Chestnut Hill, MA – The Boston College Eagles kept the University of Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks grounded in a 7-1 rout on Kelley Rink at Conte Forum. The top-ranked Eagles were paced by two goals apiece from Mike Hardman and Alex Newhook. Sophomore goaltender Spencer Knight made 29 saves in notching his 11th win of the season, while the Eagles improved to 12-3-1.
BC jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a Drew Helleson wrister that beat Henry Welsch top shelf.
The Eagles were gifted a power play just seconds later when UML’s Nolan Sawchuk was whistled for Tripping.
It would be the River Hawks that took advantage of the special teams’ situation. Lucas Condotta tied the game 1-1 at 4:20 when he knocked a Zach Kaiser pass past Knight. Kaiser fed Condotta from behind the BC net. That would be the extent of the River Hawks offensive output for the evening despite garnering 30 shots on goal.
Brian Chambers was sent to the penalty box at 12:42 for Hooking. BC and Hardman wasted no time in capitalizing on the man advantage. Hardman beat Welsch on a wraparound just seconds into the power play. 2-1 Eagles.
Knight caught the River Hawks napping on a line change when he fired a pass to the UML blueline sending Hardman into the offensive zone for a BC three-on-zero. Hardman dished to Matt Boldy, who then passed to Newhook. Newhook tapped the puck past Welsch making it 3-1 just twenty-six seconds into the second period.
At 12:03 Casey Carreau blasted a loose puck past Welsch from the top of the left circle to put this one firmly out of the River Hawks reach. BC’s Matt McLaughlin leveled UML’s Ben Meehan in the slot as he tried to start the River Hawks breakout but the puck went right to a wide-open Carreau.
BC added to their lead at 14:41 when Boldy blasted a shot past Welsch from the slot. Trevor Kuntar slipped past a UML hip check at the River Hawks blue line and dished to Boldy for the 5-1 lead.
BC’s Newhook added his second of the game at 1:16 of the third. The Power-Play goal came when Newhook walked in from the point and beat back-up goalie Logan Neaton top shelf. Neaton started the third period.
Hardman made it 7-1 BC when he banged home a Newhook pass on a two-on-one at 12:27.
UML Head Coach Norm Bazin was pretty blunt after the game.
“The only positive I see out of tonight is that we get to play them again tomorrow,” said Bazin.
“Schooled from the opening face-off,” added the coach.
BC Head Coach Jerry York was pleased to come away from the game with a win. He referenced UML’s recent dominance over the Eagles.
The two teams meet again on Saturday at 6:00 pm in Lowell at Tsongas Arena.
