CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Mike Cavanaugh recruited Ryan Fitzgerald to play at Boston College.
“I wish I didn’t,” said Cavanaugh wryly on Saturday night.
Once an assistant coach at BC and now the head coach at Connecticut, Cavanaugh was on the opposite end of a career-best night for the Eagles’ sophomore as Fitzgerald picked up his first-ever hat trick and singlehandedly carried BC’s offense in a 3-2 win over Connecticut at Conte Forum.
For a while on Saturday night, it seemed as if Connecticut had the potential for another impressive scalp. But the Huskies spent most of the night in their own defensive zone and in a last-minute flurry were denied by some outstanding saves by Thatcher Demko (19 saves) in quick succession, bringing the 6,815 in attendance to their feet.
“[Demko] had not seen much action through a long stretch and all of a sudden he was called upon to make some remarkable saves,” Eagles’ coach Jerry York said. “That was certainly one of the keys for us winning the game.”
To date, the Huskies have, by all measures, made serious headway in their inaugural Hockey East campaign, gnawing their way up the standings, bit-by-bit, entering Saturday night.
Perhaps one wrinkle in the Huskies’ early success is that, even as they play above expectations, their biggest results have all come in Hartford. Despite heart-stopping draws at Boston University and Notre Dame, success on the road has been fleeting, with only one victory in seven tries.
But tonight was a strong example of how difficult they are to play against in Hockey East – their game was filled with solid decision-making, stellar goaltending, and a lot of hustle.
“I was proud of our effort,” Cavanaugh noted. “We made a couple of mistakes that led to a penalty and one of their power-play goals. When you play a team like Boston College, I don’t need to tell you, they’re very well coached. Those mental mistakes will hurt you, and I think that was the case tonight.”
The mistake came 11:30 into the third period when Finnish sophomore Joona Kunnas (in the midst of one of his best games of the season – scoring a go-ahead goal for UConn in the second period), got tagged for a hooking penalty.
Then 40 seconds into the ensuing power play, Fizgerald walked into the right circle and tucked a wrister into the short side of the net, beating Rob Nichols (34 saves), securing the hat trick, and giving the Eagles the lead for good.
“Coming away with the win tonight is huge,” Fitzgerald noted. “We knew the goalie was good, so we just had to get traffic and cause commotion in front, and try to bang home dirty goals.”
Indeed, Nichols was superb on the night, making several difficult saves, including a critical stop on a shorthanded breakaway for Chris Calnan midway through the second period, aggressively jabbing the puck away from the BC sophomore.
The Huskies had an early lead after a snipe midway through the first period after Ryan Segalla’s wrist shot beat Demko glove side on the power play. But the Huskies were playing defense far more often as they were outshot 15-6 in the period.
UConn gained some steam in the second period, matching the Eagles in puck possession through the first ten minutes, taking advantage of sloppy giveaways by BC’s blueliners and testing Demko with more regularity.
Then in the final four minutes of the period, things got a bit topsy-turvy, as three goals were scored in quick succession with Fitzgerald twice knocking in the puck out of net-mouth scrambles, and Kunnas briefly giving UConn the lead in between the two by banging in a rebound.
Despite the wild swings in momentum, UConn seemed to respond well to each BC punch with a solid shift.
“I loved how our players responded and we didn’t sit back and feel sorry for ourselves – we went after it and had some unbelievable chances,” Cavanaugh beamed. “Thatcher made an ESPN Top 10 save there to keep the game [from being tied].”
As for his former recruit, any parting words after their second (and potentially final) meeting of the year?
“Just a quick hello” after the game, Fitzgerald said.
Small talk might be tough after a three-goal performance like that.
