The Boston College men’s hockey team entered the 2006–07 season ranked number one in the nation, and ended up just three goals short of expectations.

After riding a 13-game winning streak to the championship game of the Frozen Four in St. Louis, Missouri, the Eagles were felled on April 7 by a tiebreaking Michigan State goal with 18.9 seconds left. Michigan State sealed a 3–1 victory with an empty net goal barely one second before the final buzzer.

For two consecutive seasons now, Boston College has made it to the final game. Last year, the team lost to Wisconsin in Badger-friendly Milwaukee, in another last-second heartbreaker: After trailing by a goal through most of the third period, Eagle defenseman Peter Harrold’s desperation shot with 1.7 seconds left rang the post and caromed away, giving Wisconsin the win, 2–1.

“It’s tough coming [up] short two years in a row,” senior captain Brian Boyle told the Heights after this year’s championship loss. Boston College ended the season at 29-12-1, a tally that belies the team’s struggles in the first half of the season. After 25 games, the Eagles’ record was 14-10-1. On January 5, Coach Jerry York suspended the captaincies of Boyle and fellow senior forward Joe Rooney for a month due to poor class attendance. The Eagles persevered and went 15-2-0 for the rest of the season, winning their seventh Hockey East Tournament title along the way. Goaltender Cory Schneider set a single-season team record with 1,111 saves and was named to the 2007 U.S. national hockey team. Boyle—the team’s leader in both points and assists for the season—and sophomore forward Nathan Gerbe, second on the team in scoring, were named to the hockey writers’ All–New England team; Boyle was additionally named a first-team All-American by the American Hockey Coaches Association.

The team will lose only four seniors—Boyle, Rooney, defenseman Justin Greene, and goaltender Joe Pearce—which should keep expectations high for next season.

Dan Morrell is a writer based in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.