The No. 18 Boston College Eagles (1-3) men’s hockey team dropped their series opener to the No. 4 Denver Pioneers (3-2) 5-2 on Friday night.

The Pioneers got out to a 1-0 lead after the first 20 minutes of play. Forward Sam Harris, who led the team in goals heading into the matchup, put Denver in front at 17:05 with help from fellow first line forwards Clarke Caswell and James Reeder. 

The score sent Denver into the first intermission with the one-goal lead. 

In the period, the Pioneers had one opportunity on the power play after Eagles forward Alex Pelletier was called for slashing at 7:17, but Boston College was able to kill it off.

In the early minutes of the second period, the Pioneers doubled their lead 2-0 with a goal from forward Kieran Cebrian, assisted by forward Jack Pridham. 

Denver’s lead did not last long as the Eagles scored two goals in 37 seconds to tie the contest at 2. 

The first goal came from forward Dean Letourneau at 10:38 with help from forwards Oscar Hemming and Matias Vanhanen while the other came from forward Will Vote at 11:15 who had an assist from defenseman Carson Woodall. 

The goal marked Vote’s first of the season. 

Down the stretch of the period, neither team was able to push in front and the Eagles and Pioneers went into the second intermission knotted at 2.

Denver went back in front 3-2 in the opening ticks of the final frame with a power-play goal from defenseman Daxon Rudolph at 0:29, assisted by Caswell and forward Kyle Chyzowski. 

The Pioneers were on the power play after Letourneau was called for cross-checking to end the second period. 

Reeder gave Denver some support at 7:26 with help from defenseman Cale Ashcroft and Pridham to make the score 4-2.  

Cebrian iced the game for Denver 5-2 with an empty netter at 19:26.

Eagles goalie Louka Cloutier finished his night with 27 saves for an .871 save percentage.

Next up, Boston College and Denver play their series finale on Saturday night. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. ET on NCHC.tv.

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