Following Friday night's easy 7-1 win over Northeastern at Kelley Rink, Jerry York had reason to relax, if only for a day.
"As I've told these guys before, one of the best Saturdays of the year is when you wake up, you've swept the [Hockey East quarterfinal] series in two games, and you know you're carrying your team into the Garden," said the longtime Boston College hockey coach.
York and his Eagles get to return to the TD Banknorth Garden next weekend for the Hockey East semifinals with hopes to bring home their seventh Hockey East title. The championship eluded them last spring, with a 2-1 overtime loss to archrival Boston University in the final.
Last year's team started heating up when it got to the NCAA Tournament and made its way to a national championship game appearance. This year, however, BC is already riding a torrent of momentum as it heads to Causeway Street.
"Our team is playing unquestionably our best hockey of the season," said York.
Friday, needing one win to seal the best-of-three series with seventh-seeded Northeastern, it took a few minutes for the Eagles to get going, but once they did, they quickly put the Huskies away.
Looking to rebound from a 3-0 loss the previous night, Northeastern got on the board first. Huskies sophomore winger Ryan Ginand capitalized on a turnover deep in front of the BC net as he gathered the puck, deked to his left, and planted the puck past Eagles goalie Cory Schneider. At just 2:11 into the game, Northeastern had its first goal, and first lead, of the series.
The fun started for the Eagles offense at 12:42 of the first, when senior forward Joe Rooney evened the score at 1, knocking home a rebound of Benn Ferriero's shot. Shortly thereafter, Andrew Orpik broke to the net, and was taken down by Northeastern's Yale Lewis.
BC went on the power play, and Ferriero's slap shot from out near the blue line tipped off a Northeastern stick and skidded past Huskies goalie Brad Thiessen. This made it the Eagles' eighth straight game with a power-play goal, and the 10th in 11 games. The goal gave BC a lead it would not relinquish.
Spring Break
