Thanks For Coming

Brendan Silk celebrates his first goal, giving BC a 5-1 lead.

Thanks to a big night from the newly formed line of Kevin Hayes-Bill Arnold-Brendan Silk, the  Eagles gave Coach York his record tying 924th win as they dominated archrival Boston University en route to a 5-2 win. What can I say ? There was not one guy that didn't play a good game tonight for the home team. From Whitney to Mullane to Silk, everybody was flying all over the ice and making plays in both zones for BC. If you compare the efforts from to tonight to last nights, it is like comparing day and night. The raucous home crowd clearly got everyone going from the get go as the Eagles had an early strike from Johnny G called back due to "goalie interference". I guess it could have gone either way but it didn't seem to me that the BC forward (I don't remember who it was) made a whole lot of contact with BU goalie Matt O'Connor. A few minutes after the disallowed goal, BC finally broke through on the power play, something they did a lot tonight, as Teddy Doherty scored his first colligate goal. Just two minutes after the goal however, the Terriers responded with a power play tally of their own as Wade Megan won a battle for the puck and slid it over to Cason Hohmann, who buried it in the wide open net. There may have been just two goals in the period but as was the case in last nights first stanza, there was a lot of up and down play for both teams. Give credit to the two goalies, they were both great tonight, especially in the first.

As the first came to a close, BU forward Yasin Cisse took an interference penalty giving BC yet another PP to start the second that they had to cash in on. After some quality saves from O'Connor to keep the Eagles off the board for the majority of the PP, Bill Arnold potted in a rebound goal, giving BC a 2-1 lead early in the period. After that goal, the Terriers started completely dominating the game as they had the puck in the BC end for a good five minutes. If it wasn't for some timely saves by Parker Milner, this game could have had a different result. After BC got their feet back under them and started playing better, they were rewarded with a long 5 on 3 which was capped off with a blast by Mike Matheson from the top of the circle making 3-1. Let's give the power play a lot of credit. The personnel was the same as it was last night for the most part but the way both units were moving the puck around was a great sign. I thought BC did a really good job of getting good looks on the man up and capitalizing on them, something they have not done in recent weeks. When you're moving the puck and generating clean looks, more often then not you're going to get some goals. It was amazing that after another Arnold PP goal late in the period, BC could be up three goals going into the third period after being outplayed badly for a long time in the second.

Everybody played a part in the victory tonight but let me start with the play of Brendan Silk. I'm not going to lie, I was a little surprised when I saw the staff move him up to the second line but boy did he play well tonight. He is starting to evolve into that power forward type that he was brought in here to be. His goal, BC's fifth, was all effort on his part as he read the play perfectly and picked off the BU defender inside the blue line, scoring on a quick shot soon after. Silk's linemates, Bill Arnold and Kevin Hayes got back to playing some top notch hockey tonight for the Eagles as they were a combined +2 on the night, (+3 if you include Silk). If you had told me that BC would score 5 goals tonight and nobody on the first line would have one of them, I would have thought you were from space. On the defensive side of things, I thought the Eagles were very solid for the majority of the game. There were no real defensive breakdowns except for the breakaway in the beginning of the second so kudos to all six defenseman for answering the call and playing sound hockey tonight. I said last night that I didn't think anyone played very well. Tonight I didn't think there was a guy that had a sub par game.

All in all, Eagle fans have to be really proud of their team tonight. Although he doesn't want people to talk about it, I can't go without congratulating Coach York on his amazing accomplishment. Winning one game in any sport, especially college hockey, is not easy. Winning 924 and 5 National Championships is unprecedented. Of course, having the win come against that team makes it a little bit sweeter.
Why BC Won-

1. A strong power play. Both units really came through in the clutch tonight. Thought they both moved it around with a lot more zip than last night.

2. The play of the second line. No Destry ? No problem. Brendan Silk did a fantastic job of stepping into a bigger role and coming through.

3. Conte Forum was as loud as I've ever heard it. I honestly don't think I've ever heard it so loud. Was cool to be a part of.

Problems-

Any team we beat them, I won't have too much in this category.

Player(s) of the game- Bill Arnold and Brendan Silk

Up next- @ Providence next Friday.

It's a great night to be an Eagle.

GO BC !

Thanks For Coming