CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — A flashpoint for a chemical is the lowest possible temperature in which a liquid forms an ignitable mixture in the air.
For gasoline, it is roughly -40 degrees Celsius.
A flashpoint for a hockey game is an indeterminate level of heat and bad blood. Some matchups are easier to ignite than others.
For Friday night’s matchup between No. 3 Boston College and Maine, the flashpoint was reached sometime around the second period, presumably around the time Casey Fitzgerald and Steven Swavley were sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct. All the game needed was a spark to ignite.
A spark ignited the stewing tensions of the two teams with less than two minutes remaining in the second period, resulting in a brawl that accrued 54 total minutes and a multitude of hot tempers. The Eagles, leading 1-0 at the time, were able to escape the brawl and on the back of Thatcher Demko’s 30-save night, took the game 3-0.
The Eagles’ win extended their winning streak to six games. The win is also Demko’s fifth shutout of the season.
“I’ve been Thatcher’s teammate, this is my fourth year now, and I’ve never seen him as plugged in as he is now,” BC defenseman Steve Santini said. “At times, he makes it look easy.”
In the first two periods, the Black Bears led the shot totals, outshooting the Eagles 23-18. Maine head coach Red Gendron noted that in order to solve Demko, the team needed to put pressure on him.
“You’ve got to find a way to put pucks on him and create traffic,” Gendron said. “Thatcher Demko is very good, but I wouldn’t say he’s Superman, so you need to take his eyes away.”
While Demko donned a gold BC sweater during Friday’s game and his customary goalie’s mask, and did not don a cape or a superhero’s getup, he was up for the task, stopping all 23 shots fired his way through the first two periods. Meanwhile, across from Demko, Rob McGovern was not as fortunate. Out of the eight shots McGovern faced in the first period, he was able to stop seven of them. The eighth, a wrist shot from Santini that singed the cross bar, made its way past McGovern for the Eagles’ first goal.
For Demko, that was enough.
With regard to emotion, the first period was largely devoid of it. Both teams seemed content with no instigation of major incidents.
The second period marked a beginning of change in regards to emotion. Around the halfway point of the second period, following a whistle, a mild wrestling match resulted in Conor Riley taking down Colin White in front of McGovern. While that incident, at first blush, seemed like just a mild skirmish, it was the beginning of the process of temperature rising.
The temperature reached flash point when Fitzgerald and Swavley engaged in a shoving match, resulting in coincidental minors. All the match needed was a spark, and it got one along the boards that resulted in a war breaking out between the two teams. Demko was involved in the fight, if only to pull people off each other. The fight escalated to the point where McGovern had reached the neutral zone with probable intentions to join the fight, where the coaching staff told him to stay back.
The result of the brawl was a hotly contested third period. The period saw White miss a penalty shot late in the contest, but make up for it with a wrist shot from the side of the net that made its way past McGovern.
BC coach Jerry York also broke his typically levelheaded character by engaging in a lively discussion with the officiating crew following an embellishment call on Miles Wood (a conversation about sandwiches, York claimed after the game).
The White goal and the Santini goal scored earlier in the game was more than enough for Demko, who made seven of his 30 saves in the third period. But just for good measure, Alex Tuch added a third goal, his first of the year, on an empty net, sealing a win for the Eagles.
The two teams will have one off day before playing again in a Sunday matinee. The Black Bears will not be shying away from any residual bad blood Sunday. Asked if he hopes the energy in the game would carry over, Gendron was blunt.
“I certainly hope so.”
