The No. 7 Boston College men’s hockey team honored its legendary coach in electric fashion, exploding for a 9-2 victory over second-ranked Wisconsin on Jerry York Night at Kelley Rink on Friday evening. The Eagles’ coach, in his 20th season at The Heights, was honored in a pregame ceremony for breaking the NCAA all-time mark for coaching victories. After tonight’s triumph, York has won 937 games in 42 years of collegiate hockey coaching.
Fifteen different skaters scored a point, including junior Johnny Gaudreau’s second-straight three-point performance (1-2-3) to crack the 100-point plateau for his career, to help thrust the Eagles past a highly-touted Badgers’ club. The Carneys Point, N.J., native cinched his 44th career goal and 57th and 58th assists in 82 games to become the 74th Eagle in program history to reach that benchmark.
Rookie Austin Cangelosi registered his first two career goals and added an assist while classmate Adam Gilmour turned in a playmaker with three helpers on the night. Seniors Kevin Hayes (1-2-3) and Patrick Brown (1-1-2) joined freshmen Ian McCoshen (1-1-2) and Ryan Fitzgerald (0-2-2) as one of seven BC multi-point getters.
Junior goaltender Brian Billett earned his first win of the season via 14 saves through two and a half periods before classmate Brad Barone cleaned up the remaining 9:05 with five stops. Wisconsin’s Landon Peterson took the loss after stopping 16 shots on 22 attempts before Adam Miller coughed up three tallies on 27 shots.
The Eagles netted four goals within a span of 4:39 to set the precedent midway through the first stanza.
Cangelosi accounted for the contest’s first two markers 50 seconds apart from one another at 10:14 and 11:04. Hayes and Gaudreau crafted some magic in the corner to set Cangelosi up by himself for the easy lift in. Shortly after, Fitzgerald gathered a misplayed puck on BC’s blue line and fed Hayes in the neutral zone. Hayes carted it down the left side and connected with Cangelosi’s open blade for the easy one-timer for the 2-0 lead.
Gaudreau broke free and finished off another signature goal at 13:30. Freshman Steven Santini cleared out the puck to Gilmour on the near wall. Gilmour relayed it to Gaudreau in stride and after beating his defender, double deked Peterson for the wide-open backhander and a 3-0 lead. A few exchanges later, McCoshen benefitted from a set faceoff play to Peterson’s right. Arnold cleanly won it out to Gilmour followed by a vicious McCoshen slap shot through traffic for the 4-0 lead at 15:53 of the first frame.
The Eagles did not relent at the start of the second period. Sophomore blue liner Michael Matheson, a plus-seven on the night, joined rookie defenseman Scott Savage in early strikes at 00:21 and 1:45, respectively. Matheson hammered home a one-timer from Gaudreau before Savage picked the upper right corner off of a freshman Chris Calnan carom to force Peterson out of net. Midway through the second, junior Michael Sit pushed the buffer to seven goals at 13:34 with an unattested wrister on the right dot.
Hayes and Brown maintained BC’s pace with scores at 4:44 and 10:55 of the last period, Brown’s coming a man down for Boston College’s ninth and final tally of the night.
The Badgers stopped the bleeding and took advantage of an Arnold slash at 14:45 when Michael Mersch tipped a blast from Jake McCabe. Nic Kerdiles added Wisconsin’s second goal in between the circles at 9:18 on a rebound from Joe Faust.
Boston College doubled up Wisconsin in the final shot totals, posting 49 to UW’s 21. The Eagles went 0-for-5 on the power play, turning in eight even-strength goals along with Brown’s short-handed marker.
Boston College continues its Big Ten swing with a pair on the road next weekend in Minneapolis. The Eagles will have an extended stay when they take on No. 3 Minnesota on Friday and Sunday, Oct. 25 and Oct. 27. Friday’s game will start at 8 p.m. while Sunday’s puck drop is slated for 2 p.m.
