Matthew Bacon
Journal Staff
College hockey fans were treated to possibly one of the best Beanpot championship games ever on Monday night as Boston College defeated Boston University 3-2 in overtime to take their third straight Beanpot title.
Calgary Flames prospect Bill Arnold scored on a beautiful snipe from the top of the hash marks with 6.4 seconds left in overtime, capping off an emotional night of ups and downs for both teams. BC took an early lead when Pat Mullane blew by BU’s defense to score a shorthanded goal 8:54 into the first period. The Terriers eventually tied it when Nashville Predators prospect Garrett Noonan scored his first of the night on the powerplay.
The Eagles took another lead with 1:18 left in the second period when New York Rangers prospect Chris Kreider scored a powerplay goal. It was Noonan again to tie the game in the third period, and the teams were off to overtime.
The overtime was as intense as any, with a playoff-like atmosphere. The momentum shifted back and forth between the two teams. It seemed as though the game was destined for double OT until Arnold’s tally with 6.4 seconds left. Throughout the game, BC outshot BU 47-34.
The greatest story in this game was all of the future NHL talent. Between the two teams, 19 NHL prospects played in last night’s championship game. Bruins fans might want to take note of BC’s senior defenseman Tommy Cross, a Bruins prospect. Cross has seven goals and 11 assists in 28 games for BC this year, and played a very solid game Monday night.
The first star of the game was Bill Arnold of BC. The Calgary Flames prospect was the hero of the game last night, snapping a 2-2 tie with only 6.4 seconds left to win the tournament for BC.
The second star was Kieran Millan of BU. The only reason this game got as far as it did was the stellar goaltending of the Colorado Avalanche prospect. Even though his team lost, Millan still had an extremely impressive 44 saves. He kept BU in the game from the very beginning to the very end, despite the fact that they never held a lead in the game.
The third star was Garrett Noonan of BU. Noonan was the only offensive force on the ice for BU last night. Like Millan’s 44 saves, Noonan’s two goals kept BU in the game even though their team was being outplayed.
