(Box from BC official game summary)
Monday, November 22, 2004 at Kelley Rink (Conte Forum), Chestnut Hill, MA
BC 5, HC 0 NON-CONFERENCE GAME
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HOLY CROSS UNIVERSITY (AHA) 0 0 0 - 0 (3-4-3 overall, 1-2-2 AHA)
BOSTON COLLEGE (HE) 1 3 1 - 5 (5-2-2 overall, 2-0-2 HE)
Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
HC 2- 8- 5-- 15 10 - 20 0 - 2
BC 14-14-16-- 44 2 - 4 2 - 10
HC - Tony Quesada 13-11-15 - 39 saves/5 goals (60:00)
BC - Matti Kaltiainen 2- 8- 5 - 15 saves/0 goals (60:00)
Referee - Joe Andrews
Assistants - Chris Federico, Paul Scleparis
Attendance - 4898
1st Period
BC1 Dave Spina 5 (Mike Brennan, Ryan Shannon) 16:33 GWG
Penalties
BC Ryan Shannon (tripping) 0:18
HC Rob Godfrey (interference) 3:12
HC Brian Kolb (interference) 16:46
2nd Period
BC2 Patrick Eaves 4 (Ned Havern, Joe Rooney) PPG 2:00
BC3 Patrick Eaves 5 (Joe Rooney) PPG 9:42
BC4 Taylor Leahy 1 (Brian Boyle, Ned Havern) 16:23
Penalties
HC Blair Bartlett (roughing) 1:16
HC Jon Landry (holding) 6:20
HC Matt Burke (interference) 9:05
HC Matt Werry (obstruction - holding) 10:17
3rd Period
BC5 Chris Collins 2 (Ryan Shannon, Dave Spina) 4:18
Penalties
BC Brian Boyle (slashing) 6:55
HC Blair Bartlett (obstruction - interference) 8:08
HC Chris Sullivan (cross-checking) 14:31
HC Rob Godfrey (contact to head - roughing) 15:32
HC Brian Kolb (charging) 19:42
3 Stars - None selected
Holy Cross University:
F James Sixsmith, Dale Reinhardt, Blair Bartlett
ANDREW MCKAY, PIERRE NAPERT-FRENETTE, BRIAN KOLB
Tanner Fogarty, Andrew Weber, Chris Sullivan
Matt Werry, Cal St. Denis, Tyler McGregor
D Frank O'Grady, Matt Burke
Rob Godfrey, JON LANDRY
TONY COSKREN, Marc Bianchi
G TONY QUESADA, Ben Conway, Matt Norton
Boston College:
F CHRIS COLLINS, RYAN SHANNON, DAVE SPINA
Patrick Eaves, Stephen Gionta, Dan Bertram
Joe Rooney, Matt Greene, Ryan Murphy
Ned Havern, Brian Boyle, Taylor Leahy
D Andrew Alberts, Mike Brennan
JOHN ADAMS, PETER HARROLD
Greg Lauze, Todd Perry
G MATTI KALTIAINEN, Cory Schneider, Robbie Miller
COMMENTS
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Boston College dominated Holy Cross in a Monday evening non-conference
affair at Chestnut Hill, winning 5-0. Matti Kaltiainen got his first
shutout of the year while his counterpart Tony Quesada had to work very
hard to keep the score reasonable, making plenty of good saves. BC
was the beneficiary of 2 Patrick Eaves power play goals and got single
tallies from Dave Spina, Chris Collins, and Taylor Leahy.
Both these teams have underachieved in recent games and the beginning
of the game promised more of the same, with sloppy passes and bouncing
pucks. Holy Cross got a couple of early chances on an immediate power
play,
and the thought of a possible upset was there for a few moments. But
after that, BC dominated play and the shot charts, holding the Crusaders
without another shot on goal for the period. Still, strong play by
Quesada in net and the ability to force shots to the outside by the defense
kept BC off the board for much of the period. Eaves and Spina were both
stymied by Quesada on shots from the slot, and it seemed Holy Cross might
escape the period unscathed. But a fluky play finally got the Eagles
on the board at the 16:33 mark. A floating shot from the right point by
Mike Brennan sailed over Quesada's shoulder and hit the netting on top of
the goal, bounced up and back towards play, and fell down between the
crossbar and the goalie's back. Dave Spina was able to tap the puck out
of mid-air and into the goal for the first score. More BC pressure for
the rest of the period produced shots but no goals.
