It was a triumphant return for former BGSU hockey coach Jerry York Saturday night as his fourth-ranked Boston College Eagles overcame a big second period comeback by BG to escape the BG Ice Arena with a 9-6 win.
Seven different Eagles tallied goals on the night as the Falcons fell to 0-2 on the year despite making a comeback from a 6-2 deficit, scoring three goals in the second period to close to within one. They then added a power-play goal early in the third period to tie the game.
It wouldn’t be enough though as a goal by Joe Adams at 9:26 of the third period broke the 6-6 tie and proved to be the game-winner as he was able to stuff it by BG goaltender Jon Horrell on the right side.
Nathan Gerbe and Joe Rooney would add goals just three and four minutes later as BC pulled away from the Falcons en route to its first win of the season.
“I was extremely proud of our group to get it back to 6-6,” BG coach Scott Paluch said. “We showed a lot of who we are in that regard. We played a pretty good hockey game against a pretty good team.”
Freshman goaltender Jimmy Spratt got the start for the Falcons and right away saw just how good the Eagles were. Just 2:15 into the game BC took a 2-0 lead as Chris Collins tallied a power-play goal at 1:58 and teammate Pat Gannon answered just 17 seconds later by flipping a shot over the young net-minder’s shoulder after taking the puck through traffic.
Spratt was replaced by Horrell after giving up his fifth goal of the night.
The Falcons staged their first comeback of the night as Jonathan Matsumoto notched the first of his three goals on the night just 45 seconds after Gannon’s goal to make it 2-1.
Derek Whitmore tied the game at 2-2, scoring on the Falcons third power-play of the night at 9:58.
BG’s power-play went 5-for-12 on the evening as it had the BC penalty-killers on their heels for most of the night.
“The Falcon power-play was just unstoppable tonight,” York said. “We were dodging bullets toward the end. They moved the puck very well. They have very skilled players. They were very, very good on the power-play.”
Coach Paluch was also impressed with the way his team was able to score successfully with the extra-attacker at key moments of the game.
“Our power-play kept answering the bell when we needed it,” he said. “I thought all 10 guys on the power-play tonight moved the puck extremely well and made some terrific plays.”
After BC scored four unanswered goals to take the 6-2 lead the Falcons used that power-play to get them back in it.
Matsumoto added his second goal of the night on a power-play at 11:25 of the second period to make it 6-3. Then after a goal by Rich Meloche 48 seconds later, Matsumoto completed his hat-trick on the power-play with just 4:35 remaining in the period.
For Matsumoto it was the first hat-trick of his career as he became the first Falcon to score a hat-trick since 2004. D’Arcy McConvey was the last to do it when he netted three against Minnesota-Duluth two seasons ago.
His line of Alex Foster and Mike Falk accounted for four of the six BG goals on the night. Falk would tie the game at 6-6 with a power-play tally in the third and Foster would add two assists.
“We started playing together last year and we’ve just been clicking,” Matsumoto said of the success. “I love playing with Foster and everything just came together for us tonight.”
Despite the loss, Coach Paluch feels his team can take positives out the weekend that included a disappointing 3-2 loss to Merrimack the night before. It was a game where the Falcons had clearly out-played the Warriors and lost after making some key mistakes late in the third period.
“I’m disappointed that our club is 0-2 right now,” Paluch said. “But I feel really good about this team. I like what this team can do. I like the fact that we’#39;ve got a lot of guys involved.”
BG will return to the ice Thursday night when they host fifth-ranked Ohio State to kick of their Central Collegiate Hockey Association schedule before heading to Columbus on Friday.
