Boston College faced its biggest test of the young season last Saturday night, and passed, even though the final score would indicate otherwise.
Yes, the Eagles were handed a 4-3 loss by visiting Denver before a standing-room-only crowd of 7,884 Saturday night at the Silvio O. Conte Forum. And second-year coach Greg Brown would rather not have had to watch his team take three penalties in the third period, two of which led to Denver goals, including the game winner with just over two minutes remaining.
The positives, however, were not lost on Brown, nor were they lost on the voters in the latest USCHO.com Men’s Division I Poll — the schools remained static from the week prior — Denver at No. 2 and BC in the third spot.
“In a game like that, with two good teams, you have to really be smart and execute down the stretch,” Brown said. “We can take a lot of positives. A lot of guys played well and competed hard. We made some plays. But at the end of the day, you have to close it out.”
There were affirmations aplenty for BC (3-1-0) on Saturday, including the play of its second line, which features three freshmen up front — Gabe Perreault, Will Smith and Ryan Leonard — all of whom played together the last two years with the U.S. national team development program. The trio combined on the Eagles’ first goal, which put BC up 1-0 just over four minutes into the contest, and Smith finished with a pair of goals. Smith now leads the Eagles in scoring with three goals and two assists.
“They’re getting more comfortable every game,” Brown said. “They read off each other so well (and) see the game very similarly. There’s a lot to be excited about for those guys.”
Perreault, Smith and Leonard are just three of 14 newcomers this season — more than half of the Eagles’ 27-man roster.
“There’s a lot of jelling that needs to happen, but for the most part, when there have been breakdowns, the guys have had extra effort — blocked a shot or got a stick in the lane,” Brown said. “So we’ve been able to minimize a lot of (opponent) chances. So as we become more familiar with each other and really read each other more, hopefully those mistakes will be fewer and fewer.”
Another newcomer, goalie Jacob Fowler, has contributed to BC’s success. Through four starts, he has posted a 1.98 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. His 24-save performance Saturday earned high praise from Denver coach David Carle.
“He was good,” Carle said. “I would have liked us to make him make a few more saves. (He) makes you earn it. He’s an excellent goaltender.”
Including Friday night’s 6-1 win over Rensselaer, BC drew more than 13,000 fans to Conte over the weekend. So large was Saturday night’s crowd, a long line of students was turned away at the front entrance just moments before puck drop. This weekend, the Eagles welcome Michigan State for a two-game home set starting Thursday night.
“(We saw) a lot of challenges against a good hockey team,” Brown said Saturday night. “We’ll learn from it. I thought for our kids, especially our young kids, in that kind of atmosphere, they did very well. We’re excited to go forward from here.”
