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LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS - DECEMBER 05: Dean Letourneau #29 of the Boston College Eagles skates against the UMass Lowell River Hawks during NCAA men's hockey at the Tsongas Center on December 5, 2025 in Lowell, Massachusetts. The Eagles won 3-1. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On Friday night, the men’s Hockey East semifinals were played at TD Garden between the Boston College Eagles and UConn Huskies. After Merrimack won the early game against UMass, BC and UConn faced off for a berth in the conference championship game against the Warriors.
Play was very sloppy from the start. BC got a couple of quality opportunities on an early powerplay, but otherwise struggled to generate much offense. Mostly the Eagles were failing to even get the puck into the offensive zone. UConn had an aggressive forecheck and was clogging passing lanes, resulting in plenty of turnovers. Louka Cloutier was on his game, though, and made a number of great stops when the Huskies came at him.
On one of BC’s first period powerplays, the puck appeared to have slipped by UConn goalie Tyler Muszelik after a scramble near the net. But a referee blew his whistle while the puck was very briefly covered from his view, waving off the goal that followed a second later. And because the whistle was blown, Boston College’s bench wouldn’t have won a challenge.
The Eagles finally cashed in at the start of the second period. They began the period on a powerplay, and before too long Dean Letourneau set up a pretty shot on the left side of the net to give BC a 1-0 lead. That would be short-lived. UConn came right down the other end and trickled one by Cloutier to tie it up less than a minute later.
A few minutes after that, it was the powerplay that gave the Eagles life again. Dean Letourneau planted himself in front of the goal and Muszelik couldn’t stop the 6’7” sophomore from scoring on a redirect. BC was taking advantage of their opportunities and had a 2-1 lead to show for it. But the question remained if their 5-on-5 play could hold up. UConn answered that very quickly when Husky sophomore Ethan Whitcomb roofed a shot over Cloutier just a few minutes later, and BC burned their timeout on an unsuccessful offsides challenge. It was 2-2 halfway through the second period.
UConn controlled the game for a very long stretch after that. BC led in shots 16-9 when Letourneau put in his 2nd goal. UConn led in shots, 17-16, when finally BC earned another powerplay with 4:32 remaining in the period. They didn’t even register any shots on that powerplay, and the Eagles were lucky that the intermission arrived still with a tie score.
Cloutier continued to hold strong to start the third period. BC’s offense was nowhere to be found, but still UConn wasn’t getting enough contribution from their top forwards to finish shots. Cloutier made a few good saves, but the Huskies also blew a few key opportunities. With under ten minutes to play, Andre Gasseau drove down the middle of the ice and fired the puck right at the goalie. It was BC’s first shot on goal in 22 minutes of game time.
The dam finally burst on a UConn breakaway. Whitcomb cut to the net and slipped the puck right into Cloutier’s five-hole. He scored his second goal of the night and gave UConn a 3-2 lead with under eight minutes to play.
When all seemed lost, Ryan Conmy brought Boston College back to life. He lined-up a one-timer 20 feet in front of the net on an errant UConn pass and fired it past Muszelik for a goal, tying the game at 3-3. Despite getting pushed around all game, BC came back to one of its shotmakers and his skill kept the team’s season alive. BC got a little more offense going after that, but a missed Conmy pass to Minnetian at the top of the zone blew their best scoring chance. Regulation concluded shortly after and the game went to overtime.
Overtime was brief. Tristan Fraser pushed a shot past Cloutier’s left pad and the puck trickled into the corner of the goal. UConn won 4-3.
With the loss, Boston College’s season is over. They will finish a few spots out of the NCAA tournament after this weekend’s games. They finish with a 20-15-1 record, a Beanpot victory, and a 4th-place finish in Hockey East.
Boston College looked lost for most of the game, getting outshot 31-25 in regulation, failing to implement basic coordination on many passes and zone entries. UConn’s heavy forecheck forced too many turnovers and BC wasn’t able to punish them for playing aggressive defense. There were only small flashes of Hagens moving the puck down ice, as he mostly got pushed around by the UConn defenders and his impact was limited. The only time BC really looked comfortable was on the powerplay, which had some success, but was not enough to carry them to a victory. It’s been a disappointing stretch to end this season, and it feels like a totally different team than the one that won the Beanpot.
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