Rangers prospects Gabe Perreault, Drew Fortescue help Boston College advance in NCAA Tournament
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Two 2023 New York Rangers draftees, Gabe Perreault and Drew Fortescue, played big roles in Boston College’s 3-1 win over Bentley on Friday in the semifinals of the Manchester regional at the NCAA Hockey Tournament.
Boston College (27-7-2) is the No. 1 seed in the tournament and faces defending champion Denver on Sunday in the regional final. The winner advances to the Frozen Four in St. Louis on April 10-12.
Boston College chose to wear their golden eagle alternate uniforms Friday. As he has repeatedly done throughout the season, Perreault was the last skater off the ice after warmups for the Eagles, taking an extra minute to work on one-timers with linemate Ryan Leonard.
Both Rangers prospects were in the starting lineup for BC, which dominated possession early and held Bentley without a shot on goal through the first 13 minutes. But Bentley’s physical style began frustrating Boston College, and coach Greg Brown repeatedly looked to his top line of Perreault, James Hagens and Leonard to break the scoreless tie.
Perreault did just that at 16:45, scoring his 16th goal this season to make it 1-0.
Hagens skated the puck into the offensive zone before finding Leonard in the slot. Leonard distributed the puck over to Perreault, who skated in from the right side and shifted his way around Bentley goaltender Connor Hasley. The sophomore forward outwaited the netminder and tucked home the game’s first goal.
Perreault nearly had his second goal of the period with less than a minute to go, but Hasley was able to stand his ground. After a shot from Fortescue went wide near the buzzer, Boston College skated off at the first intermission with a 1-0 lead and a 12-4 shots advantage.
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Bentley began the second period in quick fashion and earned its first power play when BC’s Lukas Gustafsson was called for tripping at 1:56. The Falcons got the equalizer with the man advantage when Ethan Leyh’s shot snuck past Jacob Fowler at 3:21. The large Bentley student section that made the trip to Manchester — less than 60 miles from campus at Waltham, Massachusetts — erupted in celebration.
Throughout the first two periods, Fortescue was actively involved in trying to generate offense for the Eagles with several shot attempts. But Bentley repeatedly blocked the attempts by the sophomore defenseman or forced pucks wide of the net. On the back end, Fortescue used his positioning well to limit chances.
Neither team was able to break the tie in the second period, and Bentley was able to shut down BC’s power plat after Jake Black was called for holding, and again when the Falcons were assessed a bench minor for too many men.
Despite BC’s 28-15 margin in shots on goal, the teams entered the third period tied at one goal apiece. Early in the third, Perreault drew a penalty against Nik Armstrong-Kingkade for kneeing at 6:15. Boston had a 5-on-3 advantage for 18 seconds when Arlo Merritt was called for tripping. Despite a few chances and shots by Perreault, BC was unable to score.
With the clock running down in the third period and overtime looming, a shot from the point by Aram Minnetian went wide of the net. Hagens was first to the loose puck and quickly scored on a wraparound to give Boston College a 2-1 lead with 1:17 remaining in regulation. Fortescue was credited with a secondary assist on the game-winning goal. He finished the game with one assist, two shots on goal, one blocked shot, and a plus-1 rating.
Bentley pulled their goaltender for a sixth attacker, but Leonard sealed the game by hitting the empty net with 32 seconds left for his 30th goal of the season.
Each member of the top line scored for the Eagles. Perreault led all skaters with seven shots on goal and finished plus-3.
Boston College improved to 16-3 all-time in first-round games at the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles are 6-0-2 all-time in Manchester and will face the Pioneers on Sunday in a rematch of last year’s national championship game. The winner this time will head to the Frozen Four.
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