ST. PAUL, Minn. — Top-seeded Boston College is one stop closer to its first national title since 2012.
The Eagles, thanks to their high-octane offense and 14 NHL draft picks, have been the favorites for much of the season. And they showed why against Michigan, beating the Wolverines 4-0 in their Frozen Four semifinal game on Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center.
They’ll take on Denver in Saturday’s national title game — a rematch from back in October when Denver beat BC 4-3 in Chestnut Hill.
“Any time someone commits to Boston College, it’s to win championships,” BC’s Cutter Gauthier said. “And we have an opportunity for that on Saturday. I’m super proud of our group up to this point. We know about these guys after we played an earlier matchup at Conte Forum … unfortunately we didn’t win then, but since then we’ve had a sour taste in our mouth so we’re going to be ready to go on Saturday.”
For the Eagles (34-5-1), it was the usual cast of characters who delivered when it mattered most. Gauthier scored his nation-leading 38th of the season, Will Smith netted two goals and Jacob Fowler made 32 saves for his third shutout of the season. And despite being outshot by the Wolverines 32-22, the Eagles finished their chances when it mattered.
“We probably deserved more, but we lost to a really good Boston College team,” Michigan coach Brandon Naurato said. “I feel like we were good, we weren’t great. What we did in the third is probably more what we are. They have four elite, elite, elite players. Their top guys scored four goals, and that’s the first time all year we’ve been shut out. So there’s no secret to how they won the game. Those guys broke the game open. Those guys are studs.”
Michigan (23-14-3) came into the game with the No. 3 scoring offense in the country (behind BC’s No. 2) and two of the nation’s top-10 leading scorers in Gavin Brindley and Rutger McGroarty. But BC managed to hold them off the scoreboard despite being outshot.
“It was an interesting game,” BC coach Greg Brown said. “I thought we did a great job of capitalizing when we had chances, but Michigan did a great job coming out of their zone with a ton of speed, so even when we were ahead a few goals, it never felt like we were in control or the game was settled.”
The Eagles took a 1-0 lead early in the game, a highlight-reel goal from their vaunted freshman line. Gabe Perreault picked up a loose puck deep in his own zone and hit Ryan Leonard with a cross-ice stretch pass deep behind the Michigan defense. Smith also snuck in behind the Michigan defenders and easily beat Michigan goaltender Jake Barczewski to finish off the bang-bang-bang play just 1 minute, 20 seconds into the game.
Despite that early deficit, Michigan seemed to control the pace of the game and had a few more grade A scoring chances.
The Wolverines outshot the Eagles 9-6 in the first 20 minutes, with Fowler flashing some nice leather a few times to keep it scoreless.
“Going into every game, it’s nice having him back there,” Smith said of Fowler. “He has such a confidence in net. We probably gave up a few too many odd-man rushes, so having him back there helped. He had 32 saves, he was just unreal in net.”
The turning point came in the second period when Michigan’s top-ranked power play got a chance to go to work. The Wolverines, who came into the game having converted on 34.5% of their power plays, had their first real chance on the man advantage when Gauthier was called for interference about five minutes into the middle frame. Michigan had two decent looks but one was blocked and the other went wide; it was not able to convert.
Michigan’s failure to convert on that power play chance haunt it later in the period. Although the Wolverines got their second power play a few minutes later when BC’s Drew Fortescue was called for a trip, that chance was short-lived. About 30 seconds after Fortescue went into the box, Michigan’s Dylan Duke was also whistled for a trip, negating the power play and opening up a lot of 4-on-4 ice for the dangerous Eagles offense.
BC made Michigan pay. First, Smith scored a goal that is the definition of “lucky bounce” when he skated around behind the Michigan goal and sent the puck into the slot for what was an attempt at a centering pass. However, the puck missed its intended target (Gauthier) and instead hit a Michigan defender before trickling in between Barczewski’s legs.
Less than a minute later, BC struck again. This time, Gauthier stripped the puck from a Michigan defender at the blue line and took it coast-to-coast for a no-doubter to make it 3-0.
Perreault put the finishing touches on the win early in the third period. Five minutes into the final frame, the freshman scored an unassisted wraparound goal to make it 4-0 and earn his third point, adding to the two assists he had on earlier goals.
Brown said it wasn’t until the Eagles went up 4-0 that they were able to breathe a little bit defensively.
“I thought the third period when we were ahead, we started to simplify our game, play a little safer, use the walls a little more, and we were able to do a nice job there keeping pucks out of the middle and spending more time not scrambling in our zone,” Brown said.
That’s not to say Michigan didn’t have its chances to get back in the game late. The Wolverines outshot the Eagles 17-8 in the third, and had one final power play opportunity midway through the period. However, none of their scoring chances seemed to be true threats to the Eagles.
“I was really happy with probably the second half, maybe second, probably 12, 13 minutes left in the third, we did a great job of really limiting their chances to come back and get in the game,” Brown said.
The win was BC’s 34th of the season, a program record. The Eagles will attempt to win their first NCAA championship since 2012, when the Johnny Gaudreau-led team beat Ferris State in the title game.
Smith said he has vivid memories of watching that team lift a trophy, and now the Lexington, Mass., native has the chance to do the same on Saturday.
“If you told me as a kid, this would be kind of crazy,” the 19-year old freshman said. “I remember the days I was watching Johnny Gaudreau in the Frozen Four. So it’s a dream come true. It would be unbelievable to get that trophy just like he did.”
