Sunday, March 29, 2009

On to D.C—Terriers nip Wildcats on last-minute goal



After a relatively easy victory in the regional semifinal, BU had to scratch and claw its way to 2-1 nailbiter over a determined New Hampshire team in the final in Manchester, N.H. Jason Lawrence’s power play goal, which deflected off a diving Wildcat defender at 19:46 of the third period, sends BU to the Frozen Four for the time since 1997.

BU dominated the first period and scored on a rebound converted by Corey Trivino. UNH evened the score in the second period, taking over the momentum, but were repeatedly denied a lead by Kieran Millan’s heroics in goal. The final period was more balanced but the Terriers went on a power play with less than a minute to go in regulation when Nick Bonino was hauled down just as he was about to shoot from the slot. Lawrence nailed the game-winner thirty seconds into the power play.

We have recaps from GoTerriers.com, USCHO, HockeyEastOnline, College Hockey News, a comprehensive boxscore, and audio comments from Coach Jack Parker (Regional Final) and from three BU players (Regional Final)—Lawrence, Millan and co-captain John McCarthy.

►Lawrence, with three goals for the weekend, was voted Most Outstanding Player of the regional. Lawrence now has 24 goals for the season, three more than his first three seasons combined. The senior wing, who has 45 career goals, was joined on the all-tournament team by co-captain Matt Gilroy, Millan and Bonino.

►BU’s record now stands at 33-6-4 with the second most wins in school history. Only the 1993-94 team with 34 had more. The Terriers are 26-2-4 in their last 32 games.

►With 10 goals in the two regional games, BU has scored 168 on the season, exactly double the number of goals allowed, 84.

►The NCAA Northeast Regional title is BU's fifth championship of the season. Previously, they won the Icebreaker, Denver Cup, Beanpot Championship, Hockey East Regular Season title and Hockey East Tournament Championship.

►BU extended its unbeaten streak away from Agganis Arena to 17 games (15-0-2). The Terriers last road or neutral site loss was Nov. 7 at UMass.

►Next up for the Terriers is yet another conference foe, Vermont, Frozen Four seminfinals at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. on April 9. The Catamounts are the only team to have beaten BU more than once this season, taking a pair of 4-3 wins last November.

►The other seminfinal matches Miami against the tournament’s Cinderella team, Bemidji State, which followed up its stunning upset of Notre Dame by duplicating the feat against Cornell tonight.

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