Coming off a disappointing split with Lindenwood in St. Louis last weekend, the #7 Denver Pioneers (3-1-1) needed a big win in the worst kind of way. And they got it in the biggest kind of way, dispatching the #9 Boston College Eagles (2-2-1) with a 7-3 drubbing that was not close once the second period started. If there were any tears in Chestnut Hill tonight, they certainly weren’t in Denver’s locker room.

The first period gave all 7,884 at Conte Forum and the tens of thousands watching on ESPN+ everything they could ask for and then some. The Eagles’ Andre Gasseau opened the scoring nine minutes in, beating freshman goalie Quentin Miller and spotting the hosts a 1-0 lead. Eric Pohlkamp wouldn’t let the Eagle stay ahead long, though, beating BC’s own freshman netminder Louka Cloutier to tie the game not even two and a half minutes later. Freshman forward Kristian Epperson added his first career collegiate goal six minutes later off a feed from Boston Buckberger, who tallied the second of his two assists. Jake Sondreal tied the game for BC not two minutes later, but Denver would not trail again.

To say Boston College struggled with its puck management and on defense would be a severe understatement. Defenseman Eric Jamieson opened the second-period scoring – the second DU goal scored by a defenseman on the night – with a rocket of a wrister right off of a faceoff won by Samu Salminen. Then, just a minute and a half later, Sam Harris forced a BC turnover with a strong forecheck before wiring a wrist shot past Cloutier to give Denver an insurance marker, which would stand up as the game-winner. Freshman Brendan McMorrow, though, didn’t let the party end with Harris’ goal as he took advantage of a BC neutral zone turnover, skated on the two-on-one with Rieger Lorenz, and snapped a shot over Cloutier’s shoulder for DU’s fifth goal. Sophomore superstar James Hagens responded with BC’s third a few minutes later, but the result was no longer in doubt as Jake Fisher and Rieger Lorenz  (ENG) added goals in the third period to finish off the touchdown and extra point and salt away the 7-3 victory.

If you had to nitpick Denver’s performance, you could complain about its 0-for-4 performance on the power play or the fact that they were outscored 34-27, though that came mostly after they had extended their lead to 4-2. On the other hand, the Pioneers were wildly opportunistic, scoring on nearly every odd-man rush, and importantly, they stayed out of the box – the only penalty the Pioneers suffered was Kieran Cebrian’s interference infraction 53 seconds into the game.

One thing that you can’t nitpick, though, is the fact that this was a great DU performance from start to finish, only made stronger when looked at against the backdrop that was last weekend’s split that, even at some subconscious level, had most DU fans at least questioning some big things about this season. Tonight’s game at Boston College was Denver’s first real test this season against a national contender, though, and they passed with flying colors.

Now, attention turns to the Northeastern Huskies (2-1-0), who didn’t play tonight and lost to Harvard in an exhibition game last weekend. In games that count, the Huskies sandwiched their 2-1 loss to Army with wins over Holy Cross (6-4) and UMass-Amherst (4-2). Where tonight was Denver’s first test against a contender, tomorrow night will be Northeastern’s first similar test.

In a fun bit of history, the Pioneers will play their 12th and final game at historic Matthews Arena. Denver’s first two games there – wins over Boston University and Michigan Tech – came in March 1960 when they captured their second national title.

Elsewhere in college hockey…

Preseason national champions #5 Penn State, for their part, struggled at home against Stonehill, erasing a 2-1 deficit in the third period and needed a goal with 22 seconds left to avoid overtime. Indeed, parity is here.

Top photo credit: Rich Gagnon via Denver Athletics