BC sweeps UMass to move into first place in Hockey East
Boston College entered its home and home weekend series with No. 11 UMass with three objectives.
Secure a sweep, maintain its No. 1 national ranking, and move into first-place in Hockey East with five to play in the regular season. BC checked all the boxes with a hardscrabble 6-4 victory over the Minutemen during a Sunday matinee at Conte Forum.
BC freshman right wing Ryan Leonard of Amherst netted the hat trick for BC. Leonard had two goals in the Eagles 5-1 win at UMass on Friday night for five in the series and 21 on the season.
“Sometime you have those moments and obviously your teammates notice and try to get me the puck,” said Leonard. “This weekend was one of those weekends where I was just feeling it and everybody has those moments.
The Eagles (23-5-1, 15-3-1) recovered from their non-league 4-3 loss to BU in the opening round of the Beanpot on Feb. 5 with four straight victories over New Hampshire, Harvard, and the two against UMass. The Minutemen dropped to 16-9-3 overall, 9-7-2 in Hockey East and are at risk of falling outside the NCAA tournament bubble.
“We are keeping a short focus one game at a time,” said BC coach Greg Brown. “We know we want to be playing our best hockey at the end of the year and that’s about our next opponent and what we need to do to get a win.”
UMass broke a 3-3 deadlock on a goal by freshman Dans Locmelis at 7:56 of the third. Defenseman Samuli Niinisaari set up Locmelis for a redirect that slipped by BC goaltender Jacob Flower for his seventh of the season.
UMass had two skaters in the box when Leonard tied the game on a wrist shot from the low slot that beat UMass goalie Michael Hrabal (40 saves) at 10:03 for his second of the game. BC was still on the power play when Leonard secured the hat trick at 11:01. BC center Cutter Gauthier notched his 26th of the season into an open net with 1:45 to play.
“Tough way to lose a game,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel.
BC went up 1-0 at 6:44 on a magnificent collaboration by the Eagles’ second line, which is made up of freshmen 2023 NHL first round draft picks. Center Will Smith (three first assists) got the puck to Gabe Perreault, who relayed it to Leonard at the bottom of the right circle. Leonard ripped a wrister that beat Hrabal stick side.
BC went up 2-0 on the power play at 19:12. Perreault collected a Smith rebound and flicked it inside the near post from a bad angle for his 14th of the season.
“Will sees the ice but the whole line scans the ice well,” said Brown. “They have a feel for it if you watch them closely. You see them looking over their shoulders and if they do get the puck, they know what is next.”
UMass took over the game with three unanswered goals in the second to go up, 3-2. Sophomore center Kenny Connors took a feed from Cam O’Neill, sliced through the right circle, and beat Fowler with a wrist shot stick side for his sixth.
Connors set up freshman left wing Aydar Suniev for the first of two at 11:31. The Calgary Flames draft pick from Kazan, Russia, put the Minutemen ahead with a nifty setup by Lucas Mercuri at 12:00. BC tied the game 3-3 on a seeing eye knuckleball shot by graduate BU transfer Jamie Armstrong at 15:17.