Chris Collins picked up two goals while linemate Ryan Shannon added two assists on both goals as No. 5 Boston College skated past Mass.-Lowell, 4-1.
“We’re playing a road game against the odds-on favorite to win the National Championship with eight freshman and nine sophomores in the lineup,” said head coach Blaise MacDonald after the game. “I thought we played well for most parts of the game. I told the team that I take full responsibility for the loss, because I forgot to put down as one of our team goals to win the last two minutes of each period.”
The River Hawks opened the scoring at 4:49 of the first period. Freshman Jason Tejchma one-timed a beautiful pass from sophomore Mark Pandolfo on the left side past Eagle netminder Matti Kaltiainen, picking up his first collegiate goal and giving the River Hawks the lead.
Boston College tied the game just under five minutes later, and took the lead before entering the locker room. Brian Boyle put the Eagles on the board after he bounced the puck off of the back of an unset Chris Davidson at 8:27.
A streaking Chris Collins gave BC the lead at 19:57 after he one-timed a pass from Ryan Shannon, lifting the puck high before Davidson could recover.
Although the Eagles controlled the pace in the second period, Davidson made some spectacular saves to keep the game scoreless through most of the second. BC though found the back of the net though with under a minute to play for the second time in the game.
Collins and Shannon broke into the UML zone on a two-on-one opportunity, and even though Collins never got a clean shot off, his ability to carry himself and the defender into Davidson made the junior goaltender unable to stop the puck, as it slid underneath his leg pads and into the net at 19:14.
Tony Voce put the Eagles up 4-1 after he broke into the UML zone from the left and squeezed the puck between the post and the leg of Davidson at 17:00 of the third.
Davidson made a career-high 37 saves in the loss, while Kaltiainen stopped 15 attempts for BC. Neither team saw any production from the power-play, with UML going a deceiving 0-for-2 with the man-advantage and the Eagles picking up no goals on six chances.
“Our penalty killing did a great job tonight,” said MacDonald. “It’s awfully tough to kill off six penalties, including a 5-on-3, in this building. It’s unfortunate that we practiced our power-play all week, because we never had a chance to use it.
“We’re a young group, and this is a positive experience for us. The outcome will be different the next time we play BC.”
Next Tuesday Mass.-Lowell (3-3-2, 2-2-0 HE) hosts Bentley at 7:00 p.m. at Tsongas Arena, while No. 5 Boston College (4-2-1, 1-0-0 HE) hosts the top team in the nation in the form of Maine on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
