Eagles Wax Crimson

Outhustling. Outskating. Outshooting. Outperforming.

All the ingredients necessary for success were in place for Boston College last night. Combine that with the weekend return of sophomore center Ben Eaves on the first line and the solid netminding of eventual Eberly Award winner, freshman Matti Kaltiainen, and the Eagles were able to make the best out of their Beanpot consolation game appearance at the FleetCenter. Two quick goals in the first period and steady goaltending the whole way were all BC needed to pace its way to an undemanding 4-0 win over Harvard University.

Even with the return of Eaves, Eagles sophomore Tony Voce continued his solid play on the left wing and provided the first of a host of problems the Crimson faced throughout the contest. With his 22nd goal of the season, Voce initiated BC’s assault on the Harvard defense with just over 10 minutes remaining in the first for a 1-0 lead.

The Voce-Eaves duo teamed up for further damage less than five minutes later. Deep in his own end, Voce’s seemingly harmless pass to center ice led the way for a matchup between Eaves and Harvard defenseman Peter Capouch. Showing no ill effects from his recovered broken-ribs, Eaves blew by Capouch for a breakaway and deked out Crimson goalie Will Crothers to double the BC advantage to 2-0 with his 10th goal of the season.

“We came out with some good energy right away and had a couple goals,” said Eaves, who has two goals and two assists since his return against the University of Maine on Friday night. “Harvard came at us pretty hard, but we kept on doing the little things and banged a couple goals in at the end.”

Those subsequent goals were delivered courtesy of another BC tandem, this time of the defensemen variety. Junior Anthony D’Arpino’s putback goal of a solid shot from senior forward Jeff Giuliano sent Harvard (10-10-3) to the dressing room staring at a three-goal deficit after two periods.

The other half of the junior defense team, Bill Cass, sent the Crimson packing in the last minute-and-a-half of regulation after poking in the Eagles final goal on the power play.

While BC (15-13-2) kept Crothers busy behind the pipes for much of the game – he made a few stellar saves despite allowing the four goals – Kaltiainen was rarely tested on his end. But when he was, the freshman backstop made his second appearance on the FleetCenter ice an impressive one with acrobatic saves in each of the three periods. Kaltiainen ended the game with 22 saves to preserve the shutout, and his 42 stops out of 46 chances during the tournament gave him the stats needed to earn the Eberly Award for most valuable goaltender.

As the bruises slowly heal for the Eagles, so too does their disappointing season thus far. With the return of Eaves and freshman defender John Adams, BC has reeled off back-to-back victories, the first coming in a 4-3 upset of Maine on Friday night. And as BC continues to fill its broken puzzle of injuries, it also looks poised to make a significant run in the last month of Hockey East action.

“When we’re healthy and at full strength, we have an excellent hockey team,” said Boston College head coach Jerry York. “But most teams are banged up during the year and it’s hard to get everybody healthy and you kind of have to play through that. Ben (Eaves) alluded to the fact that when he was out for five weeks, there were other players in different positions. Hopefully now when we get into a stretch, that will pay dividends for us.”