PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Jack Malone scored at 3:06 of overtime to give Boston College a 5-4 win over defending national champion Quinnipiac in the NCAA Providence Regional final on Sunday.
Hockey East champion BC (33-5-1) advanced to the Frozen Four for the 26th time in program history and first since 2016. Quinnipiac’s defense of its 2023 NCAA title ended with a 27-10-2 record. The Eagles have won 13 straight games.
After a goal-free first period, the teams combined for six in the second, the first three coming in a span of 61 seconds. Jacob Quillan deflected a Travis Treloar shot between the pads of BC goalie Jacob Fowler (26 saves) for a 1-0 Quinnipiac lead 1:19 into the frame. Just 35 seconds later, Iivari Rasanen’s shot from the faceoff circle sailed over Fowler’s left shoulder on the far side and the Bobcats were up 2-0.
BC’s Ryan Leonard redirected a power-play shot by sophomore Cutter Gauthier into the net at 2:20 to put the Eagles on the board and cut Quinnipiac’s lead to 2-1. The assist was the 100th point of Gauthier’s career.
Things settled down after that, but not by much. Andre Gasseau scored for BC to tie the game 2-2 at 11:35 when, from the top of the faceoff circle, he one-timed a pass from Oskar Jellvik past Quinnipiac goalie Vinny Duplessis (27 saves). The teams traded goals to close out the period — Christophe Fillion buried a rebound to give the Bobcats a 3-2 lead at 15:59, while Leonard scored his second of the night on a wraparound at 17:55 to tie the game 3-3.
Quillan’s shot from the end line bounced off the right pad of BC goalie Jacob Fowler and into the net to break a 3-3 deadlock just 16 seconds into the final frame. Boston College forced overtime when Aram Minnetian scored to make it 4-4 exactly 15 minutes later.
Quinnipiac held a 29-28 shot advantage after regulation.
