Canada Wins 2023 IIHF World Championship

Canada is the world champion of men's hockey once again. The Canadians defeated Germany, 5-2 on Sunday in Finland to claim their 28th gold medal all-time in the IIHF World Championship.

NCAA-trained players who helped Canada to its sixth World Championship in the last eight seasons included Adam Fantilli (Michigan), Brad Hunt (Bemidji State), Devon Levi (Northeastern) and Jack McBain (Boston College). Fantilli, who is projected to be selected second overall in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, scored the game-winning goal in a semifinal victory over Latvia on Saturday.

The United States, which won its first eight games in this year's tournament, fell to Germany in the semifinals and to co-host Latvia in the third-place game, both in overtime, to finish out of the medals. Germany earned silver for the third time overall in World Championship competition, while Latvia won bronze this year, its first medal of any kind ever in the event.

Next year's World Championship will be contested in Prague and Ostrava, Czechia in May 2024.

BC Eliminates UNH, Stays Alive in Hockey East

Tyler Ward scored all of New Hampshire's goals, but his Wildcats ultimately came up short in a 4-3 overtime loss at Boston College on Wednesday night in a first-round Hockey East tournament game. BC improves to 15-17-5 overall, while UNH ends its 2021-2022 campaign at 14-19-1.

Marc McLaughlin connected for his second goal of the evening, just under 18 minutes into the extra session, at Conte Forum to boost BC to its fifth win in its last seven outings. Jack McBain and Nikita Nesterenko (shorthanded) also scored for the Eagles, who led 3-1 after 40 minutes of play before Ward scored twice, both times on the power play, in less than seven minutes to knot matters. Eric Dop finished with 44 saves in goal for the Eagles, while Mike Robinson made 23 stops for the Wildcats.

BC will now play at Northeastern on Saturday night in the single-elimination quarterfinal round. The winner will advance to the Hockey East semifinals at TD Garden. The Eagles and Huskies split a home-and-home conference series last month, with the road team winning in each contest. 

Boston College Sweeps UMass in Regular-Season Finale

Boston College completed its 100th regular season in stunning fashion, topping defending NCAA champion UMass both nights in a home-and home-series.

On Friday at BC's Conte Forum, Jack McBain tipped home a shot less than 30 seconds into the third period on a power play that stood up as the game-winner in the Eagles' 2-1 victory. UMass appeared to have tied the contest at the buzzer, but the puck was ruled to have crossed the goal line after time had expired. Bowling Green transfer Eric Dop made 25 saves to earn the win on BC's Senior Night.

On Saturday at the Mullins Center in Amherst, BC completed the two-step sweep with a 4-3 triumph, as Patrick Giles broke a 3-3 tie with less than four minutes remaining in regulation on his second goal of the evening. Dop made a career-high 42 stops in net as BC (14-17-5 overall) won for the fourth time in its last six outings, all in Hockey East play, and helped deny the Minutemen (19-12-2) the 2021-22 conference regular-season crown. The Eagles will now host New Hampshire on Wednesday in a single-elimination first-round Hockey East tournament game.

In other playoff contests, Princeton (8-21-2) saw its season come to an end with a 5-1 loss to Union in the first round of the ECAC Hockey tournament, while Michigan State (12-23-1) closed out its campaign with an 8-0 defeat at Michigan in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten tournament.

In NCAA independent action, Alaska Fairbanks (14-18-2) completed its regular season with a 5-1 win over visiting Long Island to gain a series split.

BC Honors 2001 Team, Tops NU

 

Boston College honored its 2001 NCAA championship team following the first period tonight at Conte Forum. The current group of Eagles then rebounded to claim a 5-3 win over visiting Northeastern in the Hockey East opener for both schools.

Marc McLaughlin scored twice for BC (2-0-1 overall, 1-0-0 Hockey East), while Jack McBain had three assists and Eric Dop made 22 saves for the victory. Aidan McDonough had two goals for the Huskies (2-2-0, 0-1-0), while Devon Levi had 32 stops. BC scored three times in the third period to break a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes.

BC defeated North Dakota, 3-2, in overtime in Albany, N.Y.. in April 2001 to earn its first national hockey title in 52 years. Nearly two dozen members of that team were presented at tonight's NU-BC contest, and they will also be honored on Saturday night at halftime of the North Carolina State-BC football game at Alumni Stadium.