effort of the entirety of the senior class postgame:

“Really appreciative of our seniors. [They] came back when they had options and put in a lot of effort. We play for four trophies. They were able to win three of them and have a close game against Denver (2024 National Championship, 2-0 L) for the fourth one, so they’ve done a lot of good things, brought a lot winning to this program, and we’re very thankful for what they’ve given to us. We’ll miss them, but we move forward.”

James Hagens is the biggest question for the BC roster in the coming days. Will Hagens sign his Entry Level Contract with the Boston Bruins? Brown had this to say on the immediate process with Hagens: 

“James has done a great job of staying where his feet were. He was with us the whole time. He didn’t want to look ahead. And that’s something [contract choice] that takes place tomorrow/the next day, we’ll sit down… he’s gonna think it over himself and do what seems best.”

The first Beanpot Title since 2016, a Hockey East Semifinal appearance, and lots of memories for this ‘25-’26 BC group. Until next time…

-Jack Mulka, Eagles Daily

CHESTNUT HILL, MA – 4th seeded Boston College welcomed 5th seeded Maine to campus for a Hockey East quarterfinal matchup on Friday night. It was a disappointing end to the regular season for the Eagles, losing their final four contests. Without a win since the overtime 2-1 victory over UConn back on February 21st, BC certainly backed into the postseason. And this rough patch by all means most likely cost the Eagles any chance of an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament. BC knew the task at hand on Friday night. Do or die. 

Boston College (20-14-1) kept the season alive with a 5-0 victory over Maine (18-14-3) on Friday night. The poor play for BC over the last couple weeks was left behind and the Eagles emphatically moved onto the Hockey East semifinals next Friday night at TD Garden. Greg Brown had his squad firing out of the gates. The first period set the tone for BC, and they didn’t look back.

The hustle from Eagle skaters in the first period established the intensity and importance of Friday night’s contest. Both early scores for BC came from simply wanting it more than Maine.

Teddy Stiga opened the scoring with a high effort play off an awkward bounce at 4:49. In the neutral zone, Luka Radivojevic fired a puck into the Maine zone to launch the BC forecheck into action, and Radivojevic’s dump-in took a perfect bounce in front of the Maine net that Stiga pounced on before any other defender to take the early lead. 1-0 BC. 

Stiga was really happy to find the team an early goal after the way the Eagles ended the season with the four game losing streak: 

“We hadn’t been playing the way we wanted to, and I think everyone up and down the lineup bought in and was playing the same way, heavy on their defensemen and taking a lead is always what you want so it was definitely a good feeling.”

A similar hustle play came from James Hagens just 39 seconds later to double the lead at 5:28. Hagens entered the zone off a pass from Lukas Gustafsson and then fired a shot that was initially blocked by Grayson Arnott, but Hagens stuck with play, found his own rebound, and put the next shot in the back of the net over the right shoulder of Mathis Rousseau. 2-0 BC.

Maine had their first of three power plays on the night at 9:17 when Lukas Gustafsson went to the box for roughing. 3 SOG for the Black Bears on the PP but no finish.

BC got their first of two power plays for the game at 13:04 off a Brandon Chabrier holding call. 1 SOG for the Eagles on the man advantage but no tally.

The first period ended with a 2-0 BC lead. The Eagles led the Black Bears in SOG by a 6-5 margin in the opening 20. Great job by BC getting the early lead. 

The second power play chance came for Maine at 7:03 after a tripping penalty against Drew Fortescue. 2 SOG but still no damage done by the Black Bears.

The best chance of the game for Maine ensued just following the conclusion of the power play. Thomas Pichette was 1-on-1 with Louka Cloutier, but his wrister over Cloutier’s glove side rang the iron at 9:40.

The Black Bear offense did not have an answer for the stellar play of Cloutier on Friday night, but defense at least kept them in the game after the rough opening stretch of the first frame. 

A phenomenal backcheck from Jeremy Langlois kept the game within striking distance for Maine in the back half of the second period. Landan Resendes looked like he had a clean breakaway opportunity at 13:51, but Langlois’ defense did just enough to disrupt Resendes.

BC had their second power play of the night when Maine got called for too-many-men on the ice at 16:32, but the Black Bears kept the Eagles off the board once again.

BC returned to the locker room again with a 2-0 lead. The Eagles maintained their edge in SOG through two by a 16-14 mark. BC knew they were just 20 minutes from a trip to the Hockey East semifinals.

