MINNEAPOLIS - An explosive, offensive first period followed by electric play on both sides down the stretch yielded a 3-3 stalemate in No. 5 Boston College's first of two contests at No. 1 Minnesota on Friday night at Mariucci Arena.
The contest concluded in a shootout in which senior captain Patrick Brown buried the winner in sudden death overtime. Despite BC's victory in the shootout, the overall result still ends in a tie for both clubs.
Junior Michael Sit made a mark in his return home, scoring his first multi-goal game in quick fashion. The Edina, Minn., native recorded a pair of goals in a matter of 11 seconds to put the Eagles ahead midway through the first stanza.
Classmate Johnny Gaudreau continued his scoring ways, registering his second power play goal of the season to keep his point streak intact. Boston College cashed in on 1-of-3 chances on the evening while the Golden Gophers finished 1-for-2.
First-year netminder Thatcher Demko remains undefeated, earning his first collegiate draw via 36 saves to elevate his season total to 1-0-1. The Eagles were able to blemish Minnesota backstopper Adam Wilcox's record, pushing him to 4-0-1 on the season.
First-year defenseman Ian McCoshen crafted one of the top plays of the season thus far in overtime. McCoshen caught a Cammarata attempt out of mid-air just inches from the goal line with 1:20 remaining in the extra frame to help BC maintain the stalemate.
Boston College found itself in a quick 2-0 deficit, much thanks for a goal 30 seconds in by Hudson Fasching.
At 7:31 of the first period, Ben Marshall was cited for cross checking and Gaudreau cut the deficit a minute later at 8:31.
Senior Bill Arnold hit sophomore Michael Matheson with the puck all alone at the top of the zone. Matheson took an opportunity and wrapped it off the backboards with the extra room. The puck took a hard bounce towards the left post where Gaudreau tossed it off of Wilcox's skate to trigger three BC goals in the span of 1:11.
A minute later, Boston College cleared the puck out of its own zone and Sit capped it off with a tally in transition to tie it up, 2-2. Senior Isaac MacLeod blocked a shot with his skate and the disc skidded back to rookie Scott Savage. Savage sent a long pass up the right side of the sheet where Sit was one stride ahead of his defender. Sit had a great angle and snapped it past Wilcox on the blocker side.
On the very next play, Sit did it again.
Sit went back out on the next shift and won the faceoff back to Savage just behind the red line. Savage relayed the puck to Destry Straight along the top of the zone as Sit carved through Minnesota's middle. Straight hit Sit with the perfect pass and Sit hammered it through Wilcox's five-hole to give the Eagles their first lead of the game, 3-2, at 9:42.
Minnesota's second strike of the game occurred at 4:30 of the opening frame.
UM set up shop in the Eagles' end and tallied at the tail end of Kevin Hayes' tripping call. Sam Warning hit Rau down low with Travis Boyd hugging the near post. Warning crossed the puck in front of the crease where Boyd finished off the one-timer power play goal at 4:55 for the 2-0 edge.
Both sides displayed their strengths in the third frame, but neither team could capitalize until Taylor Cammarata cinched it up, 3-3, at 15:33.
Michael Brodzinski wheeled the puck out of UM's end through the neutral zone. Cammarata snuck up the right side and buried Brodzinski's feed from the right dot, beat Demko on the far side, 3-3.
McCoshen headlined in overtime, releasing a vicious shot two minutes in before making the spectacular defensive play to help out Demko.
Boston College and Minnesota will take tomorrow off before hitting the ice for a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. (EST). Sunday's contest will be broadcast live on Fox Sports North with a live stream on BigTen2Go for Big Ten Network subscribers. The game will also be streamed live on BCEagles.com.
Game Notes
- Following his first career goal against Wisconsin, Michael Sit had himself a nice homecoming. The Edina, Minn., native scored a pair of goals, 11 seconds apart, for his first-career two-goal game. Sit, who scored his first goal in his 80th-career game on Oct. 18, now has three goals in his last two outings.
- Johnny Gaudreau has scored a point in all four Boston College outings. The Carneys Point, N.J., netted his second power play strike of the season and 13th of his career. Gaudreau has scored three goals and five assists in 2013-14 and rests at 45-58-103 in 83 career games.