No. 10-ranked Boston College struck for six goals against the Massachusetts hockey team Friday evening at Kelley Rink at Conte Forum for an easy 6-1 victory over the Minutemen.
UMass (5-17-1, 2-9-1 Hockey East) was outshot 46-13 for the contest and 14-1 in the first period. The Eagles (15-9-2, 10-3-1 HEA) scored a pair of goals less than two minutes apart and a back-breaking tally with less than five seconds remaining in the period to give them a three-goal lead at first intermission.
Nic Renyard (28 saves) replaced UMass goaltender Ryan Wischow in net for the second period and Boston College and the Minutemen exchanged goals in the period. The Eagles high-powered offense struck twice in the final period, with Michael Kim’s tally coming just 57 seconds into the third and JD Dudek put the finishing touches on the BC triumph at 16:14.
“Six to one is pretty lopsided,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “I didn’t mind our effort. The guys competed. But our margin for error is slim. They’re a skilled team. They do a good job. They get pucks to the net. Again, our margin for error is very minimal.”
Perhaps the most alarming stat of the night resides in the special team’s department. The Minutemen were on the power play four times and mustered just one shot – a Jake McLaughlin wrist shot from just inside the blue line which was an easy save for freshman goalie Ryan Edquist (12 saves). Boston College was 0-for-5 on the man advantage with eight shots.
“(It’s) very (frustrating),” Carvel said. “We had 13 shots in the game. The power play has been ineffective for a long time and we spend a lot of time all week long working on it. It takes skill to get pucks to the net and we’re lacking in that area.”
Ray Piggozi showed off some his skill when he toe-dragged past an Eagle defender and snapped a wrist shot by the glove of Edquist to give UMass its lone goal of the evening midway through the second. It was Pigozzi’s fourth goal of an injury-ridden 2016-17 campaign and his second in the last three games.
Steven Iacobellis found the streaking Pigozzi on the play, good for an assist and his team-leading 14th point of the season. It was the 80th point of his career in a Massachusetts sweater, good for 28th all-time in the UMass scoring history.
Scott Savage scored the fourth Eagles goal of the night at 17:02 in the second period off a feed from Chris Brown, who tallied his third assist of the night on the play.
Boston College had six different scorers, as Savage, Brown, Austin Cangelosi (goal, assist), David Cotton (goal, two assists) and Julius Mattila each notched multi-point games.
“I thought our guys competed hard, but our margin for error is extremely thin, especially against skilled teams,” Carvel said. “I thought that was the case tonight. We had two breakdowns in the d-zone and they quickly capitalized and I think three goals where they just found ways to throw pucks at the net that found their way to the back of the net.”
“It was nice for us,” BC coach Jerry York said. “A workman-like effort, finally rewarded with some goals. You get more confidence when you score goals. That will only help us down the road.’’
Kyle DaLuz can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Kyle_DaLuz.
