After a spectacular late season and postseason run to win the Mason Cup, the Huskies’ hockey season has finally ended in the first round of the NCAA Frozen Four Playoffs with a score of 6-1.
Boston College took a quick lead to start the game, scoring on a breakaway just 0:36 seconds into the game. The Huskies quickly tightened up their game after giving up the lead, playing a solid defensive game throughout the first period before taking a penalty for hooking at 12:02. Fortunately for Tech, Max Koskipirtti managed to break up an Eagles zone entry, leading to a short-handed breakaway halfway through the penalty kill. Koskipirtti capitalized on this chance to even up the game. Michigan Tech was able to kill off the remainder of the penalty, and the period finished at a score of 1-1 with shots on goal favoring Boston 11-8.
Michigan Tech continued to play a smothering defense against Boston College in the second period until Boston took advantage of a rebound in the crease, retaking the lead in the game. Despite falling behind, the Huskies continued to push throughout the second period but were unable to tie the game back up. During the same period, Eagle forward Gabe Perreault was ejected from the game for a hit to the head on Tyrone Bronte. The major penalty gave Michigan Tech a five-minute power play, but the Huskies were unable to score and remained down 2-1 at the end of the period, with shots on goal at 22-21 for MTU.
Tech’s impressive defensive effort against Boston College’s top-ranked offense would finally falter in the third period of the game, with the Eagles scoring two quick goals at 4:47 and 6:24. Amidst the flurry of the Eagle’s offense, one fluke goal managed to bounce into Tech’s net directly off of a referee who was unable to avoid the puck as it was being dumped into the zone. Since the puck went directly off the official into the net, the goal was called back after a quick review. Shortly after the second goal, Ryland Mosley made a bad hit that caused incidental contact to a Boston College player’s head in the neutral zone, resulting in a scrum at center ice. Following the play, Boston College received a five-minute major powerplay as Mosley was ejected from the game and a handful of penalties were handed out to both teams. Boston College would run up their lead on the powerplay scoring twice. The Eagles kept the Huskies off the scoresheet for the remainder of the game, which would end with a score of 6-1.
During the game, the section of Husky fans got so loud that the NCAA had to shut off the crowd mics because their cheers were overpowering the broadcast. Win or lose, the Misfits were very grateful to be there, raising over $40,000 to send the Pep Band and Misfits to Rhode Island to support the team.
In the post-game press conference, Kyle Kukkonen spoke of the impressive turnout from the Huskies Pep Band and Mitch’s Misfits, who made the twenty-hour bus ride to Providence, RI, to support the team. Kukkonen told media that it, “means the world, especially with the band and when you see them out there… it’s awesome to have that many people have your back, especially this far from home. There aren’t many games that don’t feel like home games.”
Coach Shawhan summarized the Huskies’ performance by saying, “We had good looks… [and] we limited it [Boston College] through two periods,” however he would conclude by saying that in the third period, “we lost our focus a bit they were able to get some good looks at our net. And it doesn’t take them very much, they’re a highly skilled team.”
