Saturday, December 01, 2012

BC beats BU, York ties Mason for wins mark

Chestnut Hill, MA -- Bill Arnold scored twice and Kevin Hayes added three assists as No. 1 Boston College downed Boston University, 5-2, at Conte Forum on Saturday night.

The win, which came after a 4-2 loss in the front end of this home-and-home, gave BC head coach Jerry York his 924th career victory, tying him with Ron Mason for the NCAA record.

"It's an honor to play for Coach York here at BC. He's changed all of the guys on the team's lives,:" Arnold said. "Breaking the record is something that we really wanted to do for him."

Boston College can give York the record for himself this coming Friday at Schneider Arena in Providence.

"I thought we were smarter and our effort was better than last night," York admitted. "We feel really good about the game, and I think that the rivalry is second to none in college hockey."

Parker Milner made 21 saves, outdueling counterpart Matt O'Connor, who was tagged for all five scores on 36 shots.

BC took two of three in the regular season from their Commonwealth Avenue neighbors, with two more potential meetings in the Beanpot and Hockey East playoffs in 2013.

"I think that as a team we played a lot better and stuck to our game plan much better than we did last night," said Eagles forward Pat Mullane, who assisted on Michael Matheson's second-period power-play goal.

Johnny Gaudreau, who had a first-period marker wiped out due to a penalty, saw his streak of 12 straight games with a point from the start of the season snapped. Freshman Teddy Doherty registered his first collegiate goal to open the scoring in the first period.

It came on a power play, as the diminutive defenseman was alone at the left post to knock home a Hayes rebound at the 10:40 mark.

The Terriers evened the score on a slick passing play between Sahir Gill, Wade Megan and Carson Hohmann, the latter converting his shot at the left post over a fallen Milner on the advantage just over two minutes later.

The Eagles broke through with three in the second period, all with the power play. As it had done with impunity on Friday, Boston University kept taking liberties and penalties as BC swarmed around
O'Connor -- only this time it came back to haunt the visitors.

Arnold converted a Hayes dish at 1:59, just as a Yasin Cisse interference minor was set to expire, and though the Terriers survived a 64-second stretch in a two-man disadvantage, Matheson tallied 40 seconds into an Alexx Privitera holding call which put BU down two men once more.

It was 4-1 for the hosts only 50 seconds later on Arnold's second of the evening, then Brendan Silk collected his first collegiate strike at 4:16 of the third period.

Evan Rodrigues converted a Patch Alber holding infraction with 6:58 left in regulation to make it a three-goal spread, and the Eagles were forced to kill off a third penalty to Gaudreau shortly thereafter.

No matter, as the record was already in reach save for the clock hitting triple zeroes.

“He deserves all the accolades,’’ said BU head coach Jack Parker. “It’s hard for people to believe this because he’s been around so long and he’s been so successful, but I still don’t think he gets the credit he deserves. He’s done an unbelievable job making this program the best it’s ever been."

Following the game, tributes came pouring in from former players such as Bobby Allen, current Buffalo Sabre Nathan Gerbe, and ex-NHLer Brian Holzinger, whom York coached at Bowling Green University.

Even though it managed a split, BC may fall from its perch atop the college hockey world, as second-ranked New Hampshire swept a pair from UMass-Lowell to improve to 11-1-2.



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