BOSTON -- Few people have seen more in college hockey than Jerry York.
The Boston College head coach has been through ups and downs, leading teams to national championships and through disappointments.
The first semester has fallen in the latter category this season and last for the Eagles, but York knows there’s plenty of hockey to be played and time to break from the team’s current sub-.500 state at 4-6-1 overall.
Friday’s 4-1 win over archrival Boston University at Agganis Arena was an important first step to turning things around. Not 20 minutes after the game, York offered a history lesson. Stranger things have happened before because it’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish.
Until now, BC had not had a sub-.500 record this late in a season since Nov. 30, 2007. The Eagles beat their archrivals that night to improve to 4-4-5, and the rest is history.
“We went on to win a national championship that year,” York said, remembering a team that featured the likes of future NHLers Nathan Gerbe, Brian Gibbons (Braintree, Mass.), and Ben Smith (Avon, Conn.). “That kind of tells you it’s a long year and there’s a chance to improve and get better. A lot of teams don’t do that, but we still feel we have a good club and have the chance to become better.”
The Eagles lost freshman Jack McBain to a game misconduct just 1:19 in and killed off the resulting major penalty. Junior defenseman Chad Krys (Ridgefield, Conn.) gave the hosts a 1-0 lead on a second power play at the 7:23 mark before BC turned the tides with two goals in each of the last two periods to cruise to the win.
Though junior David Cotton had a five-game goal streak snapped, sophomore Logan Hutsko scored the Eagles’ first two before senior Christopher Brown and freshman Marc McLaughlin (North Billerica, Mass.) scored in the third to equal the final score.
Cotton connected with Hutsko for BC’s second goal with 2:50 remaining in the second, sending the sophomore from Florida into the right circle where he fired a laser past BU’s Jake Oettinger.
“I thought we played well and finally played a full 60 minutes,” said Hutsko, who has 11 points in 11 games after his two-goal effort. “Everybody was pulling for each other. It was a good team victory tonight. David Cotton and (junior Julius Mattila) are just great players, so when you get to play with guys like them, it just makes the game easier.”
The Eagles had goals from three different lines in the season’s first meeting with their archrivals, which needs to become a trend in order to find success as the season continues. Entering the weekend, Cotton had contributed to 14 of BC’s 21 goals and his line was responsible for 30 of the team’s 62 total points.
“That’s certainly a top line, but not a recipe for winning hockey,” said York. “We’ve got to get other players and other lines chipping in. They’re very good together, but we’ve got to build some other goal scorers here.”
The win was BC’s first four-goal effort since Nov. 8 and just its third of the season. But junior Joseph Woll’s goaltending has been a strength all season.
The St. Louis native made double-digit saves in each period for a season-high total of 38, keeping his team in the game as the hosts controlled the first period. One of the biggest was guiding BU freshman Joel Farabee’s point-blank chance out of harm’s way with his right skate just a minute before Hutsko tied the score.
Woll then stopped all 23 shots he faced over the last two frames, moving his save percentage in eight career games against the Terriers to .928.
“He made just some incredible saves. They had a chance to break it open early with the five-minute major and it was just 1-0 going into the break,” York said of Woll, who . “We know he’s a good goaltender and he’s been playing like that, but we just haven’t scored many goals to be a real good club.”
It’s one win, but a win as complete as Friday’s can lead to so much more for a team. Hutsko sees that as a definite possibility.
“This win is a big turning point for us, I think,” said Hutsko. “It’s a rivalry, an especially big game. Everybody gets up a little bit more for these ones, so to be able to get a win can really help us turn this around.”
The coach knows how hard it will be.
The Battle of Commonwealth Avenue has been quirky over the last five seasons as seven of the last 11 contests played at either Agganis Arena or Conte Forum have resulted in road victories.
“It’ll be two good teams going at it again. There’s no guarantees,” York said. “I think the teams are better than their records, I really do. … Sometimes, playing the road game in a series like this, you play a simpler brand of hockey. But it’s remarkable. Just two good teams battling.”
