Will Smith, Boston College Storm Past Boston University to Win 12th Hockey East Title

Will Smith had five points to lead the Boston College Eagles to the 2024 Hockey East Championship with a 6-2 win against Boston University on Saturday.

BOSTON – Leading 3-1 in the third period of the Hockey East Championship at TD Garden, Boston College had Boston University on the ropes. 

Will Smith, with two goals and one assist on the night already, had the puck fall to his stick on the doorstep at 6:32, but BU goalie Mathieu Caron snapped his glove as he fell into a sitting motion to rob the BC freshman by the literal seat of his pants.

After the ensuing offensive zone face-off, Ryan Leonard danced around the BU defense and found Smith in the bottom of the right circle, and the San Jose Sharks draft pick wouldn’t be robbed again. He completed the hat trick at 6:46, and Boston College went on to capture the Hockey East title for the first time since 2012 with a 6-2 win.

“I’ve been dreaming of coming to BC for my whole life,” said Smith, who became the first rookie to have a hat trick in a Hockey East Championship game. “Being there as a little kid, watching [2014 Hobey Baker winner] Johnny Gaudreau and now to be in his shoes just playing in TD [Garden], it’s really special.”

Smith finished with four goals and an assist to earn Tournament MVP Honors. Jacob Fowler made 34 saves, while Cutter Gauthier and Gabe Perreault each had a goal and two assists to lead the top-seeded Eagles to their 12th Hockey East Championship.

“We did a decent job in the first period moving our feet and eliminating time and space,” BC coach Greg Brown said. “Then in the second period, they made a great push and the game started to go sideways on us, but [Fowler] was there with some huge saves to keep us in the lead.”

Macklin Celebrini scored, Gavin McCarthy tallied his first collegiate goal and Caron made 23 saves as the second-seed Terriers fell short of going back-to-back. Ryan Greene, who scored twice in the semifinals, had two assists.

“It sucks,” BU captain Case McCarthy said. “I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s not a fun feeling. It’s an emotional night, but good news is we have more hockey to play.”

Each side had a handful of power-play opportunities but only the Eagles capitalized, going 4-for-4 on the man advantage while BU squandered all three chances before scoring on a garbage-time major penalty.

“Clearly we didn’t get it done on the penalty kill,” BU coach Jay Pandolfo said. “We didn’t have an answer for it. So that was really, I guess, the biggest difference in the game when you give up four power-play goals.”

Smith opened the scoring at 5:46 with a tight-angled wrister from the left side, which bounced off Case McCarthy’s leg and in.

After Terriers defenseman Lane Hutson was called for tripping at 7:38, Smith doubled it up for the Eagles. Gabe Perreault sent a cross-ice pass to Smith, who sniped it from the right circle to make it 2-0 at 8:37.

Gavin McCarthy gave the Terriers light at 4:27 of the second period to cut it to 2-1, beating Fowler from the right point. The Terriers continued to test Fowler, but another penalty put BC back on the power play, where Perreault fed Gauthier to put the Eagles back ahead by two entering the third period.

“They had a little bit of momentum,” Fowler said. “I think as a goalie, at any point in the game, you want to give your team a chance, and to kind of keep that lead was something that I felt we really needed.”

After Smith’s dagger pushed it to a three-goal lead, Gauthier returned the favor for Perreault, setting him up with BC’s fourth power-play goal of the night to make it 5-1 at 11:32.

BC forward Jamie Armstrong – who won the Hockey East Championship as a member of the Terriers last season – was assessed a five-minute major for contact to the head at 12:27, giving his former team one last gasp at an improbable comeback. Celebrini (13 shots on goal) finally got one past Fowler at 14:45 to make it 5-2, but it was too little, too late.

Smith capped off the night with an empty-net goal at 18:04, becoming the first player to score four goals in the Hockey East Semis or Finals.

Fowler, Gauthier, Perreault and Eagles captain Eamon Powell joined Smith on the All-Tournament Team. Hutson, who earned MVP honors in 2023, was the lone BU representative.

Now, both teams turn attention to the NCAA Tournament as the first and second seed, respectively.

“You see around the country, other teams lose and they get fueled by their anger of losing in the tournament, so you can take it positive either way,” Brown said. “Back in the day when we were doing pretty well in national tournaments, it was usually just that boost of confidence that you got from winning this tournament.”

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