Hopes for another all-WCHA championship were dashed this afternoon as the Boston College Eagles downed the North Dakota Fighting Sioux by a score of 6-5. Hobey Baker Finalist Chris Collins scored three goals for Boston College. Jordan Parise was disappointing in net for North Dakota, allowing six goals on 31 shots, including three goals on five shots in the first period. North Dakota outshot Boston College 41-31 in the game.
This game could have gone either way. The Sioux were resilient, coming back from 3-0 to get within one in the second period, but it was not to be for North Dakota, as Boston College struck back for two more before the period was over. I think the Sioux could have had this game if Parise had just made stops on a few shots he should have saved. Then again, Boston College's Cory Schneider was letting in some ugly ones as well by the time the game was over. This game wasn't really what I was expecting, but nevertheless it was a lot of fun to watch. I hadn't seen a whole lot of Chris Collins before today and man, is he a sniper. He's certainly making the Hobey debate interesting (despite the fact that the voting is done). Boston College is a big, tough, and fast team and I'm expecting them to do well against whoever they end up playing on Saturday.
As for North Dakota, there isn't really much reason to be disappointed with this finish. With the Sioux relying so heavily on their freshman stars, it's very impressive that they made it this far to begin with. If a few of these guys (Oshie, Toews, Duncan) stick around, North Dakota will be a scary team for the next few years. Their great run through the WCHA tournament and NCAA regional is reason to be proud of this young squad.
The Eagles advance to the championship game, which will be played on Saturday against either Maine or Wisconsin.
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