The third goal was always going to be big, and it came very early in the final period. Ryan Conmy, behind the goal, played a perfect pass out front to Oskar Jellvik in the slot who one-timed a shot past Rousseau at 1:34. 3-0 BC. 

Jellvik, injured from November 7th to February 27th, played in just his eighth game of the season on Friday night. Greg Brown has loved having his senior forward back in action: 

“Every game he looks a little more comfortable. He’s one of our players with very high skill level, and to have him in the lineup… is great for the team and hopefully we can give him some more games to keep it going.” 

Maine had another chance to interject themselves back into the game at 3:17 when Brady Berard went to the box for elbowing, but yet again special teams for the Eagles stepped up to the challenge and killed the third Black Bear power play. 

BC saw the rest of the game out expertly 5-on-5. Maine had solely 4 SOG in the third period. It was all BC on Friday night.

The Black Bears pulled Rousseau at 15:10, and before Maine could even enter the BC zone fully, Dean Letourneau rifled home an empty netter at 15:25 for the Eagles. 4-0 BC. 

James Hagens put a cherry on top with another empty net goal for the Eagles at 17:54, his team leading third point of the night. 5-0 BC.    

Greg Brown was really proud of the “playoff-style” effort his players came up with on Friday night. Cloutier especially was up for the challenge: 

“There were a few big ones [saves]… he looked really confident and his puck touches were outstanding… it wasn’t just the great saves, but he made great plays on their dump-ins, [with] Maine’s good forecheck. The fact that he was able to stop pucks and deliver them to our defense really helped us limit our time in our zone. Thought it was a key to the game… just a great game by him.” 

BC will look for another performance like that out of Cloutier next Friday night and beyond if the Eagles are to go on a little postseason run…      

What’s Next?

BC will monitor the rest of the Hockey East playoff action and await their matchup for the Friday, March 20th semifinals. The three quarterfinals remaining include No. 1 Providence/No. 8 Merrimack, No. 2 UMass/No. 7 Northeastern, No. 3 UConn/No. 6 Boston University. There will be a re-seed after the QF round, so it’s unclear who BC will get as of now. Time will tell.

Boston College took a closer step towards the wrong side of the bubble after being swept by the Boston University Terriers, falling 3-1 on Friday and 5-1 last night. 

The Eagles currently sit at number 13 in the NPI rankings, which is far too close for comfort. Two wins against Northeastern and UMass to end the regular season, and at least one win in the Hockey East tournament would go a long way in helping this team sleep the night before Selection Sunday. 

So what can we take away from this weekend’s series against BU? There’s quite a bit to unpack. 

BU deserves a lot of credit

This was an incredible weekend for Jay Pandolfo’s group. They had a bye last weekend, and the rest/practice time seemed to pay off in a big way. 

At this point in the season, with their record and NPI ranking being what they are, they were really just playing for pride and to find some momentum heading into the Hockey East Tournament, and they accomplished both of those things. If the Eagles end up missing the tournament, their arch-rival Terriers will have played a big part in that. 

Sloppy passing and breakouts doomed the Eagles 

Especially last night, the Eagles’ breakout game and neutral zone play were as sloppy as they have been in a while. After controlling the play in the first period and outshooting BU 13-5, they never really played a crisp, clean game after that. Attention to detail and playing good, sound fundamental hockey will be key on Thursday against a solid UMass team. 

Uncharted territory for a Greg Brown-coached team

Granted, Greg Brown was a longtime assistant under Jerry York. But as a head coach, this is somewhat uncharted territory for him. The Eagles cruised to the NCAA tournament the past two seasons, never coming anywhere near the bubble. 

During his first season in 2022-2023, the team finished 14-16-6, never really coming close to an at-large bid. So this is really the first time a Greg Brown-coached team finds itself squarely on the bubble. 

That’s not to say anything will change from the coaching staff as we head down the stretch, but it’s always interesting to see how a coach navigates a certain situation for the first time. 

Awfully late in the season for this much tinkering of the lines

Greg Brown really tinkered with the lines in last night’s defeat. Given how flat the team looked throughout the weekend, it was understandable. But it’s definitely suboptimal to be doing that this late in the season; hopefully the team can find some continuity when they travel to Amherst on Thursday.

How big of a concern is their youth down the stretch?

BC definitely has a core group of guys who have played in big games, especially Hagens, Stiga, Fortescue, and Minnetian. But the fact of the matter is, they’re the second youngest team in the NCAA in terms of average age. Although they may not be super inexperienced, they are young. Well see if that plays a factor in their success down the stretch.