BOSTON — University of Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves knew his team would suffer growing pains Friday night.

He brought a roster stocked with underclassmen to face defending national champion Boston College in the season opener for both teams.

BC invited notable alumni back to campus to participate in the raising of the championship banner, a maroon-and-gold flag that hung low over center ice.

But UW nearly spoiled the party.

The Badgers matched the champs goal for goal, but in a fitting twist, it was a Boston College freshman who sent a packed house home happy.

BC forward Cam Atkinson scored his first collegiate goal on a breakaway, eluding the reach of freshman defenseman Eric Springer and tucking a backhander past goaltender Shane Connelly at 13 minutes, 30 seconds of the third period. It gave the Eagles a 5-4 win in front of a crowd of 7,884, ending a back-and-forth contest full of breakaways and rookie mistakes.

"It's the type of game that we thought we would get, having a lot of young defensemen and young people in the lineup, but we had a chance to win it," said Eaves. "So on that front, we can walk away knowing we have some good stuff to grow on."

The 14th-ranked Badgers showed their offensive talent but had their hands full with the top-ranked Eagles. Connelly (32 saves) had to make several glittering stops when the defense broke down in front of him.

"We talked before that game, that we would have to have Shane provide us with some big saves to get our feet under us, and he was exactly that," said Eaves, who didn't know after the game if Connelly would play tonight at No. 7 New Hampshire. "The team felt bad that they left him out to dry a little bit there at times, but he was big when he needed to be."

Connelly had to be big from the start. Eagles forwards Joe Whitney and Benn Ferriero had breakaway chances within the first two minutes of the game, but Connelly denied them both, and his teammates picked him up.

Freshman backliner Jake Gardiner put one low on net, but Eagles goalie John Muse kicked it up the middle. Patrick Johnson glided over and crushed a one-timer over Muse's shoulder at 2:59 of the first.

But Blake Geoffrion went to the box for slashing, and BC's Brian Gibbons tapped one in on the power play to tie it. Matt Price made it 2-1 on a shorthanded, 2-on-1 break 4:18 into the second period.

The Badgers silenced the house by tying it up 10 minutes later. A scrum developed around Muse, and Jordy Murray knocked the puck in for his first collegiate goal at 14:27.

Minutes later, the puck came to Springer at the point, and the freshman's shot skittered through traffic and beat Muse through the legs to put UW up 3-2.

However, junior Jamie McBain chopped the wood out of the hands of BC's Jimmy Hayes and was sent off for slashing. BC captain Brock Bradford snapped home the tying goal at 13:08 of the second, after some rough-and-tumble forechecking from fellow senior Ferriero.

UW captain Ben Street reclaimed the lead for the Badgers 1:20 into the third, beating Muse thanks to a cross-ice feed from Derek Stepan.

But the Eagles had the final word. Rushing up the ice, BC's Gibbons beat Ryan McDonagh at the blue line and tucked a backhander past a sprawling Connelly to tie the score. And after some back-and-forth action, Atkinson's breakaway goal provided the final blow.

"I thought our young players were as good as anyone on the ice," he said. "We've got young people on the ice, and they've got to go through the growing pains."