2023–24 Boston College Eagles Men's Ice Hockey Season

The 2023–24 Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey season was the 102nd season of play for the program and the 40th in Hockey East. The Eagles represented Boston College in the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at Kelley Rink and were coached by Greg Brown in his 2nd season.

Season

The addition of six NHL draft picks, including three first-rounders, was a huge boost to the Eagles' outlook entering the season. Despite finishing with a losing record the year before, the team was #6 in the preseason rankings because of a revamped roster in which more than half of the lineup was new players. BC didn't have to wait long for their first big test when they opened the season against the defending national champions, Quinnipiac. The Eagles played well, particularly on defense, but it was Jacob Fowler who portended a good season early. The freshman goaltender stopped 29 shots en route to an overtime win and had Boston College off and running.

The offense began to get into gear after the opening match and soon the Eagles became one of the top offensive teams in the nation. This was primarily thanks to the all-freshman line of Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault and Will Smith who were not only a terror at even strength but helped BC produce the #2 power play in the nation. The Eagles suffered their first loss of the season when they met Denver, another championship hopeful, and the two power play goals that BC allowed convinced the team to redouble its efforts. For the remainder of the season, BC surrendered just 14 power play goals on 126 opportunities, posting the best penalty kill in the nation. The team's special teams came up big in the next game when they took on a resurgent Michigan State squad and killed off 6 of 7 penalties to down the Spartans then scored two on the power play in the rematch to sweep the weekend series. By handling the #8 team in the nation, BC was able to earn its first #1 ranking of the season.

Mid-November saw the team stumble a bit as they lost a series to Maine when they scored just 4 goals in 2 games. The games showed a possible flaw with the team that the Eagles might be a bit too top heavy. After their freshman line, the Eagles had a good second line, headlined by sophomore Cutter Gauthier, but after that the scoring dropped off precipitously. The three freshman were responsible for three of the goals against the Black Bears while the fourth came on the power play. This demonstrated that the team was still vulnerable if the other three lines had off nights, but that was a very small crack in the Eagles' facade.

Over the next two and a half months, the Eagles went 12–2 and regained the #1 spot three separate times. The final time was thanks to BC taking down hated rival Boston University with a weekend sweep that saw the two teams face one another as #1 and #2 for the first time in history. The first match was so anticipated that it was broadcast in Canada, an exceedingly rare event for a regular season game. The defense was key for the win in game 1 as Fowler allowed just one goal while two empty-netters turned a tight battle into a rout. More offense was needed in game two and, fortunately, BC was able to get contributions from outside the freshman line. 4 goals were enough to give BC a lead it could defend against one of the top offensive teams in the nation and firmly plant itself as the top team in the country.

Just over a week later, the Terriers were able to get revenge by knocking BC out in the Beanpot Semifinal. The Eagles weren't able to hold off the likely top pick in the upcoming NHL draft, Macklin Celebrini, for three consecutive games and lost their chance at ending the program's 8-year Beanpot drought. The team appeared to take the loss personally and played an inspired brand of hockey for the rest of the season. Boston College won their last 9 regular season games, many by wide margins, and marched into their conference playoff atop all national rankings.

At the time, the Eagles were guaranteed to receive one of the four #1 seed in the NCAA tournament but top spot would only be ensured if they kept on winning. Everything looked good for BC when they opened against Connecticut. The team had a 3-goal lead just 8 minutes into the game and then tried to cruise to the win. The Huskies, however, were not content to just lay down and led BC soar to the win. UConn scored three goals in just under 5 minutes at the start of the third to tie the game and shock the partisan crowd. Graduate transfer Jack Malone scored a few minutes later to give BC the lead once more and enabled the Eagles to escape disaster. After the narrow win, Boston College punished Massachusetts in the Semifinal. The top line scored four times and Gauthier raised his total to a nation-leading 34 when he capped off the eight-goal deluge on the power play. The championship once more pitted BC vs. BU with the #1 overall seed on the line. The Eagles' power play decided the match with Boston College scoring four times on the man-advantage Smith finished the game with 4 goals and was named as the tournament MVP.

With the unanimous #1 ranking in hand, Boston College entered the NCAA tournament as the prohibitive favorite. They began their climb with the best possible matchup and faced a relatively weak Michigan Tech team that had earned its appearance only by winning a conference championship. Despite being heavily favored in the game, BC was stymied in the first 40 minutes of the game. Though the team had the lead, the Eagles scored just twice on 21 shots and Tech was behind by only a single marker. However, in the third period the Huskies' game began to crumble and the superior talent on BC started to show through. Boston College scored four goals in final period, two on the power play, and ran away with the game late.

In the regional final, BC faced off against Quinnipiac for the second time on the season. The Bobcats were keen to defend their championship and got a solid game from their goaltender early on. All 15 BC shots in the first period were turned aside and that allowed Quinnipiac to score the first two goals in the first two minutes of the second period. A power play allowed Leonard to cut the lead in half just seconds later while Andre Gasseau tied the score just past the halfway point of the game. The teams exchanged scores in the final minutes of the period to leave both with 3 goals each. The Bobcats scored their second power play goal of the game at the start of the third and then played an oppressive brand of forechecking that kept BC hemmed in their own end. The Eagles were hardly able to get a shot on goal over the next 15 minutes and just when it looked like the team might see their season come to an end, The Eagles were finally able to get an open look at the net and Aram Minnetian fired the puck in from the high slot. Quinnipiac turned up the pressure in overtime and with his team reeling, Greg Brown called a timeout just 2 minutes into the extra session to give the Eagles a break. The ploy worked as Boston College got back on the offensive and began to attack the Bobcat cage. A shot from the point was tipped by Colby Ambrosio and caught Quinnipiac's goaltender by surprise. He lost his balance and was unable to freeze the puck. One of the Bobcat defenders tried to clear the puck out of the crease but it landed right on the stick of Malone, who shot it right into the cage for the winning goal.

Boston College was back in the Frozen Four for the first time since 2016 and were set against Michigan. The two teams were among the best offensive clubs in the nation with the Wolverines being the only team better on the man-advantage. However, Boston College was a far superior team on the defensive side of the puck and they proved as much over course of the game. Michigan was unable to get a single goal past Fowler and went empty on four power plays in the game. The stellar goaltending meant that Smith's goal, just 80 seconds into the game, stood as the winning marker but the team scored three more for good measure.

The relative ease at which BC had vanquished Michigan again convinced many that the Eagles were the best team in the nation but they had one final impediment standing between them and the national championship: Denver. The Pioneers were the top scoring team in the nation but they had been relatively quiet on the offensive side of the puck in the tournament thus far. Denver had won three consecutive 2–1 decisions thanks to a surprisingly strong performance from their goaltender but they were about to face the #2 offense in the nation. However, BC quickly discovered why the Pios had reached the championship game when they were held to just 12 shots in the first two periods. Worse, Denver was able to score twice in the second to take a 2-goal lead into the third period. In the final 20 minutes, the Boston College offense awoke and began to assault the Denver cage with shot after shot. The puck got on goal 23 times in the final frame but nothing got past the Denver goaltender. Despite their furious finish, BC was shutout for the first time all season and the team watched helplessly as the Pioneers claimed the championship.

Departures

Recruiting

Roster

As of October 2, 2023.

Standings

Schedule and results

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NCAA Tournament

Regional semifinal

Regional final

National semifinal

National Championship

Scoring statistics

Goaltending statistics

Rankings

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 or 25.
Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.

Awards and honors

2024 NHL Entry Draft

† incoming freshman

References

External links

BC Men's Hockey Home Page

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Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey seasons
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