Courtesy Vermont Sports Information
CHESTNUT HILL, Ma. – Austin Cangelosi and Adam Gilmour each registered a goal and two assists and Thatcher Demko notched his 10th shutout of the season during a 3-0 Boston College win on Friday night in Game 1 of the Hockey East Quarterfinal at Conte Forum.
The Catamounts fell to 14-21-3 and will try to extend their season on Saturday night, while the Eagles improved to 25-5-5.
Gilmour gave the Eagles an early lead at the 4:14 mark of the first period from an offensive zone faceoff. Cangelosi collected the puck in the right circle and centered to the slot for Gilmour, who beat Mike Santaguida (14 saves) with a one-timer.
Cangelosi doubled the lead at 10:58 of the opening frame, capitalizing on a Catamount giveaway behind the net and stuffing the puck home inside the left post.
Vermont killed off a BC power play late in the period but trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes.
The Eagles stretched their lead to three just 3:20 into the middle frame on their second power play. Cangelosi dropped a pass to Ryan Fitzgerald in the low right circle, and the junior’s wrister trickled through Santaguida’s pads. Packy Munson replaced Santaguida in the net after the third tally.
UVM came alive and responded with 17 shots in the second period. Brian Bowen nearly deflected a pair of point shots past Demko (36 saves) on a Vermont power play. Demko later made back-to-back left pad saves on Bowen’s linemate Kevin Irwin near the right post on a centering backhand feed from Rob Darrar.
Demko kept the Catamounts at bay in the third to clinch the win. Conor O’Neil nearly scored on Demko off a back door pass from Jarrid Privitera but couldn’t tuck a shot inside the right pipe.
Vermont earned a major power play with under a minute to play and pulled Munson for an extra skater but couldn’t get on the board. Munson stopped all 13 shots he faced in roughly 34 minutes of action.
The Bowen-Darrar-Irwin line led the Catamounts by combining for 16 shots as each player posted at least five. UVM out-shot BC 36-30, including a 28-18 edge over the final 40 minutes. The schools combined to go 1-for-12 on the power play.
The teams return to Conte Forum on Saturday (March 12) for Game 2 at 7 p.m. All the action will be streamed live on a pay-per-view basis at HockeyEastOnline.TV, and radio coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on WVMT 620-AM, SportsJuice.com, and the TuneIn app with Alsatair Ingram on the call.