Boston College has a new king of goal scoring for freshmen and his name is Ryan Leonard.
The Washington Capitals top prospect scored two more goals for the Eagles in the NCAA tournament on Sunday to help push BC to a 5-4 overtime victory over the defending national champion Quinnipiac Bobcats. Leonard now has 31 goals in his rookie college campaign, breaking the school’s freshman goals record held by Brian Gionta (30) since 1998.
The 19-year-old winger first got on the board early in the second period with the Eagles down 2-0 and on a power play. After BC won an offensive-zone faceoff, Leonard drifted into his usual spot right in the lap of Bobcats goaltender Vinny Duplessis and deflected home a Cutter Gauthier slap pass.
The goal got BC rolling as they struggled throughout the game to penetrate through Quinnipiac’s tough 1-3-1 defensive setup.
Andre Gasseau would tie the game up over nine minutes later but the Bobcats responded soon after with a goal from Christophe Fillion to regain their lead. Just a minute after Fillion’s goal, Leonard drew a head contact penalty and got the lethal Eagles power play back on the ice.
After a few unsuccessful zone entries, BC finally got the puck behind the Quinnipiac goal line on the stick of Leonard, their hottest player. The 2023 first-round draft selection made a quick power move to the front of the net and stuffed another game-tying tally past Duplessis.
“I’ve never scored like that down there,” Leonard told ESPN at the second intermission. “I saw a chance to beat the goalie to the net and found the net. I think we’ve got five guys on the ice that are very dangerous and sometimes they don’t know who to cover and we try to make them pay as much as we can.”
The Regional Final game headed into the third period tied 3-3 and Leonard was asked what his team would need to do to take down a very experienced Quinnipiac team.
“Yeah, playing the defending national champions so we know they want it bad but we want it even more,” he said. “Play our identity how we have the whole year and we’re not worried.”
Quinnipiac would get an early third-period goal from Jacob Quillan and the Eagles struggled for 12 long minutes before defenseman Aram Minnetian scored to send the game to overtime. Just over three minutes into the extra frame, Cornell transfer Jack Malone finished off a netfront scramble to send BC to the Frozen Four.
Leonard heads into St. Paul, Minnesota with 59 total points (31g, 28a) in 39 games. He was named the Most Oustanding Player of the Providence Region after his five-point (4g, 1a) performance over two games.
⭐️ Most Outstanding Player ⭐️
After scoring two goals in tonight’s win, Ryan Leonard is your 2024 NCAA Providence Regional Most Outstanding Player! pic.twitter.com/Xmc6q2Lwx9
— BC Men's Hockey (@BC_MHockey) April 1, 2024
BC will match up with the winner of the other Regional Final on Sunday night between Michigan and Michigan State. The winner of that first Frozen Four matchup will then play for the 2024 National Championship.
After the postseason is over, Leonard will have the option to sign an entry-level contract with the Capitals that would forego the rest of his college career. Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan recently said that he would leave that decision up to Leonard, saying that when he was in Rookie Camp he was already ready to make the leap to the pros.
