The Boston College men’s hockey team defeated UMass Lowell 3-1 on Friday night to kick off their final weekend of the first half of the season. Dean Letourneau had a two-goal night, James Hagens scored
again to continue his recent stretch of strong play, and the Eagles made it two wins in a row as they started this home-and-home series with an overall solid performance.
It was a slow start to the game for both teams, with neither side generating much in terms of scoring chances or even shots for the opening 15 or so minutes. That changed when BC got their first power play chance of the night, however, with the team’s second unit combining to open the scoring. Jake Sondreal made two quick passes to get Lowell out of position and set up Dean Letourneau on the back post for a tap in goal to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. BC killed a penalty immediately after scoring their goal and James Hagens almost doubled their lead with a breakaway chance towards the end of the kill, but Letourneau’s goal remained the only tally of the period as BC went into intermission with a one-goal lead.
BC came out stronger in the second period, stringing together a few good shifts in a row and creating some scoring chances early on. Louka Cloutier had the save of the night about halfway through the period, sprawling across his crease to get his glove on a shot from in close and the Eagles made the most of the momentum they gained. James Hagens doubled the team’s lead just a few shifts after Cloutier’s big save, blasting home a one-timer off of a great cross ice feed from Lukas Gustafsson on what looked like a set play on an offensive zone faceoff. Hagens had a few more big chances during the rest of the period and the Eagles had a late power play that generated some good looks, but they were once again held to just the one goal in the period and took a 2-0 lead into the third.
Dean Letourneau seemed to put this one out of reach early on in the third period, scoring his second power play goal of the night on a redirection on a shot from the point. The goal was challenged by Lowell for a potential high stick, but it was upheld after a lengthy review to give BC a 3-0 lead. Lowell managed to get back in the game a bit just after BC had killed off a penalty, scoring with just under 12 minutes left to cut it to a two-goal game. Lowell made a real push after scoring their goal and strung a few good shifts together, but they were unable to convert either at even strength or on a late power play and BC took this one by a 3-1 score.
After a slow start to the night, BC was pretty much in control of this one for the entire time. At one point early in the third period, the Eagles had a 23-6 lead in shots and the eye test certainly matched up with the stats. It was a nice result against a Lowell team that has been struggling so far this season, especially with the long break coming up. BC will have a chance to complete the weekend sweep tomorrow night when they host Lowell in their final game before the holiday break.
