CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – New Hampshire coach Dick Umile had better hope Brian Foster can return soon from his ankle injury. If not, the No. 8 Wildcats can just about forget winning a third straight Hockey East regular season championship.

With Foster out for the second straight game with an undisclosed injury, Umile turned to freshman Matt DiGirolamo. After surrendering eight goals to UMass-Lowell on Friday night in an 8-3 loss, DiGirolamo allowed eight more in an 8-6 loss to Boston College in front of 5,417 at Kelley Rink.

Jimmy Hayes had his first collegiate hat trick and Brock Bradford scored twice for the Eagles as No. 7 BC (6-3-1, 4-2-1 Hockey East) came back from a 3-0 second period deficit with five goals in the second period. It was the first time the Eagles have scored five goals in a period since Dec. 30, 2007, when BC pulled the trick against RIT in the championship game of the Dodge Holiday Classic.

“That was unbelievable. That was real fun,” said Hayes, now with five goals this season. “I don’t think I’ve scored a hat trick in a couple years.”

It was a game filled with so many goals, Hayes could barely remember his first one.

“The first one was…what was the first one?” said Hayes. Sitting next to Hayes at the podium, Bradford reminded his teammate the play began with a play by Paul Carey. “Oh yeah, Paul Carey, I remember that.”

If anyone should be allowed to forget a goal or two, it’s Bradford. The senior captain had with five goals on the weekend after notching a hat trick of his own on Friday night in BC’s 5-5 tie with Merrimack. The senior captain now has a nation-best 12 goals.

After scoring just two goals in a pair of losses to Notre Dame and Maine last weekend, the Eagles exploded for 13 this weekend, albeit while surrendering 11.

“I think it was great for our guys’ confidence this weekend putting 13 goals in the net,” said Bradford. “Obviously we have to tighten things up defensively. What’d we give up, 11? So there’s a lot of room for improvement. But it was good that all four lines contributed the last two games, so it gives us a lot of hope for the coming weeks.”

BC looked dead when UNH’s Mike Sislo scored his second goal of the net just 1:49 into the second period. However, freshman Paul Carey made a nice hustle play in the corner, getting the puck over to Ben Smith who zipped it to Hayes in front of the net to get BC on the board at 3:57.

The second line of Carey-Smith-Hayes struck again when at 7:48 when Hayes gave Carey a centering pass that Carey snuck past DiGirolamo. Just 25 seconds after Carey’s goal, Bradford netted his first of the night to tie the game.

“Jimmy Hayes, Ben Smith and Paul Carey did a great job of getting us going with those two quick goals back-to-back,” said Bradford. “(They were) a catalyst for us on offense tonight, so it was great to see. Guys just responded from that. I think it was the most fun we’ve had all year playing hockey.”

“Benny Smith is a junior and he’s got the two freshmen playing on either side,” York said of the line. “He’s got leadership skills and he’s really helped the freshmen make this adjustment. I thought the line played very well. It was clearly the best that Paul and Jimmy have played this year.”

Once the game was tied, BC kept on pushing, with Brian Gibbons and Hayes scoring before the second period ended. Matt Lombardi, Bradford, and Hayes all scored in the third period.

UNH was up, 1-0, just 22 seconds in when Peter LeBlanc scored off a bad pass from BC’s Tim Filangieri behind the net. Sislo scored twice more to put the Wildcats up, 3-0, but it was all downhill from there for UNH.

“We put up three on Friday and six tonight, and that felt pretty good,” said Sislo. “But it’s not acceptable to give up eight goals each on Friday and Saturday, so it’s pretty upsetting and we’ve got to get back to work next week.”

James van Riemsdyk, Blake Kessel, and Greg Collins all netted a goal in the third period, but it wasn’t enough to pull it out.

DiGirolamo, who made 29 saves, will have to continue to play until Foster can return. Umile felt his goalie showed some signs despite the shaky result.

“He stood in there, he battled,” said Umile. “He hung in there against a pretty good team. I know we didn’t play great (against Lowell), but there’s good teams in this league.”

As for BC goalie John Muse, 11 goals in two games is not a good sign. However, York said all his goaltender cares about is winning, no matter how ugly it can be.

“He made a lot of really good saves, but all he said was, ‘I got the ‘W,’ said York. “There are some nights where the puck is bouncing strange.

"There’ll be plenty of games where he gives one goal or maybe shutting out some opponents. Tonight, it’s hard to say it, but he made some fabulous saves.”