ST. PAUL, Minn. — Top-seeded Boston College is one stop closer to its first national title since 2012.
The high-octane Eagles offense showed exactly why it has been the favorite for much of the season, defeating Michigan 4-0 in their Frozen Four semifinal game on Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center.
And it was the Eagles’ big-time players who stepped up in key situations. Freshman phenom Will Smith scored a pair of goals, sophomore Cutter Gauthier scored his nation-leading 38th of the season and freshman Gabe Perreault added a fourth to propel the Eagles (34-5-1) to Saturday’s national title game against Denver.
Boston College led 1-0 after the first period, thanks to some big saves from goaltender Jacob Fowler and an early goal from Smith and their vaunted freshman line.
BC got an early highlight-reel goal from Smith after Perreault picked up a loose puck deep in his own zone and hit Ryan Leonard with a cross-ice stretch pass deep behind the Michigan defense. Smith also snuck in behind the Michigan defenders and easily beat Michigan goaltender Jake Barczewski to finish off the bang-bang-bang play just 1 minute, 20 seconds into the game.
But in general, Michigan seemed to control the pace of the game and had a few more grade A scoring chances. The Wolverines outshot the Eagles 9-6 in the first 20 minutes, with Fowler flashing some nice leather a few times to keep it scoreless.
Boston College got a chance to extend its lead a little later in the period when Michigan’s Mark Estapa was called for a boarding penalty midway through the first. That opportunity was short-lived, however, as Leonard was called for a hook on Michigan’s Tyler Duke 35 seconds into their man advantage. Neither team was able to generate much on their brief power-play chances.
BC got another power play opportunity shortly after this, when Estapa again went to the box, this time for a trip at the 4:10 mark. However, Michigan’s penalty kill unit, which came into the game ranked 45th in the country, held the Eagles off the scoreboard.
The Eagles had a chance to go up 2-0 early in the second period. About 90 seconds into the middle frame, Leonard was able to carry the puck into the slot and escape a number of defenders but Barczewski made a sprawling save to deny Leonard.
The Wolverines, who came into the game having converted on 34.5% of their power plays, had its first real chance on the advantage in the second period. BC’s Gauthier was called for interference but BC’s penalty kill, which also happens to be the best in the country, was up to the task and didn’t let the Wolverines have any good chances.
Michigan’s failure to convert on that power play chance would haunt it later in the period. Although it appeared the Wolverines would get their second power play chance a few minutes later when BC’s Drew Fortescue was called for a trip, that chance was short-lived. About 30 seconds after Fortescue went into the box, Michigan’s Duke was also whistled for a trip, negating the power play and opening up a lot of 4-on-4 ice for the dangerous Eagles offense.
BC made Michigan pay. First, Smith scored a goal that is the definition of “lucky bounce” when he skated around behind the Michigan goal and sent the puck into the slot for what was an attempt at a centering pass. However, the puck missed its intended target (Gauthier) and instead hit a Michigan defender before trickling in between Barczewski’s legs.
Less than a minute later, BC struck again. This time Gauthier stripped the puck from a Michigan defender at the blue line and took it coast-to-coast for a no-doubter.
If the game wasn’t over when BC took the 3-0 lead on Gauthier’s breakaway, Perreault shoved the dagger in for good early in the third. Five minutes into the final frame, Perreault scored an unassisted wraparound goal to make it 4-0 — his third point of the game, adding to the two assists he had on earlier goals.
That’s not to say Michigan didn’t have its chances to get back in the game late. The Wolverines outshot the Eagles 17-8 in the third, and had one final power play opportunity midway through the period. However, none of their scoring chances seemed to be true threats to the Eagles, who seemed to be most interested in letting the clock tick off.
Both teams were held without a power play goal; Michigan went 0-for-4 and BC was 0-for-3.
Fowler finished the game with 32 saves for the Eagles and recorded his third shutout of the season. Barczewski stopped 18 shots.