By John Fineran
More often than not, hockey teams don’t survive four-goal outbursts to their opposition.
Notre Dame, which used one Wednesday afternoon to beat Merrimack, couldn’t overcome the Black Friday one it gave up to Hockey East power Boston College.
Coach Greg Brown’s deeply talented Eagles got goals from four sophomores – defenseman Will Skahan, center Dean Letourneau and a pair from left wing James Hagens – in the second period. Hagens then completed his hat trick in the third period as No. 15 Boston College handed the Fighting Irish a 5-3 non-conference loss before 7,230 at the Kelley Rink in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Notre Dame, which ended a seven-game winless skid (the last six which were losses) with its own four-goal outburst in the third period of its 5-4 victory up the road against the Warriors, twice had leads but couldn’t hold either one. Boston College, coming off a 3-0 Hockey East loss to Maine last Saturday after five consecutive victories, improved to 8-5-1. The Irish, meanwhile, will take a 4-9-1 overall record home seeking their first Big Ten victory of the season in a Dec. 5-6 series with No. 2 Wisconsin.
Junior center and co-captain Danny Nelson gave coach Brock Sheahan’s Irish a 1-0 lead with his fourth power-play goal (and sixth overall) at 3:23 of the first period. Then after Boston College had tied it early in the second period on Skahan’s blast past Irish goaltender Nicholas Kempf at 7:04, junior right-wing Evan Werner gave Notre Dame a 2-1 lead at 11:46 of the second period off assists from Danny Nelson and his blueline brother Henry.
But that lead lasted all of 54 seconds as Letourneau put the first of three unanswered goals past Kempf, who stopped 16 shots in the superb first period but surrendered five goals over the final two while finishing with 29 saves, nine more than his Boston College counterpart, freshman Louka Cloutier.
Trailing 4-2 after two periods, Notre Dame got back within one goal when junior defenseman Paul Fischer blasted the puck past a screened Cloutier at 2:27 of the third period. But Hagens, who won gold along with teammates Danny Nelson and Fischer for Team USA at last winter’s IIHF Junior World Championships in Canada, completed his hat trick when he beat Kempf at 7:23.
Hagens, Strahan, Letourneau and Cloutier are four of 10 Boston College players who have been selected by NHL teams in the last three amateur drafts, and Letourneau and Hagens were picked by the Boston Bruins in the first round in the 2024 and 2025 drafts, respectively. The 6-foot-3, 223-pound Danny Nelson is Notre Dame’s highest-drafted player, taken in the second round of the 2023 draft by the New York Islanders.
Nelson figured in Notre Dame’s first two goals of the game Friday. The Eagles’ Nolan Joyce was sent to the penalty box for holding at 2:10 of the first period, sending Notre Dame’s power-play unit, the third-best in the country this season, onto the ice.
Freshman left wing Cole Brown fired the puck on net and Cloutier kicked the rebound into the slot. Werner redirected the puck at the B.C. goaltender, who against made the save only to have Danny Nelson direct it home for his third goal in as many games and his sixth of the season at 3:23.
It remained 1-0 Irish through the end of the first period thanks to Kempf making 16 saves, four of them as the Irish penalty-kill units successfully denied the Eagles a scoring opportunity with Danny Nelson off the ice at 15:25 for holding.
Boston College, which outshot the Irish 16-5 in the first period, continued to pressure Kempf early In the second period before Skahan’s blast from the left point escaped the Irish goaltender at 7:04.
But Werner answered that one at 11:46. Defenseman Henry Nelson passed the puck over to brother Danny, whose 35-foot slapshot was wide of the goal crease. But the carom off the boards came right to the waiting Werner, who was to Cloutier’s right, and the junior transfer from Michigan put it in the net for his fifth goal of the season and a 2-1 Irish lead.
It would be Notre Dame’s last lead of the game. Letourneau tied the game at 12:40 when he was left unguarded to Kempf’s right and deposited the puck high into the net off a feed from Joyce. Hagens gave the Eagles a 3-2 lead at 17:03 after a scramble in front.
Then after Boston College and Cloutier killed off another Irish power-play opportunity late in the period, Hagens made it 4-2 with an unassisted goal at 19:48.
The Eagles got a break early in the third period when Cole Knuble’s shot went off the pipe at 0:23. A little more than two minutes later, the Irish junior right wing, who had a goal and three assists Wednesday against Merrimack, set up Fischer’s fourth goal of the season with help from center Sutter Muzzatti at 2:27.
But Hagens completed his hat trick and the game’s scoring at 7:23 just 15 seconds before Knuble, Brown and Muzzatti twice had shot shots denied by Cloutier in an eight-second span.
Trailing by two, Sheahan twice pulled Kempf in the final three minutes, but the Irish failed to score.
BOSTON COLLEGE 5, NOTRE DAME 3
At John “Snooks” Kelley Rink in the Silvio O. Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Notre Dame 1 1 1—3
Boston College 0 4 1—5
First Period—Scoring: 1. Notre Dame, Danny Nelson 6 (Evan Werner, Cole Brown) PP 3:23. Penalties: Notre Dame 2-4, Boston College 1-2.
Second Period—Scoring: 2. Boston College, Will Skahan 1 (Will Traeger, Gavin Cornforth) EV 7:04; 3. Notre Dame, Evan Werner 5 (Danny Nelson, Henry Nelson) EC 11:46; 4. Boston College, Dean Letourneau 6 (Nolan Joyce) EV 12:40; 5. Boston College, James Hagens 7 (Dean Letourneau, Ryan Conmy) EV 17:03; 6. Boston College, James Hagens 8 (unassisted) EV 19:48. Penalties: Notre Dame 0-0 (2-4), Boston College 1-2 (2-4).
Third Period—Scoring: 7. Notre Dame, Paul Fischer 4 (Cole Knuble, Sutter Muzzatti) EV 2:27; 8. Boston College, James Hagens 9 (Will Vote, Aram Minnetian) EV 7:23. Penalties: Notre Dame 1-2 (3-6), Boston College 2-4 (4-8).
Shots on goal: Notre Dame 23 (5-7-11), Boston College 34 (16-10-8).
Goalie saves: Notre Dame, Nicholas Kempf 29 (16-6-7); Boston College, Louka Cloutier 20 (4-6-10).
Power-play opportunities: Notre Dame 1 of 3, Boston College 0 of 2.
Faceoffs won: Notre Dame 35 (9-12-14), Boston College 29 (11-8-10).
Blocked shots: Notre Dame 13 (4-4-5), Boston College 9 (2-4-3).
Referees: Geoffrey Miller and Jeremy Tufts. Linesmen: Shane Kanaly and Bill Kingdom. Attendance: 7,230 (7,884).
Records: Notre Dame 4-9-1, Boston College 8-5-1.