Boston College Wins 12th Hockey East Title

Boston College claimed its 12th Hockey East regular-season title with Saturday 's 4-0 win over Vermont at Kelley Rink.

Coupled with Friday's 5-1 victory over the Catamounts, the Eagles (25-10-1 overall, 19-7-1 HE), ranked first in the USCHO.com poll, stretched their winning streak to 11 games, and earned the conference crown by four points over rival Boston University.

“It’s always special to win trophies,” said BC coach Jerry York, who picked up his 905th career win, at uscho.com. “Our aspirations are to go after more trophies [this season]. We’ll switch gears, just not right away.”

Destry Straight tallied the game-winning goal in the last minute of the first period for the Eagles, and later added an assist. Chris Kreider (pictured), a 2009 first-round draft choice of the New York Rangers, made it 2-0 in the second period, while Pat Mullane and Bill Arnold (empty-net goal) added insurance markers in the third session.

“We’ve been making smarter plays with the puck," said York to the Boston Herald. "We’ve handled the puck much better, and our goaltending has been outstanding.”

Junior netminder Parker Milner made 26 saves and got the shutout on Senior Night, in which the Eagles honored Barry Almeida, Tommy Atkinson, Paul Carey, Tommy Cross, Edwin Shea, and Chris Venti. The Class of 2012 has compiled 102 victories, two Hockey East regular-season titles and two playoff crowns in all, plus an NCAA championship as sophomores.

BC, which also won the 2012 Beanpot Tournament,  will face eighth-seeded Massachusetts in the first round of the 2012 Hockey East Tournament next weekend at Kelley Rink. The Minutemen took two of three games with BC this season, although the Eagles won the only meeting contested in Chestnut Hill back in October. This will mark the third straight season that the two schools will face off in the first round of the league playoffs.

"They’ve played very well against us," said York to the Boston Globe about UMass. "That wasn’t a fluke that they took two out of three from us. Not many teams have done that this year.’’

BC will be seeking its third consecutive conference tournament title and its 11th overall. The Eagles won last year's championship with a 5-3 victory over Merrimack at TD Garden in Boston.