PC Hockey Puts Up Valiant Effort, But Loses Heartbreaker to #3 BC in Overtime
Robert McMahon, Sports Columnist
PC Hockey Puts Up Valiant Effort, But Loses Heartbreaker to #3 BC in Overtime
With five minutes remaining in the third period, the #10 Friars led 2-1, and it looked like a huge Friar upset was in the offing. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
A PC and BC player collided in the BC end of the rink—it appeared to be a random collision, but the ref signaled a delayed penalty on PC. BC maintained control of the puck, allowing the BC goalie Jan Korec to scurry to the BC bench, enabling an extra BC attacker to come on the ice.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTPC was unable to get control of the puck and BC with a 6 on 5 advantage scored the tying goal with 4:04 remaining on the clock. The Friars appeared to score the go-ahead goal a couple of minutes later in a scrum in front of the BC net. But the ref whistled the play dead before the puck was lifted into the net.
Into a 5 minute overtime with each team skating just three players. A perfect scenario for the faster-skating Eagles and their top line of Gabe Perrault, James Hagens, and Ryan Leonard. Leonard scored his second goal of the night, and his 8th goal of the season, in a crowd of players swarming PC goalie Phil Svedeback with 48.5 seconds remaining. The goal silenced the PC fans and sent the Eagles back to Chestnut Hill a 3-2 winner.
A Winnable Game for the Friars, but BC is a Better Team at this Point in the Season
The Eagles looked impressive for long stretches of the game. They punched a goal past Friar goalie Svedeback 54 seconds into the game. After 11 minutes of play in the first period, the Friars only had 2 shots on goal. BC was not only the faster team but was winning all the puck battles on the boards and in the neutral zone. PC was lucky to be trailing only 1-0 after the first period.
PC finally found their legs and their willingness to attack the puck on the boards in the second period, and Clint Levens scored quickly at 27 seconds to tie the game. And at 3:08 of the second period PC took the lead when Arizona State transfer Ryan O’Reilly scored his 5th goal of the year unassisted. The crowd sensed a PC upset, but BC took charge of the game from the 9-minute mark of the second period and ended up outshooting PC13-9 for the period, thanks to two power play opportunities. BC couldn’t get the equalizer, however, thanks to the stellar netminding of Svedeback.
Coach Nate Leaman employed a defensive strategy for the third period, often sending only one PC attacker into the offensive end. The Eagles dominated play, outshooting the Friars 13-4 for the period. The questionable delayed penalty indication against PC at the 5:00 minute mark, which enabled BC to tie the game with an extra attacker, finally gave BC the edge they needed to send the game into overtime.
The Friars’ record falls to 7-3-2 and BC now sits at 8-2-0.
- BC’s top line of Leonard, Hagens, and Perrault scored all 3 BC goals and accounted for 44% of BC’s shots on goal. That line may be the best line PC faces all year.
- BC outshot the Friars for the game 39-26.
- The BC penalty kill remains perfect at 100% as the Friars went 0-2 on their power play.
- PC’s Svedeback save percentage was .923 for the game and he kept PC in the game in the third period.
- Brady Berard, a PC player for two seasons before transferring to BC last May, started the game for BC and played on BC’s fourth line. He has not seen consistent playing time for BC, however, and has no goals or assists yet.
- PC will play a non-conference game this Saturday at Schneider against independent Long Island University. Puck drop is 6 pm. LIU owns a 4-4 record that includes a 5-2 win at Notre Dame.
- PC students insisted on taunting the BC team with a childish “F_ _K BC” chant throughout the game. Is that the level of creative cleverness that PC students can come up with?