CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - The top-ranked Boston College men's hockey team won its seventh-straight contest, defeating No. 8 UMass Lowell by a score of 4-0 on Friday evening at Kelley Rink. Ryan Leonard scored a hat-trick for the Eagles while Gabe Perreault also found the back of the net. Jan Korec made 22 saves between the pipes for the shutout.
BC improves to 19-4-1 overall and 12-3-1 in league play, while UMass Lowell drops to 13-8-3 overall and 6-6-2 in Hockey East.
The Eagles jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Leonard finished a close shot from just outside the crease. James Hagens found Drew Fortescue skating through the neutral zone, who then brought the puck into the offensive zone before passing it across to the backside for Leonard to tap home just a few minutes into the contest.
Boston College doubled the lead later in the period when the puck took a fortunate bounce off of Perreault's skate and went past UML goaltender Beni Halasz into the net. J. Hagens found the space to make the play and made the pass that bounced off Perreault's skate.
The second period saw both teams kill off at least one penalty with neither able to find the back of the net. The BC defense stood tall as UMass Lowell did not register a shot on goal over the 20 minutes.
Leonard scored his second goal of the night just 13 seconds into the third period to push the Boston College lead to three. Andre Gasseau picked up the loose puck off a deflected Aidan Hreschuk shot. Gasseau found Leonard, who quickly shot the puck into the bottom right corner of the net.
Leonard completed the hat-trick moments later after skating his way through the UMass Lowell defense before ripping a shot past Halasz. Oskar Jellvik made the outlet pass through the neutral zone and deep into the offensive zone. Leonard corralled the puck behind the net, brought it along the boards to the other side before skating his way through several defenders to find the opening to shoot the puck.
SCORING
1st 3:04 BC Ryan Leonard (Drew Fortescue, James Hagens)
1st 15:06 BC Gabe Perreault (J. Hagens, Teddy Stiga)
3rd 0:13 BC Leonard (Andre Gasseau, Aidan Hreschuk)
3rd 6:58 BC Leonard (Oskar Jellvik, Michael Hagens)
GAME NOTES
- Boston College is now on a seven-game winning streak
- BC has not allowed over a 5v5 goal in the last seven games and has gone 429:17 without allowing a 5v5 goal
- Jan Korec made his second start of the season between the pipes, earning his first shutout of the season and second of his career
- Ryan Leonard scored his second hat-trick of the season, bringing his season total to 22, which leads the country
- Leonard has scored nine goals over the last five games
- Teddy Stiga extended his point streak to eight games, totaling 10 over that span
- James Hagens recorded two assists for his ninth multi-point game this season
- Andre Gasseau played in his 100th game for Boston College
UP NEXT
BC heads to TD Garden on Monday evening for the 72nd Dunkin' Beanpot. The Eagles take on Northeastern at 8 p.m. and the game will be available to watch on NESN.
