(Box from BC game summary sheet)
Friday, October 18, 2002 at Kelley Rink (Conte Forum), Chestnut Hill, MA
BC 4, UD 2 NON-CONFERENCE GAME
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UNIVERSITY OF DENVER (WCHA) 1 0 1 - 2 (2-1-0 overall)
BOSTON COLLEGE (HE) 3 1 0 - 4 (2-0-0 overall)
Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
UD 11- 9- 9 -- 29 8 - 16 1 - 5
BC 14-11-10 -- 35 8 - 27 2 - 6
UD - Wade Dubielewicz 11-10-10 - 31 saves/4 goals (59:24)
BC - Matti Kaltiainen 10- 9- 8 - 27 saves/2 goals (60:00)
Referee - Jeff Bunyon
Assistants - Bob Bernard, Hans Baker
Attendance - 5646
1st Period
BC1 J.D. Forrest 1 (P. Eaves, Ryan Shannon) PPG 7:37
UD1 Kevin Doell 1 (Aaron MacKenzie, Greg Barber) 8:37
BC2 Pat Eaves 3 (Ben Eaves, Tony Voce) 13:43
BC3 Tony Voce 2 (Pat Eaves) 16:27 GWG
Penalties
UD - Connor James (interference) 7:04
UD - Max Bull (interference) 10:32
UD - Kevin Doell (holding) 17:07
2nd Period
BC4 Tony Voce 3 (Ben Eaves, Pat Eaves) PPG 19:38
Penalties
UD - Luke Fulgham (cross-checking) 3:19
BC - Tony Voce (hitting after whistle) 10:29
UD - Kevin Doell (hitting after whistle) 10:29
BC - J.D. Forrest (tripping) 11:32
UD - Matt Laatsch (obstruction-interference) 14:48
UD - Ryan Caldwell (high-sticking) 19:19
3rd Period
UD2 Lukas Dora 1 (Gabe Gauthier, Jon Foster) PPG 19:18
Penalties
BC - Bill Cass (tripping) 1:10
BC - John Adams (holding) 3:38
BC - Ty Hennes (interference) 13:00
UD - Ryan Caldwell (roughing) 14:46
BC - Pat Eaves (roughing) 14:46
BC - Chris Collins (hitting from behind - 5 min.) 18:20
served by A.J. Walker
BC - Chris Collins (misconduct - 10 min.) 18:20
3 Stars - 1. BC - Tony Voce (2G, 1A)
2. BC - Pat Eaves (1G, 3A)
3. BC - Matti Kaltiainen (27 saves, 2 goals)
University of Denver:
F Jon Foster, Kevin Doell, Greg Barber
Lukas Dora, Jeff Drummond, Luke Fulgham
Connor James, Gabe Gauthier, Kevin Ulanski
MATT WEBER, MAX BULL, GREG KEITH
D Jason Grahame, Jussi Halme
RYAN CALDWELL, MATT LATTSCH
Aaron MacKenzie, Brett Skinner
G WADE DUBIELEWICZ, Adam Berkhoel
Boston College:
F TONY VOCE, BEN EAVES, PATRICK EAVES
Ryan Murphy, Ryan Shannon, Dave Spina
Chris Collins, Ned Havern, A.J. Walker
Anthony D'Arpino, Ty Hennes, Stephen Gionta
D Andrew Alberts, John Adams
Brett Peterson, Bill Cass
J.D. FORREST, PETER HARROLD
G MATTI KALTIAINEN, Tim Kelleher, Robbie Miller
COMMENTS
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Boston College played a strong and complete game Friday night in a 4-2 win
over a highly-regarded Denver team in Chestnut Hill. The top line of Tony
Voce and the Eaves brothers, Ben and Pat, were dominant on the evening,
involved in all 4 Eagles goals. Matti Kaltiainen played well in goal in
his first start of the year, shutting down the Pioneers attack when needed,
giving up only a rebound goal and a late power play strike after the game
had been decided.
BC dominated the first period as they came out with more energy than Denver,
carrying more of the play. The first few minutes were very high-paced, with
Shannon, Voce, and Pat Eaves having good shots, and Kaltiainen blocking a
one-timer by Lukas Dora. The first power play of the night produced the
first goal. Shannon was able to push a pass to the left corner for Pat
Eaves, and he skated toward the net. J.D. Forrest pinched down the slot
from the right point and received a pass from Eaves, and one-timed a hard
shot into the far side of the net. Denver got that back quickly, scoring
just a minute later. A shot from the right whistled wide of the net and
came back to the left point, where it was fired into a crowded front of the
net. Kaltiainen made the save but the rebound was loose in the slot and
Kevin Doell was able to pop a low shot under the keeper to tie it at 1.
Dubielewicz kept the tie when he poked the puck away from Voce right in
front on a close setup on a power play, and Denver saw a hard slapper on a
2-on-1 saved by the BC goalie. Play was still fast and up-and-down, but
a Denver turnover at their own blue line proved fatal. Ben Eaves pushed it
ahead to Voce for a quick 3-on-2 BC counter. His pass to the middle was
behind Ben but went to his brother Pat coming down the right side of the
slot, and he hammered a hard shot high to the blocker side for the renewed
BC lead. Denver had some success after that, getting quick shots from the
circles or trying tips on shots from the point, but Kaltiainen was equal
to the task, making several good stops. BC's top line reversed the
momentum when Voce had a couple of rebound chances in a pile at the crease,
hitting the post, then reaching in and poking home the loose puck from the
right side. BC kept up the pressure the rest of the period, forcing a
penalty when Denver could not dispossess Ben Eaves of the puck down low,
but could not score again on the power play.
