BELFAST, Northern Ireland — When the Boston University men’s hockey team needs a big goal, it’s starting to know where to look: to its two captains.
After trailing for most of Saturday’s Friendship Four Final against Notre Dame, co-captains Ryan Greene and Shane Lachance delivered the heroics with a pair of goals to tie and win the game in the final five minutes of the third period.
With a 4-3 win over the Fighting Irish (6-9-0, 1-7-0 B1G) at SSE Arena in Belfast, No. 13 BU (7-6-1, 4-2-1 Hockey East) emerged with the Belpot title — its first trophy since winning Hockey East in 2023.
Three takeaways and a breakdown of how it happened, below.
Captain(s) clutch
There was plenty of deja vu to the Nov. 16 tie and shootout win over Maine at Alfond Arena, when BU trailed until Lachance tied it with 20 seconds left and Greene won it in the shootout. It’s early, but BU’s leadership tandem is establishing clutch habits.
Plus, Lachance won the Friendship Four Player of the Game for BU for the second game in a row. He’s been outstanding for the Terriers all year, and he kept the momentum going this weekend.
For the second consecutive day, an outstanding start…until
In hockey, perfection is impossible. But BU’s first 10 minutes of the first period were about as close as you can get. The Terriers swarmed Notre Dame from the opening shift, and had the first six shots on goal. Then, freshman forward Kamil Bednarik scored a shorthanded goal to put BU up 1-0 after a ridiculous individual move.
And yet.
All it took was a 15-second span for Notre Dame to snatch the momentum and the lead after goals from seniors Hunter Strand and Justin Janicke. The Terriers looked shell-shocked for the remainder of the period, while the Fighting Irish settled in and began to take control.
Notre Dame continued to control play, until late in the third period when BU regained control and willed its way to the thrilling victory.
Kamil Bednarik is heating up
The freshman was excellent in Friday’s semifinal win over Merrimack, and he shined again on the third line with Jack Hughes and Quinn Hutson.
Bednarik was more than due for his first collegiate goal — he had an 0-8-8 line coming into Saturday’s game — and he netted his first in style with a slick move to his backhand on a shorthanded breakaway. His emergence is a much-needed development for BU.
But besides his goal, he was making plays all game — and played well on the Terriers’ top penalty kill unit.
How it happened
After the Terriers dominated the first seven minutes of the game, Bednarik cashed in with a filthy shorthanded tally at 7:48 of the first.
But in an instant, the Fighting Irish struck back. Notre Dame scored its first at 12:24 of the first on a breakaway tally from Strand. Just 15 seconds later, the Irish took the lead. A perfectly-placed saucer pass from senior forward Danny Nelson found the stick of Janicke, who ripped the puck past Caron.
Notre Dame kept it going in the second, extending its lead to 3-1 thanks to grad student forward Blake Biondi, who evaded multiple red jerseys in tight quarters and snapped the puck home at 4:01.
BU cut it to 3-2 at 7:00 of the third on a wrister from sophomore defenseman Gavin McCarthy, who has scored his only two goals of the season in Belfast.
Then, chaos.
Greene tied it at at 15:18 off an assist from Lachance, and then Lachance joined the party with a tally of his own 20 seconds later to take the lead.
Senior netminder Mathieu Caron made 28 saves — including many difficult stops — in the win.
