UPDATED Game Day: BU vs. Cornell for the Manchester Regional championship

 

#5 Terriers will face #12 Cornell in the NCAA Manchester Regional title game at SNHU Arena today at 4 p.m. At stake is a berth in the Frozen Four in Tampa in two weekends. Puck drop today is at 4 p.m. for the contest that will air live on ESPNU and be live streamed on ESPN+. In Canada, the game will air on TSN+.

The game will be the fourth meeting between the Big Red and the Terriers in the NCAA tournament. In 2018, BU defeated Cornell, 3-1, in the Worcester Regional semifinal. Previously, the two teams met twice in the national championship game, each time following a meeting in ECAC tournament title game. In 1967, Cornell, led by goalie Ken Dryden beat BU, 4-3, in the ECAC title game and then 4-1 in the NCAA final. In 1972, the Terriers returned the favor, defeating the Big Red, 4-1, in the ECAC final and then blanking them, 4-0, behind Tim Regan's standout goaltending and two goals each from Ron Anderson and Ric Jordan, to repeat as national champions.

BU, which is riding a D1-best current winning streak of eight games, is now 5-0 in NCAA tournament games played in the Manchester Regional.

The two team played at Agganis Arena in mid-January with BU pulling out a 4-3 win on third-period tallies by Captain Dom Fensore and freshman Lane Hutson.

Cornell won its regional semifinal, knocking off defending champion Denver, 2-0, as goalie Ian Shane pitched his fifth shutout of the season. His 1.70 GAA is second-best in Division 1.

Gabriel Seger leads Cornell with 29 points while Ben Berard is the top goal-scorer with 11 goals and 28 points. Blueline standout Sam Malinski has 26 points while forward Max Andeev has 22 points. 

After being able to unleash its speed and transition game throughout the semifinal win against Western Michigan, BU will face a tougher challenge from Coach Mike Schafer's Big Red who employ a tight-checking, physical game and have limited their last seven opponents (5-2-0) to just five total goals.

TODAY’S BU LINE-UP 

Brown-O'Brien-Phillips 

Tuch-Greene-Q.Hutson 

Wilmer-Skoog-Peterson 

Armstrong-Stevens-Kaplan 

Amonte 

Fensore-Gallagher 

L.Hutson-Copeland 

Webber-Getz 

Commesso 

Duplessis 

Schena 

 

● GoTerriers.com preview, Game Notes, Live Stats, BU All-Access (audio), BU Men’s Hockey Twitter 

● Live Stream, ESPN+, International Stream 

● Boston Hockey Blog preview; Phillips proved the difference

● College Hockey News Tale of the Tape 

● Boston Herald Pandolfo has BU One Win from Frozen Four

 

Looking ahead 

2023 recruit Macklin Celebrini scored a pair of goals and fellow recruit Jack Harvey scored once, but Chicago lost to Green Bay,4-3, when the Gamblers scored with less than a second left in regulation. Celebrini is the league's top scorer with a 43-33-76 line. Harvey is third with 34-31-65.

● USHL Spotlight on Macklin Celebrini

2023 recruit Shane Lachance scored his 30th goal and 2024 recruit Brandon Svoboda potted his 14th as Youngstown defeated Madison 6-1. Lachance joins Celebrini and Harvey as three of the four 30+ goal scorers in the USHL this season. 

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Tough to stop the Captain from there pic.twitter.com/3tEbVNX3PU

— Youngstown Phantoms (@YtownPhantoms) March 25, 2023

Looking back

Clayton Keller's 35th goal was Arizona's only tally in a 3-1 loss to Colorado.