The Terrier Hockey Fan Blog: UPDATED: Game Day: Terriers tangle with Cornell in Toledo Regional Final

Saturday, March 29, 2025

UPDATED: Game Day: Terriers tangle with Cornell in Toledo Regional Final

Game day graphic featuring photo of Devin Kaplan playing hockey. BU vs. #16 Cornell, Huntington Center, Toledo, OH, March 29, 4 PM on ESPNU, ESPN+ and TSN+

#8 Terriers will face the final obstacle to a return to the Frozen Four when they take on surging #8 Cornell in the Toledo NCAA Regional final. Puck drop at the Huntington Center is at 4 p.m. ET with ESPNU carrying the live broadcast. Live streams are available on ESPN+ and TSN+.

BU is making its 40th NCAA tournament appearance (25th in last 35 tournaments) and is playing in its sixth regional final in the past 10 tournaments. No other Eastern school has played in more regional finals than BU in that span.

Cornell rallied in the third period to upset #1 ranked Michigan State, 4-3, on Thursday, scoring the game-winner on a power play with 10 seconds left in regulation. The win keeps the season going for retiring Head Coach Mike Schafer.

The Big Red are playing their best hockey of the season. They sat at 12-10-6 at the end of February, but since then are 7-0-0 and stormed to the ECAC championship after finishing sixth in the regular season. In those seven games, they have yielded just eight goals and knocked off top seed Quinnipiac and second seed Clarkson to claim the ECAC title.

BU, who is 5-1-1 in its last seven, is quite familiar with Cornell’s tight-checking, physical style, having faced them four times in the past three seasons with each team winning twice. The Big Red won the 2021 (6-4) and 2023 (2-1) Red Hot Hockey games at Madison Square Garden, while the Terriers won twice in 2022-23: a 4-3 come-from-behind win at Agganis Arena and a 2-1 win in the Manchester Regional Final.

In three prior NCAA meetings, Cornell won, 4-1, in the 1967 NCAA championship, BU repaid the favor with a 4-0 victory in the 1972 Natty final, and the Terriers claimed a 3-1 decision in the 2018 Worcester Regional.

As is always the case when these teams face off, Cornell is an older and heavier squad. (See Tale of the Tape below)

Sophomore Ryan Walsh (16-14-30), who scored twice against the Spartans, leads Cornell’s offense, along with junior Dalton Bancroft (15-11-26) and senior Sullivan Mack (9-14-23), who scored the game-winner that ousted Michigan State.

Senior Tim Rego (22 points) and sophomore Ben Robertson (15) anchor a productive and sizable defense, along with sophomores George Fegaras (14) and Hoyt Stanley (13).

Veteran goalie Ian Shane is back for his senior season and brings a 2.20 GAA and a .903 save percentage. Two of his three shutouts have come in March. Shane turned aside 34 shots in the win against the Spartans.