Entering the 2023–2024 season, the size of Boston College men’s hockey’s freshman class stood out as a potential disadvantage, as the physicality of college hockey is a big step up from juniors, where many of the Eagles’ highly touted recruits played before making the trip to Chestnut Hill.
But 14 games into the season, those same freshmen have consistently left their mark on their competition and taken over games. That trend continued in BC’s matchup with Notre Dame on Friday night, in which three freshmen scored goals and five freshmen tallied at least one point. Freshman goaltender Jacob Fowler also held the Fighting Irish scoreless over 57 minutes of play.
“Well we have a lot of [freshmen] so we need them to contribute,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “We connected on some plays last night, maybe more than we have in the past, but the thing that really had the coaching staff pleased was that we were much more detailed in our overall game.”
Behind these overpowering freshmen offensive performances and a strong 60 minutes from BC’s defense, the No. 2 Eagles (10–2–1, 4–1–1 Hockey East) flew through No. 18 Notre Dame (7–5–2, 3–1–2 Big 10) with a 6–1 win.
“The highlight-reel goals are what everyone gets excited about and remembers, but I just really liked the way we played,” Brown said. “I thought we limited chances, we were smart in the defensive zone, and smart in our tracking through the neutral zone. A lot of those nice offensive plays were the result of being smart defensively.”
BC’s U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP) line, composed of freshmen first-round NHL draft picks Ryan Leonard, Will Smith, and Gabe Perreault, entered the game with 45 combined points on 13 goals and 32 assists, and wasted little time adding to that total.
Less than four minutes into the Holy War, that line made its presence known.
In a coordinated effort, the Eagles pushed the puck past center ice, where Perreault eventually found Leonard. Leonard used his momentum to unleash a screaming one-timer from the right circle directly past goaltender Ryan Bischel to make it 1–0 BC.
Then, with 6:40 left in the first period, Fowler joined the freshman frenzy after the referees tacked Connor Joyce with an elbowing penalty, which gave the Fighting Irish the first power-play opportunity of the game.
Notre Dame did not dance around and took the puck directly toward Fowler, launching eight shots in his direction during the man advantage. But Fowler anchored BC in the penalty kill, and the Eagles escaped with their one-goal lead still intact.
The onslaught of shots seemed to shift the momentum in the Fighting Irish’s direction, but 39 seconds after the power play ended, the USNTDP line struck again.
Smith coasted down the wall with the puck and dished it to Perreault, who once again found Leonard for a swift shot to make it a 2–0 game.
“They had a very good first power play,” Brown said. “And our guys battled, and Fowler was sharp, so the game didn’t swing completely in their favor, and then when we did score after that, that turned the momentum toward our side.”
Freshman defender Drew Fortescue continued the rookie dominance with a wrist shot from the left circle to make it 3–0 BC 5:37 into the second period. A series of penalties on Notre Dame less than two minutes later, one of which took Leonard out of the game, led to a 5-on-3 BC power play.
“It was an intense hockey game and there’s a lot of contact and shot blocking that goes on when two teams want to win, so you have to pay a price if you want to win hockey games,” Brown said.
With just under 11 minutes left in the period, Smith tallied his third assist of the night when he connected with Perreault, who sent the puck directly into the top shelf for a fourth BC score.
Oskar Jellvik became the first non-freshman to notch a goal when Aidan Hreschuk sent an extra pass his way, and Jellvik found himself face-to-face with an unprotected net for the easy tally with 8:05 left in the frame.
Just over four minutes into the final period, BC struck again. Jellvik made his way behind the net and deceived Bischel in net when he sent a no-look backwards pass to Andre Gasseau, who potted another wide-open goal to make it a 6–0 game.
With 1:35 remaining, Fowler’s hopes for a second-straight shutout came to an end when Notre Dame made it a 6–1 game. Still, on his 19th birthday, the netminder recorded 29 saves and led five penalty kills for the Eagles in the crushing win.
“He was very solid yesterday,” Brown said of Fowler. “It was a great birthday game for him. Especially early on when both teams were creating chances, he answered the bell on several quality chances and then we were able to go down and score and build a lead.”
