CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - No. 1 Boston College wrapped up the regular season on Saturday afternoon with a 6-0 victory over Merrimack at Kelley Rink. Eamon Powell led all scorers with three points on three assists. Gabe Perreault and Teddy Stiga each scored twice for the Eagles, while Ryan Leonard and Connor Joyce also lit the lamp. Andre Gasseau tallied two assists and Jacob Fowler posted a 27-save shutout.
BC improves to 26-6-2 overall and 18-4-2 in Hockey East, while Merrimack drops to 13-20-1 overall and 9-14-1 in league play.
The Eagles jumped out to an early 1-0 lead midway through the first period when Leonard scored from the high slot off a feed from James Hagens. Powell split the Merrimack defense in the neutral zone with a pass to Hagens, who then found Leonard for the wrist shot for the early one-goal advantage.
BC doubled its lead five minutes later when Lukas Gustafsson skated around a Merrimack defender and threaded the needle to find Stiga for the tap-in at the back post.
Perreault pushed the Boston College lead to three at the midway point of the second period. Just seconds after BC killed off a Merrimack power play, Powell found Perreault with a stretch pass and Perreault slotted his shot through the five-hole past Nils Wallstrom.
Perreault scored his second of the game as the first of three goals in the third period for the Eagles. Leonard found a wide open Perreault in the left faceoff circle, who tucked his shot inside the right post to make it 4-0.
Just minutes later, Stiga capitalized on a mistake in the neutral zone from the Warriors, and took the puck in towards goal before firing a shot into the bottom right corner for his second goal of the game. Joyce capped the scoring with less than five minutes to go after following up on a rebound from a saved shot by Jake Sondreal.
SCORING
1st 7:45 BC Ryan Leonard (James Hagens, Eamon Powell)
1st 12:58 BC Teddy Stiga (Lukas Gustafsson, Will Skahan)
2nd 9:19 BC Gabe Perreault (Eamon Powell)
3rd 6:34 BC Gabe Perreault (Ryan Leonard, Andre Gasseau) - PP
3rd 9:07 BC Teddy Stiga (Andre Gasseau)
3rd 15:05 BC Connor Joyce (Jake Sondreal, Eamon Powell)
SGAME NOTES
- The Eagles are 14-2-0 at Kelley Rink this season
- Ryan Leonard scored his nation-leading 29th goal of the year
- Leonard is now on a 15-game point streak, the longest in the country
- Leonard scored his ninth game-winning goal of the year
- Gabe Perreault scored his 14th goal of the season
- Teddy Stiga finished with his first multi-goal game
- Eamon Powell is on a three-game point streak
- Powell tallied three assists, his fourth multi-point game of the year
- James Hagens tallied his 25th assist of the season
- Jacob Fowler recorded his seventh shutout of the season, the third highest in program history
- Fowler recorded his 10th career shutout, fifth-most in program history
SUP NEXT
BC will be the top seed in the Hockey East Tournament and will host a quarterfinal game on Saturday, March 15. Opponent and time to be announced after Wednesday's opening round games.
