BC hockey wipes the floor with Denver

I suspected that BC would have a fine weekend out in Colorado, but in reality, it was better than fine.  The #1 Eagles hockey team played a Friday-Saturday twinbill with the #8 Denver Pioneers, and came out with 6-2 and 3-0 wins to keep BC perfect on the season.

Granted, the Pioneers are a highly-ranked team, but they did lose a significant amount of starting talent from last season.  Boston College did not, and it showed this weekend.  The first game was competitive until the second period, when the Eagles exploded for four goals; all six in total were scored by different players (in order, Whitney, Atkinson, Cross, J. Hayes, K. Hayes, and Gibbons).  The second was a closer affair, but the Eagles led for virtually the entire game.  Jimmy Hayes scored BC’s first goal with 18:32 to go in the first period and the Eagles never looked back.  Also scoring were Atkinson, one of the nation’s best in scoring from last year, and Cross.  Parker Milner, in his first start of the season, pitched a shutout.  That’s now two shutouts recorded by BC goalies in their first three games.

Boston College’s penalty kill remains perfect on the year, as in the first three games, they’ve gone 23/23 in that department on defense.  Last season, BC was an 84.3% PK team, tied for 14^th in the nation.

The Eagles looked every bit like a number one team this weekend.  The goaltending has been strong, the penalty kill has been strong, and BC’s offensive playmakers are still making plays.  On the ice, Denver didn’t look like they could hang with the Eagles, and sure enough, they didn’t.  Boston College is doing everything they need to do to keep themselves established as the top team in the country so far, and showing that they are a legitimate threat to repeat as champions.