The Boston College Eagles scored early and often on their way to an 8-5 victory over Michigan in the Great Lakes Invitational consolation game at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday evening.
Krys Kolanos and Ales Dolinar each scored a pair of goals, and Chuck Kobasew had a goal and two assists for No. 2 BC (13-4-1). Mike Lephart and Brian Gionta each added a goal and an assist.
John Shouneyia had a goal and two assists for the No. 4 Wolverines (13-5-3).
“I’m sure in a month or so they’ll be a better team,” said Boston College head coach Jerry York of the Wolverines, who played without World Juniors participants Andy Hilbert, Mike Cammalleri, and Mike Komisarek.
“Our offense was clicking tonight,” said Kolanos, who was able to participate in the GLI after being a final cut by the Canadian national team.
Ty Hennes opened the scoring with his first collegiate goal at the 5:00 mark.
While Gionta was serving a high-sticking penalty, Dolinar fired a shot that trickled through Josh Blackburn’s pads, giving the Eagles a 2-0 lead at 7:20.
BC extended the lead to 3-0 when Kolanos one-timed a nice pass from Rob Scuderi past a helpless Blackburn at 12:16.
The Wolverines finally got on the board when Scott Matzka scored on a breakaway at 13:18. Although replays showed that Matzka was offside, the goal stood and BC’s lead had been cut to 3-1.
Just over two minutes later, Kolanos buried a pass from Jeff Giuliano to give the Eagles a commanding 4-1 advantage.
Geoff Koch pulled the Wolverines back within two when he redirected a centering pass from Shouneyia past Scott Clemmensen for a power-play goal at 1:30 of the second period.
Kobasew gave BC a 5-2 lead at 9:52 when he came out from behind the net and shoved the puck between the legs of a surprised Blackburn. Gionta and Bobby Allen drew assists on the power-play goal.
Michigan cut the lead back to two when Jeff Jillson scored off a pass from behind the net by Shouneyia at 18:53.
After Lephart made it 6-3 in favor of BC with a power-play tally at 1:13 of the third period, Josh Langfeld cut the lead back to two once again at 2:59.
But Gionta scored at 4:08 and Dolinar scored on the power play at 11:57 to give the Eagles an 8-4 lead.
A Shouneyia goal from Matzka at 14:14 rounded out the scoring.
“Our offense has been spread out throughout the lineup all year,” said Gionta. “It shows how deep our team is.”
Boston College was 3-for-6 on the power play, while Michigan was 1-for-6.
