Boston College’s Hockey East title drought is over. In a matchup of the top two teams in college hockey, the Eagles defeated archrival Boston University, 6-2, in Saturday night’s Hockey East championship game at a sold-out TD Garden to capture their first conference title since 2012.
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The Eagles will now enter the NCAA Tournament, set to begin on Thursday, as the undisputed No. 1 overall seed, riding high on a 12-game winning streak. They outscored their opponents this weekend 14-3, having beaten UMass 8-1 in the semifinals on Friday.
San Jose Sharks first-round pick and Lexington native Will Smith led the way with four goals and an assist, extending his lead atop the national scoring race in the process. Cutter Gauthier, Gabe Perreault, Ryan Leonard and Eamon Powell all recorded multi-point games as well.
While BC is capable of beating opponents in any number of ways, they did it with their special teams on Saturday. The Eagles’ fourth-ranked power play went 4-for-5 on the night, while their nation-best penalty kill held the Terriers’ second-ranked power play to an 1-for-5 showing.
After killing off an early BU power play, the Eagles got two power plays – and two power-play goals – in quick succession to build a 2-0 lead by the 8:37 mark of the first.
Smith scored both of those. On the first, he fired a pass to the front that deflected in off a BU skate. On the second, he took a crisp pass from Perreault on the rush and sniped the top corner past Mathieu Caron’s blocker. Smith, a freshman, would later assist on BC’s third goal and now has an NCAA-leading 67 points (23 goals, 44 assists) in 37 games on the season.
The Terriers finally settled in after digging the early hole and were actually the better 5-on-5 team much of the night, and they eventually cut the lead to 2-1 four minutes into the second when freshman defenseman Gavin McCarthy snapped a point shot past Jacob Fowler’s glove for his first collegiate goal.
BU continued to push for a tying goal for the rest of the second period, but then they took a late penalty that set up a third, back-breaking power-play goal for BC. Smith moved the puck down to Perreault at the left doorstep, and he then zipped a pass across the front for Gauthier to bury for his NCAA-leading 35th goal of the season.
Smith capped off the hat trick 6:46 into the third, finishing off a feed from Ryan Leonard just seconds after he had been robbed by Caron on another chance. Perreault added a fourth power-play goal, and Smith added an empty-netter for his fourth goal.
On the other side, the Eagles kept Hockey East Player of the Year and probable 2024 No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini quiet until late in the third period, when he scored on a five-minute power play.
In addition to ending their Hockey East title drought, the Eagles’ win also served as a measure of revenge after BU beat them on the same ice in the opening round of the Beanpot last month. BC has now won three of four against the Terriers in the overall season series.
If the two rivals meet again, it would be in the national championship game. BU was already locked in as the No. 2 overall seed for NCAAs prior to Saturday, so they can’t meet before then.
Both teams will find out where they are headed and who they will face in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday evening, with the selection show scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU and ESPN+. BC will almost certainly be the top seed in the Providence regional, and should face 16th overall seed Michigan Tech.
BU’s destination depends on whether UMass makes the tournament as the final at-large team. That will be decided by the NCHC championship game, still in progress as of this posting. If Denver wins, UMass is in and will have to be in Springfield since they’re the host there. That would send BU west to either St. Louis or Sioux Falls since they can’t face a conference opponent in the first round. If Omaha beats Denver, Colorado College makes it over UMass, and BU would get to stay east in Springfield. (UPDATE: Denver won, so UMass is in and will be in Springfield. BU will face RIT in one of the western regionals.)
Maine, who lost to BU in the semis on Friday, will also be back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. They will be a two-seed, location and opponent to be determined.