Now that's one way to make it a memorable holiday.
On Easter Sunday, the BC men's hockey team came back from a two-goal and one-goal deficit in the second and a one-goal deficit in the third before stunning Quinnipiac 5-4 in overtime on a goal from Jack Malone.
The win sends the top team in the country to St. Paul, Minnesota for a date in the Frozen Four against Michigan on April 11. The winner of that game will face BU or Denver for the national title.
This Eagles have won 14 games in a row and are now just two wins from the program's sixth national title.
"All in all, we beat a very good team and our guys played hard right from the start," said head coach Greg Brown. "We didn't have a tough start like we did on (Friday against Michigan Tech). Pretty excited to be going to St. Paul."
Malone buried a rebound in front with 16:54 left in the extra frame to send the Eagles to Minnesota. Drew Fortescue and Colby Ambosio had assists on the play after an initional deflection was saved by Quinnipiac goalie Vinny Duplesiss, but he and two other Bobcat defenders couldn't find the puck.
"I thought (Drew) did a great job of creating a lane and getting it to the net," he said. "Colby...obviously did a great job of getting a piece of it, creating some chaos in front. I just tried to follow up from that, pick up the change and the shot went out to me. I just tried to rip it and luckily, it went in."
BC outshot QU 15-10 in the first, but the teams were knotted at 0-0 after the first 20 minutes. A power play goal and another even strength goal 35 seconds apart put the 'Cats up 2-0 in the blink of an eye early in the second.
Ryan Leonard and Andre Gasseau tied the game, but the wild second period continued with QU going back up 3-2. The Eagles weren't done yet, getting another tying goal from Leonard on the power play with just 2:05 left to make it 3-3 heading to the third.
The Bobcats struck just 16 seconds in, but an even strength goal after as pretty a passing play you'll ever see ended with Aram Minnetian ripping home the game-tying goal with 4:44 to go. Oskar Jellvik and Cutter Gauthier had the assists, setting the stage for Malone's eventual heroics. Jacob Fowler was there when needed too, finishing with 22 saves.
"Quinnipiac kept taking the lead on us...I thought our guys did a great job of not getting down and staying very positive on the bench," Brown added.
That positivity and unwillingness to let this special season end anywhere else but the Frozen Four made this particular Easter one Eagles fans everywhere will never forget.