The second period was also started at a quick pace, and BC got an early
shot down low. Freshman defenseman Brett Skinner from Denver was injured
in the corner on the play, and limped off the ice to the locker room. He
would not play the remainder of the game, and was to miss the Saturday night
game at Northeastern. Denver killed off a power play early on, and both
teams had some chances, with Dubielewicz making 2 nice saves on quick BC
shots. BC kept the pressure on, and a shot from the high slot bounced off
the goalie's mask for a save. Things started getting more physical as
the Pioneers were trying to slow down the BC attack, and BC replied equally.
After a scramble at the Denver net, some pushing and shoving led to each
team losing a player for 2 minutes. BC's Forrest was called for a trip
after that, and Denver pressed on their power play. The BC keeper played
well in this stretch, making 2 big saves, one a sprawl to the far side as
the puck was moved quickly and he had to stretch to block an open side.
After the successful kill, Denver continued to press and the BC defense got
a bit scattered and out of position. Max Bull had a great opportunity right
on the doorstep but somehow managed to partially fan on the shot and it
was covered. Denver had to kill a penalty at this point but did so easily,
and then started their own pressure again, only to see Kaltiainen stop the
first shots and then the BC defense would clear out in front so there were
no rebounds. The BC number one line then came to the fore again with some
concerted pressure down low, forcing a penalty when a stick check rode up
for a high-sticking penalty in the last minute. Voce made the Pioneers pay
with an easy redirect in front after the Eaves brothers worked the puck in
the corner and Ben Eaves intercepted an attempted clear and fed it to Voce.
With a 4-1 lead, BC started the third period in a more defensive mode and
Denver pressed the attack early. They forced a couple of early power plays
but BC's defense was able to keep the puck to the outside or block point
shots, and the goalie stopped anything else that got through. A key all
night was that Denver seldom got chances at rebounds, either having the puck
covered by Kaltiainen, or having players pushed away from the front of the
goal until the puck could be cleared by BC. Denver's forecheck and
aggressive play in the neutral zone kept BC on their heels, and almost
produced a score in the 8th minute when an outside shot was saved but
dropped
in the crease with several players nearby. After a brief scramble BC was
able to glove the puck aside and clear it out. The Eagles then picked up
their own forecheck to relieve the defensive burden and had a few chances
of their own. A.J. Walker sent a flat pass through the crease just out of
the reach of Ned Havern in the best opportunity. BC took another penalty,
and Denver pressed hard to get a goal, but it just seemed destined to not
happen. Play was up-and-down the last few minutes, with both teams having
shots but no success. BC's Collins took a silly checking from behind into
the boards penalty very late and was shown the gate, and Denver finally
got their second goal on a hard slap shot from the right circle by Dora
on a 6-on-4 advantage.
BC was very impressive in this game, getting lots of offense from the top
line but getting good effort by all 4 lines in defensive work. The
intensity
was better than their effort against UMass the previous week, perhaps helped
by the home ice advantage. The Voce/Eaves/Eaves combination is proving
already to be a very difficult matchup for any team, and bodes well for the
Eagles the rest of the season. But the story of the game, in my opinion,
was the strong performance from Matti Kaltiainen in net. He was solid,
in position, and managed to limit rebounds or cover them quickly. Denver
tried several strategies on him, first going low, then trying high, then
trying tips and screens on shots from the point, and he handled them all.
It is a good sign that both Eagles' goalies have had strong games right off
the bat. Making his first appearance was frosh Steve Gionta, playing the
4th line for BC and playing pretty well for his first game. He isn't the
same type of player as his older brother Brian, but effective in his own
way (though he is likely to get under the skin of the opposition just about
the same way Brian did, I think. Just not in the goal-scoring department.)
Denver, though losing this game, is a pretty good team, and this was a tough
matchup for them. They have speed, skill, leadership, a good goalie, and
enough experience that falling behind does not panic them. They just could
not solve the BC defense this evening, and were not ready to handle the top
BC line (not that it is an easy thing to prepare for.) It didn't help that
they lost Skinner to injury, but most of the damage had been done before
he left. One player who did not have a good game, I thought, was Connor
James, who was not really effective compared to when I have seen him before.
Overall, I don't think this loss will have much effect on the Pioneers in
the long run (and apparently not the short run, either, as they defeat
Northeastern Saturday night 3-1.)
BC plays again at home Sunday afternoon against Vermont, who played a
surprising 1-1 tie at BU Friday on a big game by goalie Shawn Conshafter.
I'll be surprised if UVM can handle the BC firepower better than Denver
did, so I expect an Eagles victory. (I will not be at the game so will not
be reporting on it.) After that BC will host Wisconsin next Friday night
and then get back to league play with a tough game at UMass-Lowell, an
early surprise team. Denver won Saturday, as mentioned, and goes back home
to host a 2-game set with CHA team Alabama-Huntsville. I expect the
Pioneers will win both of those without a lot of trouble.
Rick McAdoo
"Volunteer reporter"
An observant BC fan. GO EAGLES!
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