NCAA Frozen Four: Boston College Takes Its 5th NCAA Hockey Title

Boston College forward Steven Whitney carried on a family and collegiate tradition when he opened and closed the scoring in Saturday’s NCAA championship game.

When he spooned home an empty-netter from center ice to finalize a 4-1 victory over Ferris State, it gave him a multi-point performance in a national title tilt. His older brother, Joe Whitney, had accomplished the same feat when he pitched in a playmaker hat trick to help throttle Wisconsin in the final game of 2009-10.

In addition, the younger Whitney—who also had a helper that night in Detroit—joined Joe in the act of winning two rings within three years and notching at least one point in the deciding battle.

The family run by patriarch Jerry York now has three titles in five years and four in York’s 18-year reign.

Deceptively enough, the first three goals of Saturday’s championship game were stashed with barely 10-and-a-half minutes off the clock before a red-light hiatus lasting 47 minutes and 31 seconds.

BC chalked up the game’s first four shots and promptly broke the ice at 3:18 of the opening frame. In the midst of trying to handle point-patroller Patrick Wey’s soapy rebound in the slot, Barry Almeida made an indirect feed to Whitney, who raked it into the vacant far slab of the FSU net.

Ferris State went without a shot on net until the sixth minute of play, though that was not indicative of its chances. The Bulldogs induced two consecutive Eagles icings within the fifth minute and had multiple close-shave bids go wide.

Top gun Jordie Johnston just missed connecting with Travis Ouellette’s pass to the far post; it could have made for an easy equalizer, as Eagles goalie Parker Milner was deep in the opposite half of his crease.

But the Bulldogs hit the shooting gallery and the scoreboard a minute later at the 5:19 mark. Ouellette forwarded the puck to Andy Huff, who churned to Milner’s porch and left a rebound for Garrett Thompson to swoop in and poke home.

BC’s Pat Mullane found rapid redemption in the process of restoring his team’s advantage on the game’s first power play. Mere seconds after he had blown a tire and turned the puck over, he found himself in control in the attacking zone once more.

This time, Mullane watched as his diagonal feed to far point-patroller Brian Dumoulin turned into a blast that Paul Carey tipped home with 10:33 gone in the game.

The Bulldogs went on a 10-3 run in the shooting column within the first 7:35 of the second period. On the other side of the stanza’s first TV commercial break, BC chalked up six unanswered stabs at stopper Taylor Nelson.

Shortly after that flurry, though, a string of three unanswered power plays amplified FSU's aura of momentum. Eagles captain Tommy Cross went off for hooking a breaking Kyle Bonis at 10:35, the bench was whistled for too many men on the ice at 15:06 and Bill Arnold’s two-minute sentence for roughing had 97 seconds carry over to the third.

Upon killing the remainder of that penalty, the Eagles drew themselves a pair of consecutive man advantages. Despite a lack of conversions, they propped up the lead before freshman Johnny Gaudreau splashed the rink-wide goal drought and offered them a little breathing room.

Gaudreau scooped up the puck in neutral ice, made a maze out of backcheckers Bonis and Brett Wysopal and spooned his 21st goal of the season over Nelson’s right shoulder for a 3-1 edge with 3:02 to spare.

Just a little less than two minutes elapsed before Whitney’s bonus dagger, after which the Eagles let the last 63 seconds melt off.