By Daniel Multz
Boston University News Service
In their first action in 11 days since winning the 69th Beanpot Tournament, the BU Men’s Hockey team split a home-and-home series with archrival Boston College.
Each team won their respective home games: BU beat BC 6-3 at Agganis Arena on Saturday, while BC responded by beating BU 3-1 at Conte Forum.
“They’re a good hockey team over there, they pose a lot of problems. [They’ve] got some size, and some speed, and some strength and skill, and we had to play a pretty good game to beat them,” BU Head Coach Albie O’Connell said after Saturday’s win.
Terrier sophomores stole the show on Friday, with forwards Luke Tuch and Beanpot Tournament M.V.P. Dylan Peterson netting two goals each, while Vinny Duplessis stayed hot starting in net and getting 25 saves.
Junior Wilmer Skoog and freshman Brian Carrabes grabbed the other two goals, while junior defenseman Dominick Fensore added three assists to maintain the team lead with 29 points.
“It was exciting. The crowd was amazing tonight. To get one early, and to get two against my brother’s old team, I’m gonna give him a call after this one. It’s pretty exciting,” Tuch said.
BU could not repeat the offensive performance yesterday, netting just one goal in a 3-1 loss and dropping a crucial game splitting the weekend with the Eagles.
Graduate student goaltender Eric Dop played his best game as an Eagle with a season-high 42 saves. Olympian Jack McBain, playing in his first two games of the calendar year with BC between the Winter Olympics and missing time in January, scored one goal at home after netting two on Saturday against BU.
“BC’s goalie I thought played tremendous. He was probably the difference in the game, and their big players made big plays at the right time,” Coach O’Connell said after Sunday’s loss.
BU remains ranked No. 14 in the USCHO National Ranking. However, they rank 16th, tied with Clarkson University, in the pairwise rankings that determine entry into the NCAA Tournament. BU will either need to finish in that top 16 or win the Hockey East championship to play into late March for a shot at another national title.
