It’s finally come full circle for the Boston University men’s hockey team. Gone are the days of scrounging for goals in the playoffs. And here, apparently, is the day of a nine-goal explosion in the biggest game of the year to date.
What began as a quick 1-0 deficit to a University of New Hampshire team that’s been the Terriers’ playoff bully in recent years ended not just as a laugher, but in absolute hilarity for top-seeded BU in the Hockey East semifinals at the TD Banknorth Garden.
On a night just about wholly unique in BU history, the Icedogs completely shattered all possible expectations with a 9-2 demolition of the Wildcats that got beyond impressive and made it to, as coaches and players described it, “bizarre” and “surreal.”
“There’s not a whole hell of a lot to say,” said UNH coach Dick Umile.
BU (24-9-4) will now face Boston College tonight at 7 p.m. at the Garden, with its first Hockey East title in nine years in sight. It will be the first time in exactly 20 years that the rivals will play each other for the Hockey East championship.
“Obviously earlier tonight they proved how good they are,” said BC goalie Cory Schneider. “They’ve kinda had our number lately, so it will be nice to get after them and try to get a big win when it counts.”
But whatever happens in that game, Friday’s fantasy-turned-reality for Terrier fans will be remembered for a long time. For all the postseason heartache the Wildcats have given BU in recent years, the Terriers returned the favor in one fell swoop, at times making UNH look like a high school team in for an exhibition game.
A second hat trick in a week from scorching co-captain Dave Van der Gulik, three multiple-goal scorers and four lamp-lightings in the first 3:36 of the third period were only a few of the statistics that BU coach Jack Parker called an “aberration.”
The goals – the most for BU in a game since a 9-1 win against Princeton in 1998 – came early, often and from all angles. Six came from seniors, and one from the eager stick of freshman defenseman Matt Gilroy. They came from the crease, the point, the circle and even behind the net.
And they came at exactly the right time. When asked the last time BU had such an explosion in such a big game, Parker thought for a moment, then knew the answer: the 1976 ECAC finals, an identical 9-2 win over Brown University.
“We played very, very well in a whole bunch of ways,” the coach said.
And still, though it seemed like ages ago by the end, it was the fourth-seeded Wildcats who came charging out of the gates. Jacob Micflikier drew a Brandon Yip hooking penalty less than two minutes into the game, and UNH quickly converted, as Micflikier slammed home a Brett Hemingway pass for the early lead.
But unlike last year, when BU melted under the pressure of a vicious Wildcat power play in a 5-2 loss in the same game, the Terriers responded definitively and dominated the rest of the game. On a delayed penalty, Dan Spang tied it by slamming home Brian McGuirk’s rebound, and the Terriers went into first intermission with the lead after Van der Gulik finished an explosive Jekabs Redlihs rush.
In the second, it started to get out of hand – despite UNH outshooting BU 14-9 for the period.
“I thought the second period, UNH played as well as, if not better than, we did, and we got all the goals,” Parker said. “It was like there was nothing that they could do. It was bizarre in some ways.”
“They just came at us, and we didn’t do a very good job of handling it,” Umile said, repeating the word “speed” at least three times when discussing the Terriers.
BU got the next three goals – including Van der Gulik’s second and third, for the fastest hat trick in semifinal history. Gilroy provided the other, his second of the year, on a gorgeous slap shot straight from Peter MacArthur’s faceoff win.
Micflikier got his second of the game to make it 5-2 after two, but any hopes of a comeback were dismissed definitively in the first four minutes of the third, when it seemed anything the Terriers threw at the net was going in. BU had more goals in the first four minutes of the period (4) than UNH had shots in the whole period (3).
“It was a little surreal,” Spang said. “It just seemed like pucks were going bang-bang, tape-to-tape, and we just kept finding the back of the net. It was almost like the puck had little eyes for us.”
Boomer Ewing got his first on a wraparound shot that caromed off UNH forward Mike Radja’s stick and in. It started to look like practice for the Terriers when Brad Zancanaro and Van der Gulik weaved in and out of deflated Wildcats for Zancanaro’s goal at 2:07. After Jeff Pietrasiak replaced Kevin Regan in net for UNH, Ewing’s second came on a 4-on-3 on a perfect pass from Gilroy at 3:21, and just 15 seconds later, still on the 4-on-3, Spang finished the scoring with a stinging slapper from the point.
Parker inserted senior goalie Stephan Siwiec into the game, replacing John Curry, with eight minutes to play.
“Usually you’re all jacked up after you get a big win and get yourself in the Hockey East final,” Parker said. “We already knew halfway through the period that we were gonna be in the Hockey East final. So it was kind of anticlimactic. There was not a lot of celebration.”
But there was plenty during the game, and it all resulted in some unfathomable numbers. On the same night Harvard also strangely beat Dartmouth 10-1 in the ECAC semifinals, BU’s players combined to finish plus-34, led by Zancanaro and Van der Gulik (both plus-4). Spang (2-2-4) and Van der Gulik (3-1-4) both had four points, while Gilroy (1-1-2), Zancanaro (1-1-2) and Ewing (2-0-2) all also had multi-point nights. Even Curry got on the scoresheet for his second assist of the season.
“Definitely confidence is a big thing. I think we’ve got a pretty confident team right now,” Van der Gulik said. “I can’t see us getting any more confident. And you don’t want to get too overconfident, either. You just gotta keep an even keel.”
Tonight, they’ll “start from scratch,” as Van der Gulik said, against the third-seeded Eagles, who used a rock-solid 35-save effort from Schneider to beat No. 2 Maine, 4-1, in the late game. UNH and Maine will now have to hold their breath for Sunday, when their bubbles might burst during the NCAA Tournament selection.
“If we play like that, I hope it is over,” Umile said. “But I don’t think we’ll play like that again.”
The Terriers, meanwhile, have some business to take care of before then.
“Hopefully, our best games are in front of us,” Spang said.
If by that he means better than Friday, then Terrier fans better strap themselves in.