The effort that the Crusaders put forth in the first period to keep BC
to the outside stopped working in the second period, and Holy Cross started
taking penalties that put their team at risk. BC was able to consistently
power past the defense along the boards and maintain possession or keep
the puck in the zone; the difference in strength, skating, and skill came
to the fore in this frame. A silly roughing penalty gave BC its first
power play of the period and they cashed in shortly thereafter. An
attempted shot from the low right circle was fanned on but slid to the
slot,
where another BC player fired a shot. Quesada made the first save but
couldn't control the rebound, which came directly to Pat Eaves on the left
side, and he shoved it home. After more BC pressure, Holy Cross got a
couple of chances when Andrew McKay got free for a breakaway that was
stoned by Kaltiainen, then Tony Coskren sent a screened shot in from the
point that the goalie made a nice kick save on. More HC penalties
followed,
and after killing one, the second one made them pay. Eaves got his second
of the night when he fed Joe Rooney across the slot, and Rooney sent a
return pass to the left side for Eaves to quickly fire past Quesada's legs.
Things were up and down for a few minutes, with both goalies making good
saves, when Taylor Leahy got the puck at the far left boards and fired a
wrist shot to the net. Somehow it handcuffed Quesada and slipped in to
make the score 4-0. The Crusaders tried to fight back at that point,
working hard to push forward and get some chances. James Sixsmith made
a nice move in the slot but fired wide, a subsequent tip went wide, and
2 more shots were blocked by the BC defense to keep the Cross off the
board.
BC opened the third with more sustained pressure. Eaves had his hat trick
attempt foiled by a glove save on a 2-on-1, but heavy BC pressure on the
next shift of the first line paid off. Quesada made one big save, then
made a spectacular save on the rebound, but was down after that. Chris
Collins collected the next rebound and fired it into the prone body, but
got his own rebound and finally lifted a backhand to the top of the goal
for the final score of the night. HC had one last good chance to get a
goal but Sixsmith couldn't corral a rebound in the slot after Kaltiainen
had made a kick save of a shot from the wing. BC carried most of the play
the rest of the period, helped by Holy Cross penalties, but Quesada
continued to play well and there was no more scoring.
On paper, this was expected to be a mismatch, and it was. After a very
successful year in Atlantic Hockey last year, Holy Cross was expected to
be a top team in that league again, but have had a slow start to the
season.
Regardless, the level of play in AHA is significantly less than the level
in Hockey East, and BC didn't have a lot of trouble with the Crusaders on
the evening. (That isn't to say that they couldn't have trouble in future
games, but this one went true to expected form.) The HC forwards and
defenders were a bit slower, a bit less strong, a bit less quick, and the
depth wasn't there to compete at BC's level in this game. Sixsmith showed
some nice moves and instincts, but couldn't beat the BC defense, but few
of the other HC forwards had much success at all. Coskren showed the
ability to get the puck on net from the point, and with a little luck could
have slipped one in, but it was not to be this game. The story of the
game for HC was Tony Quesada in goal, getting lots of work and performing
well to keep the score to 5-0. If he had a bad game, it could have been
8 or 9 to nothing. It may take a few years for Holy Cross and Atlantic
Hockey to elevate their play to the level they need to be consistently
competitive against the larger conferences.
BC was able to work some kinks out of the offense in this game, getting
lots of shots and carrying the puck easily around the defense most of
the time. They again were able to make the opposing goalie look good, but
for a change it wasn't because the shots were thrown into his chest.
Rather, Quesada had to work at the saves, and there were good chances in
close. Still, the BC offense has been unable to score at a rate that
is expected with their talent and history, and it remains a worry with
the heavier Hockey East schedule yet to come. Andrew Alberts is starting
to round into form in defense now that he is back in the lineup, which
can only help BC, but there remain occasional lapses of judgment in the
defensive zone that put the goalies at unnecessary risk. Matti Kaltiainen
had a good game, keeping his concentration despite the lack of work, and
was able to make some big saves when he needed to. Overall BC remains
a very dangerous team, perhaps more so because they really aren't
performing at the level they are capable of, and each opponent has to
worry that they will break out against them. I think the Eagles will have
to improve their play to fight for first in the league, with BU appearing
to have regained their form and UNH continuing to be tough. Maine is
expected to improve from their early form (especially with Leveille back
in the lineup), and Lowell/UMass/Providence/Northeastern all will be
difficult. Merrimack seems to be lagging at the moment, though that can
change quickly; they seem to come to life when playing BC, certainly.
One characteristic that hasn't become clear for this BC team is the level
of leadership they have. They continue to be a bunch that seems to enjoy
playing together, and have enjoyed much success in the last few years.
But who will be the ones who will step it up when times get tough, and
they need that extra little bit of energy/effort/genius/leadership to
overcome the odds? It isn't clear yet that this team is capable of
lifting itself when it needs to, unlike a few recent teams, and it will
be interesting to see how things progress over the next couple of months.
BC travels to Northeastern for a league game this Saturday, then has a
full weekend slate the following week (for the first time this year a
Friday-Saturday back-to-back set.) Holy Cross, winless in their last
4 games, tries to get back on the winning path with tough games in the
Dunkin Donuts tournament in Providence this weekend (more Hockey East
opponents.)
Rick McAdoo
"Volunteer reporter"
An optimistic BC fan. GO EAGLES!
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