Boston College Wins 12th Hockey East Title

Boston College claimed its 12th Hockey East regular-season title with tonight's 4-0 win over Vermont at Kelley Rink. Coupled with last night's 5-1 victory over the Catamounts, the Eagles (25-10-1 overall, 19-7-1 HE), ranked first in the USCHO.com poll, stretched their winning streak to 11 games and earned the conference crown by four points over rival Boston University.

“It’s always special to win trophies,” said BC coach Jerry York, who picked up his 905th career win, at uscho.com. “Our aspirations are to go after more trophies [this season]. We’ll switch gears, just not right away.”

Destry Straight tallied the game-winning goal in the last minute of the first period for the Eagles, and later added an assist. Chris Kreider made it 2-0 in the second period, while Pat Mullane and Bill Arnold (empty-net goal) added insurance markers in the third session. Parker Milner made 26 saves on Senior Night, in which the Eagles honored Barry Almeida, Tommy Atkinson, Paul Carey, Tommy Cross, Edwin Shea, and Chris Venti. The Class of 2012 has compiled 102 victories, two Hockey East regular-season titles and two playoff crowns in all, plus an NCAA championship as sophomores.

BC will face Massachusetts in the first round of the 2012 Hockey East Tournament next weekend at Kelley Rink. The Minutemen took two of three games with BC this season, although the Eagles won the only meeting contested in Chestnut Hill back in October. This will mark the third straight season that the two schools will face off in the first round of the league playoffs.

BC will be seeking its third consecutive conference tournament crown, and its 11th overall. The other first-round best-of-three Hockey East playoff matchups will feature Providence at UMass-Lowell, New Hampshire at Boston University, and Merrimack at Maine.

Boston College Starts Season Strong

As badly as last season ended for Boston College, with a stunning loss to Colorado College in the 2011 NCAA West Regional, things started off exactly the opposite to begin the 2011-12 campaign. The fifth-ranked Eagles topped Michigan State, 5-2, and then battered tournament host and No. 3 North Dakota, 6-2, to claim the 2011 IceBreaker Tournament on Oct. 7-8 in Grand Forks, N.D. It's the third time ever that BC has claimed the traditional season-opening tourney, and it did so this time without the benefit of any sort of exhibition warm-up game.

Bill Arnold topped the BC scoring scroll with a goal and four assists in the two victories, while Pat Mullane tallied two goals and set up two others. Chris Kreider and Stephen Whitney had two goals and an assist apiece, with Kreider also copping tournament MVP accolades. Kreider also scored the game-winner against MSU in the third period on Friday to break a 2-2 tie, before Whitney and Barry Almeida added insurance tallies.

Eagles newcomer Johnny Gaudreau scored his first career collegiate goal in the win over UND, and also added three assists for his first four career points. BC overcame a 2-1 second-period deficit against the Fighting Sioux by scoring five unanswered goals, which came from Kreider, Gaudreau, Mullane, Arnold and Whitney.

In the other Ice Breaker games at Ralph Engelstad Arena, North Dakota edged Air Force, 4-3, on Friday night. MSU then edged Air Force, 3-2, in overtime in the consolation game on Saturday afternoon.

Parker Milner, now BC's No. 1 netminder, stopped 39 of 43 shots, while the Eagles' penalty-killing unit blanked nine of 10 man-advantage attempts. Milner also joined Kreider and Arnold on the All-Tournament Team along with BC blueliners Patch Alber and Tommy Cross. Rounding out the all-tournament lineup was Michigan State forward Lee Reimer and North Dakota winger Brock Nelson.

If there's something that BC needs to work on, it's the Eagle power play, which connected just once in eight tries in the two Ice breaker outings. North Dakota also won 35 of the 63 faceoffs contested between the two squads on Saturday, so there's room for improvement in the red circle.

Things won't get any easier for the Eagles, not with Denver coming to BC's Conte Forum on Friday, and the Eagles traveling to Hockey East rival New Hampshire on Saturday to open the conference slate. But hey, it's a long way from now to April.

Two games down, 30-plus more to go.