Senior assistant captain David Farrance was named a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award for the second consecutive season. He has 16 points (5G,11 assists) in ten games and ranks first in points per game (1.16) among all D1 defenseman. He’s also a semifinalist for the Walter Brown Award and had been a finalist for Hockey East Player of the Year. Last season he was a CCM/ACHA First Team All-American and led all D1 defenseman in points (43) and goals (14). His point total was the most of any Terrier blueliner in the Hockey East era.
● GoTerriers.com report
►In the Hockey East semifinals on Wednesday, Lowell upset top seed BC, 6-5, in double overtime and UMass skated past Providence, 5-2. A Lowell win in the championship game potentially could adversely impact BU’s chances of securing a berth in the NCAA tournament.
’70-’71 Flashback March 18, 1971 NCAA Semifinal BU 4 Denver 2
Four years after losing to Cornell in the national championship in Syracuse, the top-ranked Terriers returned to that upstate New York city for another bite at the NCAA apple. In six previous Frozen Four appearances, the Terriers had finished second twice (1950, 1967), third twice (1951, 1960) and fourth twice (1953, 1966).
After losing in the ECAC semifinal to Harvard and then defeating Cornell in the consolation game, BU (26-1-1) was awarded the second Eastern national tournament berth by the ECAC selection committee, which matched them against the West’s #1 seed, Denver (24-9-1). The Pioneers, who won back-to-back NCAA titles in 1968 and 1969, were an older and significantly bigger team than BU, with nine players who would play in the NHL or WHA. They didn’t have the speed of Jack Kelley’s Terriers and that proved decisive in the semifinal.
Don “Toot” Cahoon, considered one of the fastest skaters in D1 hockey, scored three goals, to lead the BU offense which outshot Denver 43 to 25.
But it was the Pioneers who drew first blood when an errant Terrier clearing pass—one of their few mistakes in the game—led to Tom Peluso’s 10-footer past BU’s Dan Brady. The Terriers tied the score five minutes later with a man-advantage. Bob Brown’s blast from the right point was stopped, but Wayne Gowing whipped home the rebound for BU’s 63rd power play tally. Later in the period, Cahoon tipped home a Mike LaGarde slapper for a 2-1 lead after one.
Four BU penalties in the middle period provided Denver with a chance to take control, but the Terriers, Brady in particular, slammed the door. After the first three penalties were killed Cahoon struck again. Captain Steve Stirling’s behind-the-back pass sent his line mate in alone and he beat Ron Graham from 12 feet out for the eventual game-winner.
In the final period, BU dominated territorially and in shots (22 to 7) and attempts (41-14), with only sharp goaltending by Graham preventing a rout. Back on the power play midway through the period, Cahoon completed his hat trick redirecting a Paul Giandomenico shot from the corner past Graham. Stirling picked up the second assist.
After Denver cut the margin to 4-2 on a power play goal by Brian Morenz, the nephew of NHL Hall of Famer Howie Morenz, BU clamped down on the Pioneers the rest of the way and the Terriers skated into the title game.
Stirling acknowledged the confidence the ECAC committee had shown in the Terriers and added “We were really prepared and we realized we hadn’t lost to a Western team this season. We simply out-skated them and every guy did his job.”
Kelley pointed out that “Brady was brilliant in goal and so was their guy, Graham.”
BU’s opponent in the NCAA championship will be Minnesota, a 2-1 winner over Harvard in the other semifinal.
Looking back
Fifteen years ago tonight, BU won its sixth Hockey East Championship and its first since 1997, defeating BC, 2-1, in overtime on freshman Brandon Yip’s goal on the rush. John McCarthy had tied the scored in the second period. BC was outshooting BU, 10-3, in overtime when Yip and line mates Chris Higgins and Jason Lawrence broke into the Eagles’s zone on a 3-on-2. Second-team All-American goalie John Curry stopped 27 shots and improved his record to 27-7-4
Three year later in 2009, Yip would produce another Hockey East Championship game-winner in BU’s 1-0 win against Lowell in the conference title game.
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