MacKinnon’s Hat Trick Lifts Friars over BU

The Men’s Hockey Team snapped an eight-game winless streak this weekend, splitting a series with the No. 19 Boston University Terriers. The Friars rallied around the first career hat-trick of Kyle MacKinnon ’11 to take the first game of the weekend series, 5-4, but were unable to repeat the feat the next night, losing 2-1 to BU. PC improved its record to 10-18-2 overall and 5-16-2 in Hockey East play.

On Saturday, Feb. 20, the Friars traveled up to Boston to play a surging BU team which had won five of its last seven games. The first period was played to a scoreless tie, though the Terriers posted an impressive 15-6 shot advantage thanks in large part to three power-plays.

"After that first game we all felt really good," said Head Coach Tim Army. "We were behind early, and I was a little bit worried, but we came right back and I knew it was going to be a dogfight to the end. We played really well Saturday as well, but again a couple of mistakes ended up losing us a hard-fought game. We had a couple of great chances that we didn’t convert, but we played real well the whole weekend."

"It was obviously a good weekend for us and gave us some confidence," said defenseman Alex Velischek ’13. "We beat BU two out of three times this season and that will definitely give us some confidence going into the end of the season."

Just 27 seconds into the second period, the Friars took a 1-0 lead when Mark Fayne ’10 ripped a slap shot past BU keeper Kieran Milan. The Friar penalty kill continued to look stellar denying three more BU power plays over the course of the second period.

At the 6:58 mark of the third period, the Terriers finally broke through and tied the game at 1-1. Less than ten minutes later, BU’s Zach Cohen redirected a teammate’s shot into the back of the net, giving the Terriers a 2-1 lead on what would prove to be the game-winning goal. PC goalie Alex Beaudry ’12 tallied 39 saves for the fourth time this season.

On Friday, Feb. 19, PC hosted BU and the Friars’ hard work finally paid off as they were able to overcome an early onslaught and emerge victorious. The Terriers established a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission but MacKinnon came out and scored his first goal of the night, cutting BU’s lead to one goal, just 2:14 into the second period.

The Terriers regrouped quickly and once again spread the lead to two goals, 3-1. MacKinnon again responded for the Friars, redirecting a shot past Milan at the 5:50 mark, bringing BU’s lead to 3-2. Fayne and Velischek were both credited with assists. Late in the second, PC evened the score at 3-3 when Matt Bergland ’12 took advantage of a power play, tapping Velischek’s missed shot into the open side of the net.

Early in the third period, the Terriers responded with a power play goal of their own, taking a 4-3 lead. From that point on, it was all Friars, as MacKinnon evened the score at 4-4, completing his three-goal effort. With 5:25 left in the third period, Aaron Jamnick ’13 pounced on a rebound and gave the Friars the lead for good. Jamnick’s game-winner marked a PC season-high third power play goal of the game. Beaudry recorded 24 saves for the Friars while Milan stopped 35 shots for the Terriers.

"We know we can beat anybody if we stick to our system all 60 minutes and now it’s just about doing what we know we can do and what Coach knows we can do," said David Brown ’12.

The Friars enter the last four games of the season this weekend splitting a weekend series with UMass Lowell. PC will travel to Lowell, Mass. on Friday, Feb. 26, for a 7:00 p.m. showdown before hosting the River Hawks the next night in Schneider Arena at 7:00 p.m.