Men’s Hockey: Terriers suffer disappointing loss to rival Eagles, settle for weekend split

By Owen Gund

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. –​​ The Boston University Terriers saw their eight-game win streak come to an end in a 3-1 loss to the Boston College Eagles.

The Terriers were the better team for large stretches of the game, but a stellar performance from BC graduate goaltender Eric Dop (42 saves) and two BC goals off the rush proved to be the difference in the game.

“Tough way to lose a hockey game,” Terrier head coach Albie O’Connell said after the game.

“Both [BC goals] came off turnovers, so they were opportunistic in what they were doing out there. Tip your cap to BC. They played a good hockey game,” O’Connell added.

Boston College head coach Jerry York was pleased with the way his team looked in the victory.

“Great effort by our players tonight,” York said. “I thought they played hard. They played strong, especially on the P.K. Just a really good effort tonight.”

Similar to Saturday’s game, the Terriers jumped on the Eagles early and barraged Dop with shots. They earned a 4-on-3 power play just over five minutes into the game, and junior forward Wilmer Skoog broke the ice with a fantastic shot. The Swedish standout collected a behind-the-back feed from his linemate, junior forward Matt Brown, and rifled a slap shot over the left shoulder of Dop for his team-leading 12th goal of the season.

After the first period, the two teams went to the locker room with the Terriers holding a 19-7 edge in the shot count and a 1-0 advantage on the scoreboard. After the game, York said that the one-goal deficit felt much more surmountable for the Eagles. 

“Last night, they had a 3-0 lead early, and we had to fight all the way back. Tonight, you know 1-0 it’s still right there it’s not an insurmountable lead”, York said.

Sure enough, the second period was much more evenly matched, and just over 15 minutes into the middle stanza, the Eagles capitalized on a turnover by Boston University junior defenseman John Copeland. Copeland lofted a backhand right onto the stick of Boston College forward Marc Mclaughlin, who fed his linemate, Jack McBain, for a 2-on-1 opportunity. McBain roofed the puck over the glove of Terrier sophomore netminder Drew Commesso (21 saves) to knot the score up at one. 

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York’s decision to put McLaughlin and McBain together paid off.

“I wanted to get McBain with McLaughlin. That was the key reason to doing that,” York said when asked why he shuffled his top two lines.

For Boston University, Copeland’s turnover was a costly player by a defenseman who is a bubble player. O’Connell sat Copeland for the remainder of the game following the turnover.

“We had full control of the puck, and he kind of threw a backhand up the middle, and they capitalized on it,” O’Connell said.

The Terriers had multiple opportunities to retake the lead later in the second period, but they failed to cash in. Their most notable opportunity was a 30-second 5-on-3 power play with three minutes to go in the period. O’Connell called time out to draw up a plan of attack and was disappointed with the way his team executed it.

“When we called the timeout before the 5-on-3, that was kind of an important moment in the game, and we didn’t execute,” O’Connell said. “We had some guys on the power play tonight who didn’t necessarily execute what we were trying to do.” 

The second period tied at one, and the Eagles took a power play into the third period. The Terriers killed that penalty to start the third and again picked up their play. They peppered Dop with 14 more shots in the final frame. The Eagles goaltender stopped them all.

On the other side, Commesso stood tall but got burned by two of his former Olympic teammates. McLaughlin fired a cross-ice feed to BC defenseman Drew Helleson, who stepped into a one-timer before Commesso could get across.

O’Connell referred to the goal as “an NHL play,” and York said after the game that a goal like that was necessary to beat Commesso.

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“That was the only way we were gonna catch him. It had to be a one-timer because he gets across quick,” York said.

Before the goal, Boston College graduate student Brandon Kruse took a big hit as he dropped the puck to McLaughlin.

“On the goal that won the game, Brandon Kruse took a big hit to make a play,” York said.

O’Connell said, “[Max Kaufman] went for a big hit, and the puck squirted to their guy. It was kind of a broken play that turned into a highlight-reel play.”

Boston College forward Patrick Giles added an empty-net goal in the final seconds to seal the game for Boston College. The Terriers dropped to 16th in the PairWise with the loss.

They now have two regular-season games remaining against Maine before the Hockey East playoffs the following week. Friday’s game against Maine starts at 7:30 p.m. at Alfond Arena in Orono.

Featured Image: BC senior forward Jack McBain (11) scores on BU sophomore goaltender Drew Commesso (29) during the second period of a 3-1 Eagles win at Conte Forum on Feb,. 27, 2022. Photo by Patrick Donnelly.

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