MANCHESTER, N.H. – No. 1 overall seed Boston College got all it could handle from 16-seed Bentley, but ultimately the Eagles found a way to pull out a 3-1 win in the opening round of the NCAA men’s hockey tournament Friday in Manchester. The game was a 1-1 affair for the majority of the second and third periods.
BC’s power play, which surprisingly ranks 42nd in the country this season, couldn’t convert on back-to-back man advantages in the third period, including 18 seconds of a 5-on-3. Those kills energized Bentley, who actually put the Eagles on the ropes a little bit with a couple chances to take the lead. At one point, BC iced the puck three times in less than two minutes just to alleviate the pressure.
The Eagles didn’t break, though, and then it took just one great shift from their talented top line to win the game. Projected top-five pick James Hagens set up Washington Capitals top prospect Ryan Leonard for a chance that Bentley goalie Connor Hasley turned aside, but BC kept the possession alive. Eventually, Hagens picked the puck up off the end boards and beat Hasley to the far post for a wraparound goal to put BC up 2-1 with 1:17 remaining. Leonard added an empty-netter to seal the win.
That line also opened the scoring, with New York Rangers prospect Gabe Perreault getting that goal. The Eagles dominated much of the first period, but it took until the 16:45 mark to finally get on the board, with Perreault finishing off the rush on assists from Leonard and Hagens.
Bentley answered early in the second on a power play, with graduate captain Ethan Leyh finishing off a nice feed from Stephen Castagna. The game would remain tied for the next 35 minutes before Hagens’ late breakthrough.
The game was marred by repeated issues with the pegs for the nets, resulting in multiple stoppages to try to fix the moorings as the nets dislodged at just about every slight bump. Part of the problem could be that Manchester’s SNHU Arena has been infrequently used as a hockey venue since the ECHL Manchester Monarchs folded in 2019 (which itself followed the departure of the AHL team by the same name in 2015).
The NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship Committee issued a statement after the game. The Eagles will now face Denver in Sunday night’s regional final in Manchester (puck drop 7 p.m. ET), in a rematch of last year’s national championship game. The Pioneers won that one, 2-0, to capture their second title in three years.
Denver dominated Providence in Friday night’s second game in Manchester, cruising to a 5-1 win. The Friars had a brief moment of hope in the third period when they got a five-minute power play and scored just four seconds into it to cut the lead to 4-1 with 8:21 to go, but they couldn’t score the rest of the five-minute advantage and eventually conceded an empty-netter.
Bruins prospect Philip Svedeback had a tough night in the PC net, giving up four goals on 19 shots. He misplayed the puck behind his net to hand Connor Caponi the game’s opening goal just 2:25 in. Star defenseman and Minnesota Wild prospect Zeev Buium had a goal and two assists to lead Denver.
Three other Hockey East teams joined BC in advancing to the second round, with Boston University, UMass, and UConn all winning their tournament openers. Hockey East tournament champion Maine could not join them, as the Black Bears fell to Penn State, 5-1, Friday night in Allentown, Pa.
While Maine was the higher seed, this was essentially a road game with Nittany Lions fans taking over the PPL Center. Penn State needed to be placed in Allentown because it was the host school of that regional. The Black Bears scored first, but then Penn State blitzed them with five straight goals, including two on the power play.
BU fell behind Ohio State three times on Thursday, but then exploded for five goals in the third period to run away with an 8-3 win. Freshman defenseman Cole Hutson, a second-round pick of the Capitals, had a goal and three assists. The Terriers will face Cornell in the Toledo, Ohio regional final Saturday at 4 p.m. ET as they seek a third straight trip to the Frozen Four.
UMass beat Minnesota 5-4 in overtime late Thursday night, with Aydar Suniev scoring the winner 4:49 into the extra session off a setup from Bruins prospect Dans Locmelis, who had two assists and was a plus-3 in the game. The Minutemen scored three straight goals in the third period to erase a 3-1 deficit and take the lead, but then gave one back before going to overtime.
UMass will face Western Michigan in the Fargo, N.D. regional final Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET. In an all-Connecticut showdown in Allentown, UConn held Quinnipiac to 11 shots on goal through two periods while building up a 3-1 lead. The red-hot Joey Muldowney (8 goals in the last 5 games) sealed the 4-1 victory – UConn’s first-ever NCAA win – with an empty-netter, while Callum Tung stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced.
The Huskies will face Penn State for a trip to the Frozen Four at 4:30 p.m. ET Sunday. With one Hockey East team left in each of the four regionals, the dream of a first-ever all-Hockey East Frozen Four remains alive. The only time three Hockey East teams made the Frozen Four was in 1999, when BC, Maine, and New Hampshire all went. Maine beat UNH in the national championship game that year.
