The BG Ice Hockey team defeated Robert Morris 3-2 Saturday night to win the consolation game of the Three Rivers Classic tournament at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. On Friday night, BG lost 5-0 to Boston College, the eventual tournament champions.
Prior to the start of the tournament, BG sophomore skater Dajon Mingo was ruled academically ineligible and will not play the rest of the season according to BG head coach Chris Bergeron. Mingo has three goals and eight assists in 18 games this season for the Falcons.
On Friday night, BG faced off against seventh ranked Boston College and their former head coach Jerry York, who led the Falcons to their only National Championship in program history in the 1983-84 season.
Boston College scored three times in less than seven minutes into the game to take an early 3-0 lead. The Falcons failed to score a goal throughout the night, as Boston College won 5-0, while Tommy Burke made 33 saves in the losing effort.
“It was a poor start,” coach Bergeron said. “They were ready and we weren’t.”
“They came out hard tonight,” BG forward Adam Berkle said. “We were a little slow. Everyone was excited to play, but I don’t think everyone was ready to play.”
With the win, Boston College improved to 11-4-2 overall and advanced to the Three Rivers Classic championship game on Saturday night. In the championship game, Boston College defeated Penn State 8-2.
During Saturday night’s consolation game, the Falcons saw three different skaters score goals and freshman goaltender Tomas Sholl made 20 saves as BG defeated Robert Morris 3-2. BG received goals from Kevin Dufour, Brett Mohler and Bryce Williamson on the night.
BG went 4 for 6 on the penalty kill and 1 for 4 on the power play during the winning effort.
“We played well,” coach Bergeron said. “Our offensive zone play was pretty good. We defended pretty well. There was more purpose to what we were doing in the defensive zone in terms of our coverage which is something we’ve been struggling with.”
The win improved the Falcons record to 9-9-4 overall. The loss dropped Robert Morris’s record to 2-12-2 overall. BG is now 7-3-0 when holding a lead after the second period this season.
The Falcons will return to WCHA play next week (Jan. 3-4), when they face off against the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The puck will drop at 7:07 p.m. (CT). The road series will be the final regular season matchup between the two opponents.
