College Sports

Boston University star freshman Cole Hutson got the attention of ‘SportsCenter’ with his highlight-reel goal Tuesday

"He’s so talented, so skilled. He can do things like that. He did it tonight, at a huge time in a big moment for him and our group, and it was awesome.”

Cole Hutson (left) scored an improbable goal halfway through the third period of Tuesday night’s game at UConn, which BU won in a shootout. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

By Andrew Mahoney, The Boston Globe

3 minutes to read

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It’s become commonplace for teams to lobby for one of their athletes to be featured on “SportsCenter’s” top 10 plays.

Just search #SCTop10 on X, and you can scroll a seemingly never-ending stream of highlights that includes dunks, buzzer beaters, diving catches, and soccer goals. They can range from pretty good to spectacular, and the odds are long that they will make the list.

But when Boston University freshman Cole Hutson scored an improbable goal halfway through the third period of Tuesday night’s game at UConn, Kevin Edelson, associate director of athletic communications for BU, was ready to make his pitch on X.

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The folks at ESPN took notice. It not only made the list but was chosen top play of the night.

In case you missed it, Hutson carried the puck across the blue line into the offensive zone, where he was met by a defender. That’s when he brought the puck between his skates to the top of the right circle, where he pivoted and briefly turned his back on the goal, before spinning back around and passing the puck between the UConn skater’s legs to himself, breaking toward the net, and burying it past goalie Tyler Muszelik.

“It was impressive,” said BU coach Jay Pandolfo. “He’s so talented, so skilled. He can do things like that. He did it tonight, at a huge time in a big moment for him and our group, and it was awesome.”

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It was a moment that even left the opposition praising the move, and drawing some impressive comparisons.

“The only person that I could see making that play that I coached against, is probably Cale Makar or [Hutson’s] brother, Lane,” said UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh on Wednesday morning. “It was a fabulous, one-on-one, high-end play. My hat’s off to him. He’s a great player. Not only that, but the finish. To go far side off the post and in, that was a good finish, as well.”

The goal knotted the game at 2, which is how it stood through overtime. BU took the extra point in the shootout as it looked to cement its hold on third place in Hockey East. But the contest goes down as a tie, leaving BU (18-12-2, 12-8-2) at seventh and UConn (17-10-4, 9-8-4) eighth in the PairWise, the system used to seed and select the NCAA Tournament field.

“A fantastic hockey game,” said Cavanaugh. “I think anybody who had a chance to watch it, it was pretty fast-paced, there were some high-end plays. Just overall, a really great hockey game.”

Weekend plans

The BU-UConn tilt was the perfect prelude to the penultimate weekend of Hockey East regular-season action, which kicks off Thursday night when UMass (17-12-3, 8-9-3) hosts UMass Lowell (15-12-3, 8-10-2) for the opener of a home-and-home series that will conclude Saturday at Tsongas Center. Both teams are near the bubble, with UMass at 12th and Lowell 14th in the PairWise, giving a playoff feel to the matchup.

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“These are huge, huge games,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. ”We’re in do-or-die time of the year. A win is going to take you to another level, and a loss is going to drop you down to another level, so there’s a lot riding on every game.”

Sitting atop the PairWise, Boston College (24-6-1, 16-4-1) has no such concerns with regard to the NCAA Tournament, but the Eagles would like to move closer to clinching the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for the second year in a row with a pair of strong performances in a home-and-home series against UNH (11-14-5, 3-13-4) that begins Friday at Conte Forum.

Second-place Maine (19-6-5, 11-4-5) will look to keep the pressure on BC when it hosts Vermont (11-16-3, 6-12-2) for a pair. UConn has a quick turnaround after Tuesday’s game against BU, beginning a home-and home series by hosting Northeastern (11-16-3, 6-11-3) Friday, while Providence (18-8-5, 8-7-5) hosts Merrimack (13-16-1, 9-10-1) on Friday before traveling to North Andover on Saturday.

In ECAC action, Harvard (10-15-2, 8-10-2) closes out the regular season with a pair of games at Yale (6-18-3, 5-12-3) and Brown (13-12-2, 9-10-1). The Crimson are seventh in the conference and have clinched home ice for the first round of the ECAC tournament.

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Atlantic Hockey America begins its tournament this weekend. Holy Cross (20-12-2, 19-5-2) and Bentley (18-14-2, 16-9-1) are among the teams with first-round byes. The Crusaders defeated AIC, 3-1, on Monday to clinch their first regular-season title since 2006.

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