By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
The Boston College Eagles defeated UMass 4-2 on Saturday night to secure a weekend Hockey East sweep, with their Boston Bruins draft picks playing central roles in both contests.
Despite entering the series heavily depleted by injury to the point of icing only ten forwards on Friday night, BC outscored the Minutemen 7-3, with Dean Letourneau and Kristian Kostadinski combining for three goals and four points to help the Eagles snap a three-game losing streak and pick up six vital points in conference play.
BC struck first within the first three minutes of play when Casey Mutryn deflected a point shot home, giving the Eagles the icebreaker for the second consecutive night and his first collegiate goal.
“I was looking at the line chart and saw that he (Mutryn) still had zero… He’s probably due. Sure enough, he got one right away,” said BC head coach Greg Brown.
The Minutemen answered with sustained pressure midway through the period, trapping the Eagles in their own zone and narrowly missing a pair of grade A chances, most notably when Lukas Klecka struck the post from just outside the crease off a BC turnover behind their own net.Â
The Eagles survived into the intermission unscathed, then doubled their lead early in the second frame when a blocked point shot came right to Kostadinski at the faceoff dot, and he snapped it short-side high on UMass goaltender Ethan Eskit, a goal that he, admittedly, never saw. “I actually did not see that the puck went in, to be honest,” he said, adding that he didn’t realize he scored until a teammate told him.
The game broke open almost immediately, with Letourneau missing two chances to extend the Eagles’ lead, then Jack Musa scoring for the Minutemen at the other end moments later. 28 seconds later, Kostadinski struck again on a fluttered turnaround shot from the point to restore the Eagles’ two-goal advantage, the third goal in under two minutes of play. “The timing of it was huge to get that second goal… That was a big shift in momentum for us,” said Brown.
Kostadinski’s second goal of the night was his third in three games, after recording just three points in his freshman year without scoring. “I think it’s fun, just trying to help the team, if it’s goals or whatever it is, it’s just fun to me,” he said.
Eagles captain Will Vote was presented with an opportunity to extend their lead later in the period when UMass’ Landon Nycz conceded a penalty shot by playing a broken stick toward him, but Vote missed the net. Oscar Hemming would tally on the insurance marker minutes later on a breakaway to give BC a 4-1 advantage.
UMass cut the deficit midway through the third period on a goal from Melvin Novotny, but the Eagles held the fort in the final ten minutes. A late holding penalty on Larry Keenan gave BC a power play with less than two minutes remaining, allowing them to burn the rest of the clock without giving the Minutemen a chance to pull their goaltender and secure the 4-2 win and weekend sweep.
Kostadinski was named the first star of the game, and the Eagles improved to 4-5-2, with a 3-2-1 record in Hockey East play. They’ll hit the road to play Maine twice in Orono next weekend.
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