CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — The No. 17 Boston College men’s hockey program will host Maine on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET for the Hockey East quarterfinals.
The Eagles (19-14-1, 9-5-1 Hockey East) possess the fourth seed in the tournament while the Black Bears (18-13-3, 12-11-1) hold the fifth seed.
BC is entering Friday’s playoff matchup after losing four straight games to cap off the 2025-26 regular season. Because of that losing streak, the Eagles fell down to No. 18 in the NCAA Division I men’s hockey NPI rankings, which is the system used to determine seeding for the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
For BC to make it to an NCAA regional, it basically must win the 2026 Hockey East Championship, which starts with Friday’s contest at Conte Forum.
Maine and the Eagles have had relatively similar seasons, as both teams have experienced a rollercoaster of outcomes with not so much consistency. Since Jan. 31, the Black Bears went on a four-game winless streak, including one shootout loss, before ripping off a four-game winning streak ahead of their season finale against Vermont, which Maine lost 5-3.
One day prior to the matchup, BC head coach Greg Brown spoke on what BC is up against in its first opponent of the postseason.
“They play to their identity very truly,” Brown said. “They’re in your face. They come hard. Physical team, get to the net. They look obviously better now on video than they did way back when we played them, but their identity has stayed the same.”
Brown continued: “Maine loves to get the puck behind the D and get to work. So we’re going to have to manage it well. You got to have good breakouts against Maine, and hopefully we can. They play kind of in your face in the defensive zone, kind of one on one, lot of challenges.”
Brown acknowledged that the Eagles did not want the conclusion that they experienced at the end of the regular season, but he called the postseason a completely new one — a fresh start that could go in any team’s direction.
“You don’t want to have the finish we had, but we still did enough to be a home team,” Brown said. “And in Hockey East, that’s an accomplishment. It’s a challenge. Can see how tight the league was and how tight the points were, like, other than Providence.”
Here are the live updates for Friday’s quarterfinal tilt between BC and Maine:
Live Updates:
[Make sure to refresh your browser for the latest information. The most recent update will be at the top].
FINAL: Boston College 5, Maine 0.
Behind James Hagens’ two goals and Louka Cloutier’s shutout with 18 saves, the fourth-seeded Eagles have advanced to the @hockey_east semis over fifth-seeded Maine.
Stiga, Jellvik, Letourneau were the other scorers.
More @BostonCollegeSI soon. pic.twitter.com/yzN7wMDhT1
— Graham Dietz (@graham_dietz) March 14, 2026
Third period:
- 2:06 | James Hagens scores his second goal of the game and 23rd of the year with another empty-netter. Boston College 5, Maine 0.
- 4:35 | Dean Letourneau twists the cap onto the bottle with an empty-net goal to send the Eagles to the Hockey East semifinals. James Hagens found Letourneau for the assist. Boston College 4, Maine 0.
- 16:43 | Brady Berard is penalized for elbowing. Maine challenged the penalty for a potential major, but the initial call stood.
- 18:26 | Oscar Jellvik hands the Eagles a three-goal lead with a snappy flick shot from the crease. Boston College 3, Maine 0.
Conmy finds Jellvik for the one-timer!
📺 NESN pic.twitter.com/6AYvanxafp
— BC Men’s Hockey (@BC_MHockey) March 14, 2026
Second period:
- 3:28 | Anthony Calafiore will serve a minor penalty for the Black Bears for too many men on the ice, handing the Eagles their first power play of the frame.
- 9:16 | Media timeout. Both teams came inches away from scoring within the last five minutes of play. Thomas Freel rang shot off the right post for Maine, while Dean Letourneau and James Hagens came up empty-handed with point blank shots from the crease.
- 12:57 | Drew Fortescue is booked for tripping. The Black Bears obtain their second power play of the game, and their first of the period.
First period:
- End of P1 | Boston College 2, Maine 0.
End of P1: Boston College 2, Maine 0.
– Maine looks scared out there. The Eagles came out unafraid and are sticking to a tough-nosed approach.
– Greg Brown talked about shutting down Maine’s ability to feed into its identity, and the Eagles did exactly that.
– Hagens. That’s it.
— Graham Dietz (@graham_dietz) March 13, 2026
- 6:56 | After killing off the Black Bears’ first man advantage, the Eagles get one of their own thanks to Brandon Chabrier’s holding penalty.
- 10:43 | Lukas Gustafsson is penalized for cross-checking, sending the Black Bears to the power play.
- 14:32 | It takes the Eagles less than a minute to score their second goal of the game thanks to James Hagens, who skated the puck into the offensive zone and grabbed his own rebound off an initial shot before firing the puck to the top shelf. Boston College 2, Maine 0.
Hagens doubles the lead just 39 seconds later!
📺 NESN pic.twitter.com/6I5jUooHPZ
— BC Men’s Hockey (@BC_MHockey) March 13, 2026
- 15:11 | Teddy Stiga pots the first goal of the game after a fortunate bounce off the boards behind the net, which funneled the puck right to the front of the crease. Luka Radivojevic made the pass off the boards to generate the scoring chance. Boston College 1, Maine 0.
Teddy follows it up to smash it home!
📺 NESN pic.twitter.com/2eA3fAUViD
— BC Men’s Hockey (@BC_MHockey) March 13, 2026
- 15:40 | First stoppage of play. The Eagles are playing with heightened physicality so far — going for hits and the puck with absolutely no fear — which is beginning to frustrate the Black Bears.
Pregame:
- This is how the BC student fanbase showed out for BC’s first playoff game of the postseason:
Conte is rocking tonight. pic.twitter.com/Q1BJEpXzFq
— Graham Dietz (@graham_dietz) March 13, 2026
- Here are the Eagles’ lines for Friday’s quarterfinal:
Game 35 | Links & Lines
📺 NESN
💻 ESPN+ | https://t.co/DXtnGLpYJl
📻 @WEEI 850 AM
🎧 https://t.co/4PF6dXB0yy
📊 https://t.co/TK3hDyIzbO pic.twitter.com/y03wYPBaF2
— BC Men’s Hockey (@BC_MHockey) March 13, 2026
Follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram for the latest Boston College Eagles news.
