BOSTON College Crushes UMass 8-1 in Hockey East Semifinal

By Zachary McMahon –

The No. 1 Boston College Eagles faced off against the No. 5 UMass Amherst Minutemen on Friday night in the Hockey East Semifinal at TD Garden in Boston, MA. The Eagles won against UConn in the Hockey East Quarterfinal last Saturday when Jack Malone scored the game-winning goal in the third period to bring the Eagles to the 5-4 win. Meanwhile, the Minutemen won against Providence with a 3-1 win last Saturday in the quarterfinal.

In the regular season, The Eagles swept the season series winning both matchups in Amherst on Feb. 16 and Feb. 18. All time in the Hockey East Tournament, the Eagles are 10-1 against UMass, with the only loss coming in the 1995 Hockey East Tournament Play-In game.

The Minutemen scored first in the first period with a goal from Lucas Mercuri before an onslaught from the BC offense would start.

The Eagles scored their first goal of the game in the first period from the stick of Ryan Leonard off the powerplay after a shot from freshman Will Smith whose shot was bounced off the pad of UMass Goaltender Michael Hrabal and Leonard found the puck and the open net for the score.

Gabe Perreault’s goal in the second period got the Eagles their first lead in the game, and it all went downhill for the MInutemen after that, where they would allow seven straight unanswered goals which would end with a second goal from Perreault to advance BC to their first Hockey East Championship appearance since 2017.

The BC Eagles will face the winner of Maine/BU in the championship on Saturday night at 7:30 pm. The game will be broadcasted on NESN/NESN360.