Maine winger Cedric Lacroix tries to win the opening faceoff of the Black Bears matchup with the BC Eagles at Alfond Arena in Orono on Saturday, February 17, 2018. Photo by Chris Lessner.
ORONO, Me- The #19 Boston College Eagles got 33 saves from goalie Joe Woll and had five different goal scorers, as they cruised by the Maine Black Bears 5-0 in Hockey East action at Alfond Arena in Orono before a soldout crowd of 5,165 Saturday night.
In the last regular season home game, and on a night the team honored their four seniors, Maine began the game strong outshooting BC early 7-2. Casey Fitzgerald got the first Eagles goal at 2:47 to make it 1-0. The Bears had a pair of two on one breakout opportunities, a three on one break, and a partial breakaway by Eduards Tralmak, all turned away by BC goaltender Woll. Julius Mattila buried a loose puck into the back of the net at 10:29, on a play that began behind the Maine net to make it 2-0.
Maine supplied more pressure in the second period, but still were turned away by Woll. Zach Walker made it 3-0 at 8:02 of the second. Logan Hutsko scored 18 seconds into the third period to make it 4-0, sending most of the 5,165 fans home and also ending the night for Bears starting goalie Jermey Swayman who was replaced by Rob McGovern. Graham McPhee added an empty net shorthanded goal late in the third to finish off the scoring.
Swayman made 20 saves in his 40:18 in the Maine net. McGovern made eight saves in his 17:12 stint of relief in the third period. Maine was 0-2 on the powerplay, while BC didn’t have any opportunities. The Eagles improve to 16-13-3, 16-6-0 in Hockey East.
Maine (16-12-4, 10-9-3), now sit in a tie for fifth place in Hockey East with UConn. The Bears and Eagles will finish the regular season with games at Conte Forum in Boston Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m.
