Tuesday, January 26, 1999 at Kelley Rink (Conte Forum), Chestnut Hill, MA
BC 7, UMA 1 HOCKEY EAST GAME - on Fox Sports New England
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UNIV. OF MASS-AMHERST (HE) 0 0 1 - 1 3-10-2 HE (6-15-2 overall)
BOSTON COLLEGE (HE) 1 4 2 - 7 10-5-0 HE (15-8-2 overall)
Shots on Goal Pen - Min Power Play
UMA 4- 6-10 -- 20 4 - 8 0 - 5
BC 7-18-18 -- 43 5 - 10 1 - 4
UMA - Markus Helanen 6-14- x - 20 saves/5 goals (40:00)
UMA - Mike Johnson x- x-16 - 16 saves/2 goals (20:00)
BC - Scott Clemmensen 4- 6- 2 - 12 saves/1 goal (52:40)
- Mike Correia x- x- 7 - 7 saves/0 goals ( 7:20)
3 Stars: BC Brian Gionta, BC Blake Bellefeuille, BC Kevin Caulfield
COMMENTS
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Boston College took over a period to warm up but ultimately rolled to a
7-1 victory Tuesday night at home against UMass-Amherst. Brian Gionta and
Blake Bellefeuille again provided the jump for the Eagles, with lots of
help from their forechecking mates. UMass was able to stay in a slow-
paced game with a defensive trap/box formation but ultimately lost the
edge on penalty kills and heavy BC forechecking pressure. Both teams gave
their backup goalies playing time in the third period as BC pulled away.
UMass was able to use their defensive style to bottle up the faster BC
breakout through most of the first period and into the second. At even
strength things were fairly dull, with few shots. BC's Jeff Giuliano
had an early setup all alone in front but fired wide of the net. Special
teams provided most of the offense during the first, and it was a
shorthanded goal from Bellefeuille that provided the only score. He
intercepted the puck when UMass defenseman Dean Stork lost it right in
front of his own net, held off Stork, and was able to shift it to his
backhand and around the goalie's leg at 7:30. It was Bellefeuille's
100th point at BC, in his junior year. UMass had their own shorthanded
chance a couple of minutes later, but Nathan Sell fanned on an open shot.
Again, the next best chance was shorthanded, this time by BC's Jeff
Farkas, who was stymied by an agile Markus Helanen. Overall, the first
period was sloppy, defensive, and had few shots.
The second period started much like the first period, with defensive
play, few shots, and some power plays providing the only offense. UMass
survived a brief 5-on-3 penalty kill but immediately took another penalty
while still on the 5-on-4 (Stork cross-checking Gionta in the slot.) With
another 5-on-3, BC started cranking up the pressure. Farkas' wraparound
attempt deflected through the crease, and eventually the puck was sent
back to him below the goal line. He sent a quick pass to the slot to
Kevin Caulfield, whose shot was blocked by a sprawling Helanen. As the
puck bounced free in the air to the left side of the net, Gionta whacked
it into the goal before it came back to the ice. UMass almost got that
right back on a quick rush, but Clemmensen made a nice save on the
break-in. He also nabbed a tough shot on a subsequent penalty to keep the
Minutemen off the board. (Gionta's goal also gave him 100 points in his
BC career; he is only a sophomore.)
After BC killed that mid-period penalty, though, the momentum and game
moved completely to BC. Waves of forecheckers kept the puck in the UMass
zone for long stretches of play, even the BC 4th line having success
bottling up the puck. Shots started to fly at Helanen, and finally the
Eagles made it 3-0 when Chris Masters was left unbothered in the slot and
fired home a pass from behind the net at 15:00. Just 50 seconds later
Gionta made it 4-0 by collecting a rebound after Helanen had to stack
the pads to stop a Nick Pierandri tip attempt. Coach Mallen called a
timeout to try to rally his defense but it had little effect. BC ran over
and around the Minutemen from that point forward. It paid off with a late
goal by Caulfield, who was able to flip in a backhander when the puck was
left lying uncleared at the edge of the crease following a Pierandri rush.
The trend was clear in the game, and with UMass's proven inability to
score no one expected a comeback in the third period. Mallen substituted
his freshman backup goalie, who got lots of practice with BC getting 18
more shots on goal in the third. Most of the early pressure was BC's, but
Johnson was able to hold them off. UMass got one back to make it 5-1
at 7:33 when R. J. Gates collected a ricocheting puck in the slot and sent
a quick screened shot into the far corner of the net. They couldn't enjoy
it for long, though, as BC came right back and scored 43 seconds later.
Andy Powers fired a shot to net, it bounced at the edge of the crease as
Gionta was fighting a D-man for possession, and Helanen was unable to find
it before it squirted free behind him. Bellefeuille dived in to tap the
puck into the open net. BC pressure continued, and Cory Bilodeau almost
made it 7-1 when his wrister rang off the right post. Clemmensen, the BC
iron man in net, came out for a rare rest since the shutout was not
possible, and senior Mike Correia made several stops on outside shots in
the last 7:20. Powers finished the scoring at 15:22, tipping in a hard
pass at the net after Gionta sped around the defense down the right side.
UMass had a reasonable game plan at the start but was unable to maintain
the defensive effort for 60 minutes. Once they got behind and BC pushed
hard on the forechecking, the Minutemen just couldn't get the puck out of
the zone. (That might explain why they have a hard time scoring goals in
general.) The Eagles enjoyed the ability to fly around a slower, less
skilled opponent, and pick up 2 necessary points in the Hockey East race.
The two teams meet again on Friday night in Amherst, and it seems likely
that it will be a closer match. BC needs to prove that they can win
back to back games if they want to fight for the league title, and UMass
has to find a way to defeat BC, which they haven't done since the Hockey
East tournament 8-9 play-in game in 1995, their first year in the league.
It has often been observed that UMass is an extremely young team, and
that is true. But even their experienced players seem to have hard times
playing the Eagles. Perhaps it is just a matter of matchups -- BC has
had success with UMA but struggled some against other teams with not much
more talent than UMass. We will see what happens on Friday. BC will
probably continue to miss forward Mike Lephart, who was injured last week
in Providence. UMA doesn't play again after Friday until the following
Friday, when they return to BC to end the 3-game series. The Eagles are
trying to build momentum leading in to the first round of the Beanpot,
where they face rival Boston University next Monday at 9 PM.
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Rick McAdoo [log in to unmask]
"Volunteer reporter" A pleased BC fan. GO EAGLES!
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