Valiant Effort by PC Hockey in 2nd and 3rd periods but Not Enough in 4-2 Loss to #2 BU
Robert McMahon, Sports Columnist
Valiant Effort by PC Hockey in 2nd and 3rd periods but Not Enough in 4-2 Loss to #2 BU
The first period was a head-scratcher for long-time Friar hockey fans. The Friars were totally dominated by BU and didn’t manage one shot on net. Yes, no shots on goal. I have never seen that in all the years I have been following Friars hockey. BU took 23 shots with 12 shots on goal but had just one goal to show for their dominance. At the end of the period, fans didn’t know if the Friars could capitalize on the luck of only being down by one goal and bounce back in the next period, or was this going to be game where BU dominance would emerge and finally blow out the PC sextet.
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Both of those outcomes occurred. PC found their skates in the second period, put more shots on net than BU, and came away with 2 goals and a 2-1 lead after the second period. Senior Chase Yoder scored a power-play goal, and freshman Hudson Malinoski found the back of the net. Fans began to think they were going to witness a major upset, but alas, BU dominance did emerge in the third period. The sharp shooting Terriers scored 3 unanswered goals even though PC outshot them. BU is like Boston College and can score goals in bunches with the talent on their team. Not surprisingly, the BU freshman phenom Macklin Celebrini was all over the ice, scored 2 goals, assisted on another, and his stick-handling and skating demonstrated why he will likely be the #1 NHL pick this spring.
The Friars wasted a golden opportunity to go up 3-1 when BU defenseman Gavin McDonald was hit with a 5-minute major penalty and a game misconduct with 4 minutes to go in the second period. The Friars couldn’t capitalize and BU quickly tied the game at 2.42 of the third period with a power play goal.
The impact of this loss on PC’s pairwise ranking and chances to be selected to the NCAA took a hit. PC went from #10 to #13 in the rankings with the loss. Only 16 teams will be selected.