Boston College Blanks Michigan to Advance to National Championship

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – No. 1 seeded Boston College defeated Michigan by a score of 4-0 at the Xcel Energy Center in the Frozen Four National Semifinal on Thursday evening. With the win, the Eagles (34-5-1) advance to the National Championship game for the 12th time in program history and will take on No. 3 Denver, who defeated Boston University, 2-1, in the first semifinal of the night.
 
Freshman goaltender Jacob Fowler (Melbourne, Fla.) made 32 saves to record his third shutout of the season. Freshman Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill.) finished the night with three points after tallying one goal and two assists, while classmate Will Smith (Lexington, Mass.) lit the lamp twice.
 
The Eagles struck first, just 1:20 into the game to take a 1-0 lead. Perreault passed the puck to the right side to classmate Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass.), who brought it into the offensive zone. Leonard then found Smith on the back side for the quick shot that tucked in just under the crossbar for his 24th goal of the season.
 
Boston College added two to its lead during the middle frame, scoring just 49 seconds apart during a spurt of 4v4 hockey. Smith tallied his second goal of the game with a shot from behind the net that took a fortunate bounce off a skate of a Michigan defender and found its way into the back of the net. Just moments later, sophomore Cutter Gauthier (Scottsdale, Ariz.) forced a turnover before picking up the loose puck and skating his way towards goal. Gauthier made no mistake with the chance and slotted his shot past the Michigan goaltender.
 
Perreault made it a three-point night when he scored an unassisted goal shortly into the third period. The freshman intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, before ending with a wrap around effort to score his 19th goal of the campaign.
 
Michigan (23-15-3) goaltender Jake Barczewski made 18 saves.
 
Boston College’s No. 1-ranked penalty kill went 4-for-4 on the PK tonight.
 
SCORING
1st         1:20    BC       Will Smith (Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault)
2nd      12:25    BC       Will Smith (Gabe Perreault, Lukas Gustafsson)
2nd      13:14    BC       Cutter Gauthier
3rd        5:03    BC       Gabe Perreault
 
GAME NOTES
●      BC advanced to its 12th National Championship Game and improved to 12-14 in the semifinals.
●      BC set a new program record for wins at 34, which was previously set in 2001 and 2012 with 33.
●      BC won by shutout for the fourth time this season and first time in the NCAA Tournament since beating Minnesota-Duluth 4-0 in the 2012 quarterfinals. It was BC’s first shutout win in the semifinals.
●      BC is 52-43 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
●      BC has won 15 in a row; the longest unbeaten streak by a Hockey East team since UMass’ 14-game streak on the way to its 2021 National Championship.
●      BC’s 15-game win streak is the third longest in program history and longest since BC won 19 in a row to end its 2012 championship season.
●      BC improved to 8-12 all-time against Michigan and 3-4 against the Wolverines in the NCAA Tournament.
●      BC improved to 78-85-6 all-time against teams in the Big Ten and 14-12-1 since the Big Ten began playing hockey.
●      BC became the first team to win two NCAA Tournament games against the previous year’s Frozen Four participants since Denver defeated UMD and Minnesota State in 2022.
●      BC’s 183 goals are the most since scoring 191 in 1998.
●      BC is 27-2 when scoring first and 28-0 when scoring four or more goals.
●      Gauthier scored his 38th goal of the season, tying David Emma (1989-90) and Scott Harlow (1985-86) for the most in a single season in program history.
●      Gauthier tied Minnesota’s Ryan Potulny (2005-06) for the most goals in a single season in Division I since 2000.
●      Leonard tallied his 60th point of the season with an assist to become the fourth BC freshman all-time to record 60 or more points.
●      Perreault recorded his 40th and 41st assists of the season, surpassing Joe Whitney (2007-08) for the third most by a BC freshman.
●      Perreault added his 19th goal of the year to push his point total to 60, pulling to a tie with Leonard for fourth most by a BC freshman.
●      Smith scored his 24th goal of the season to record his NCAA-leading 70th point. He is the 11th Eagle all-time to record 70 or more points in a season and first since Johnny Gaudreau’s 80 in 2013-14. He brought his total to 71 with his second goal of the night, surpassing Kevin Stevens (1986-87) for 10th most in a season at BC.
●      Smith became the first player in Division I to record 70 points in a single season since Michigan’s Kyle Connor recorded 71 in 2015-16.
 
UP NEXT
Boston College takes on Denver in the national championship on Saturday evening at the Xcel Energy Center at 6 p.m. ET.