Rangers prospects Gabe Perreault, Drew Fortescue come up short in NCAA Regional Final
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — New York Rangers prospects Gabe Perreault and Drew Fortescue saw their sophomore seasons with No. 1 overall seed Boston College come to an end Sunday night, when the Eagles fell to defending national champion Denver 3-1 in the NCAA Manchester Regional Final at SNHU Arena.
In a rematch of the 2024 NCAA championship game, Boston College chose to run it back with the golden eagle uniforms they wore while defeating Bentley 3-1 in the regional semifinal Friday afternoon. History seemed to be on the Eagles’ side, as defending champions were 0-7 in rematches of championship games in NCAA history.
BC coach Greg Brown elected to start his top line of Perreault, James Hagens, and Ryan Leonard with Fortescue and Eamon Powell on the blue line and Jacob Fowler in goal. Boston College set the tone early with plenty of hits and physical play.
“They were definitely trying to play physical in the first, definitely trying to get under our skin,” Denver captain Carter King said postgame. “We were able to regroup. We’ve played teams like that before. I think that’s what’s so great about playing in the NCHC — you play (teams) that test you during the regular season.”
Neither team was able to capitalize with the man advantage in the first period. Despite having the No. 2 power play in the nation, Denver could not solve the No. 2-ranked penalty kill of Boston College after Gentry Shamburger was called for interference at 11:23. Shortly after, Hagens drew a holding penalty called against James Reeder, but the Eagles were denied on several scoring chances set up by Perreault.
Pioneers defenseman Eric Pohlkamp broke the deadlock when he opened the scoring with 1:41 left in the first period. The sophomore skated hard into the slot and buried a one-timer off a backhand pass from Hobey Baker finalist Jack Devine for a 1-0 Denver lead going into the first intermission, although BC had an 11-5 edge in shots.
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Drew Fortescue — Photo courtesy Alan Selavka
Reeder doubled the lead for Denver just under three minutes into the second period, firing a hard wrist shot from the far point through a crowd in front of Fowler and into the back of the net for his 11th goal of the season.
Denver defenseman Zeev Buium, a Team USA teammate of Perreault and Fortescue, scored later in the period, but the goal was overturned after review when Boston College successfully challenged for offsides.
Boston College finally got on the board when Teddy Stiga went five-hole on a breakaway to make it a one-goal game with 53 seconds remaining in the second period. Will Vote made the stretch pass through the neutral zone after forcing a turnover to send Stiga in all alone for his 14th goal.
The Eagles desperately tried to tie up the contest in the third period, outshooting Denver 15-2. Buium, who was named the regional’s Most Outstanding Player, sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 3.4 seconds remaining. The Minnesota Wild 2024 first-round pick also had an assist on the game-winning goal.
Perreault led all skaters with six shots on goal but didn’t record a point, after he scored a goal against Bentley in the regional opener. He was minus-2 with two face-off wins and a minor penalty for slashing. His sophomore season concluded with 16 goals and a team-high 32 assists for 48 points in 37 games played. Fortescue had one shot on goal and finished minus-1. The defenseman finished his season with 11 assists in 36 games.
Boston College, which was also upset in the Hockey East tournament, finished the season 27-8-2.
Denver punched its ticket to the program’s 20th NCAA Frozen Four appearance and advanced to its sixth national semifinal in the last nine tournaments. The Pioneers will face Fargo Regional Champions and NCHC rival Western Michigan, featuring New York’s 2023 sixth-round pick Ty Henricks, on April 10 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
BC’s archrival, Boston University, reached the Frozen Four by beating Cornell 3-2 in overtime Saturday and will play Penn State, a 3-2 OT winner over Connecticut on Sunday, in the other national semifinal.
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