BU men’s hockey Connecticut weekend

Onthe nights of Jan,28 and 29, your BU men’s hockey team was in Connecticut to face off against two opponents nationally ranked in the top ten of the Collegiate Hockey Federation (CHF). The boys woke up on Friday morning, packed their cars and took a five hour road trip down to the Northford Ice Pavilion to take on their first opponents of the weekend in number eight ranked Quinnipiac.

Early into the first period BU men’s struck first with a beautiful powerplay goal but found themselves trailing 3-1 at the end of the first as Quinnipiac scored three unanswered. Halfway through the second, the team found themselves in an even bigger hole down 6-2, a lead that would stand until the second intermission. BU came out for blood in the third, erasing the deficit and bringing it back to a 6-6 tie before Quinnipiac would score again halfway through the third to once again take the lead. With less than two minutes left on the board, Bishop’s made the choice to pull the goalie, a decision that proved fruit- ful. With just a little over a minute left they evened up the score and sent the game to overtime. In overtime, leading goal scorer William Leclerc would find the back of the net to seal an 8-7 comeback win over Quinnipiac.

The following day, the boys were back in action, this time against number five ranked Farmingdale State University. Bishop’s drew first blood but once again trailed 3-1 at the end of the first. Immediately at the start of the second period Farmingdale would score another goal to increase their lead to three.

This was then followed by a hectic remainder of the second with Bishop’s scoring two goals to bring the game within one goal. Then, Farmingdale scored two of their own, followed by Bishop’s scoring two more. When it was all said and done, the teams headed to the locker rooms, and the Gaiters found themselves trailing 7-6 after the second. Four minutes into the final frame the boys found the back of the net to tie the game up at 7 all. Shortly after, Farmingdale managed to sneak one home, bringing them back up by one. BU found themselves down with less than three minutes to go when Leighton Geraghty found Ryan Massicotte all alone in the slot to tie the game up, sending the game to overtime in back-to-back nights. In the overtime period, there was a great effort from Will Leclerc, who found Raph Deslauriers for the 9-8 overtime winning goal.

Coming into the weekend in Connecticut, BU men’s hockey was ranked number 8 in the CHF. Following their back-to-back wins against top-ten teams in competition, they now find themselves ranked number six in the United States. They will look to continue their success at home on Feb. 10 at 12:30 p.m. against Paul Smith’s College.

Christina Lépine, Features Editor » thecampus.features@gmail.com