The Northern Michigan Wildcats defeated the Boston College Eagles 4-3 in a shootout Saturday to claim third place at the inaugural Ice Vegas Invitational.

Philip Beaulieu recorded a goal and two assists, powering the Wildcats over the Eagles, who will likely find themselves dropping form their current No. 13 rank after an 0-2 showing in Las Vegas.

Beaulieu found Rylan Yaremko at 6:43 of the first period, who walked into the high slot and beat Ryan Edquist for the game’s first goal.

Officially a 3-3 tie with @BCHockey BUUUUUT goals from @rpayne20 and @D_craigz give us the shootout win. #nmuhockey #nmuwildcats pic.twitter.com/Pjv2naVOZJ

— NMU Hockey (@NMUHockey) January 7, 2018

The physicality from day one continued as Boston College remained over-aggressive, finding itself shorthanded six times on the night.

The Wildcats had a lot of solid chances with the man-advantage through the entire game, but struggled to capitalize and relinquished a shorthanded goal early in the second period.

A shade under four minutes into the second frame, the Eagles would be shorthanded for the fourth time. But a defensive zone faceoff win saw Christopher Brown finish a beautiful shorthanded breakaway nine seconds later to knot the game at 1-1.

They killed off the remaining penalty, but just one second later, Beaulieu added his second assist of the night by feeding Troy Loggins a one-timer to put the Wildcats back ahead 2-1.

Boston College would kill off another two penalties in the second period. Their strong penalty kill was rewarded when Julius Mattila went five-hole to make it a 2-2 game heading into the third.

The Wildcats appeared fatigued in the third, which saw uncovered Eagles forward David Cotton receive a pass from Julius Mattila deep in the Wildcats zone, where he tucked the go-ahead goal behind Atte Tolvanen.

.@NMUHockey Skates To 3-3 Tie Against Boston College In Las Vegas
Sophomore defenseman Philip Beaulieu scores game-tying goal for Wildcats#WCHA Recap: https://t.co/fcs3QFZ9mb pic.twitter.com/CXKQ6n7t3h

— WCHA Men's Hockey (@WCHA_MHockey) January 7, 2018

The Eagles took their sixth penalty of the night shortly after, where Beaulieu sailed home a power-play goal from the point to bring the game to 3-3.

The Wildcats weathered two five-minute overtime periods, a 5-on-5 frame followed by a 3-on-3 frame before a decisive shootout took place.

Robbie Payne, the nation’s leading goal scorer (17 G) and Darien Craighead each scored in the shootout while Tolvanen saved both of the Eagles attempts.

Watch @NMUHockey win the shootout to defeat No. 13 @BCHockey!!!!!! @IceVegasInv pic.twitter.com/KTyTFX8dUi

— FloHockey (@FloHockey) January 7, 2018

By Jacob Messing

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