Boston College, sparked by the return from the injured list of high-scoring
sophomore forward Ben Eaves (one goal and two assists, number 1 star)and
freshman defenseman John Adams, defeated Maine 4-3 Friday night at Conte
Forum before an announced crowd of 6,876.

BC jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Andrew Alberts
(a shot from the blue line that seem to fool Maine goalie Mike Morrison)
and Ryan Murphy (rebound off a Tony Voce miss).  Maine came right back with
a goal by Peter Metcalf about 20 seconds after Murphy's goal and the period
ended with BC holding a 2-1 lead.

Maine's Martin Kariya scored a shorthanded goal after the Maine penalty
kill unit took away the puck and skated to the BC zone at 7:22 of the
second period. Then, Mike Morrison made a couple of nice saves on breakouts
by Jeff Guiliano and Tony Voce to keep the score tied.  At 13:16 of the
period, Ben Eaves scored on a pretty play set up by Voce to put BC ahead 3-
2, which was how the period ended.

In the third period, Maine seemed to dominate play for the first 10
minutes, but their shots were either off the mark or saved by BC goalie Tim
Kelleher (who was solid tonight in goal). This continued until 12:53 of the
third, when Maine's Prestin Ryan took an ill-advised holding penalty on
Voce, to put Maine shorthanded 4 on 3. BC's Ryan Shannon made Maine pay
with a power-play goal at 13:10 of the period.  He made a nice shot that
went over Morrison's shoulder and into the net to give BC a little cushion.

At 16:51 of the period, Maine called its timeout to set up strategy for the
last 3 minutes of the game. With about 2 1/2 minutes left in the game,
Maine pulled Morrison for the extra skater, but they could not take
advantage because of BC's defensive play.  Finally, with about 1:08 left in
the third period, Tom Reinman scored to make it a 4-3 game (the goal judge
did not put the light on, but referee Jeff Bunyon and most everyone in the
arena saw that the goal went in, so it went on the board). The last 1:08
consisted of furious action as Maine pulled Morrison again and tried to get
the equalizer, but the BC defense and goalie Tim Kelleher prevented the
tying goal and preserved the victory for the Eagles.

This was a big confidence-building win by the BC Eagles over one of the top
teams in the nation, with Eaves and Adams returning to the lineup after
long periods of injury. This was the first game in a while in which BC
dressed and skated 18 players (four forward lines and three defensive
pairings). BC was missing A. J. Walker, who will be out approx. three weeks
due to a sprained MCL on his right knee suffered in the first round of the
Beanpot.

If they can avoid further injuries, this BC team could be a threat to pull
a major surprise in the Hockey East tournament.  BC has six Hockey East
league games left in the regular season; two with Merrimack next weekend,
then two with a resurgent Northeastern squad and, finally, two with league-
leading UNH to close out the regular season. They need to win as many of
these games as possible to finish strong and avoid having to travel north
(i.e., UNH or Maine)for the HE playoffs' first round series.

BC's next game will be the ever-popular Beanpot consolation game against
Harvard University on Monday night.  Maine's next game will be Saturday
night vs. Merrimack College in North Andover, MA.

Linda Harrison
Substitute Volunteer Reporter
LET'S GO EAGLES!