MANCHESTER, N.H. – After a pair of No. 1 seeds were knocked out in Friday’s batch of opening round NCAA Tournament games, it appeared that this might be the year of the underdog. By the time the first period came to a close Saturday at Verizon Wireless Arena, the Boston University men’s hockey team made it clear that at least one of college hockey’s giants would remain standing.
The top-seeded Terriers burst out of the gate with a three-goal opening frame against the fourth-seeded Ohio State University and kept up the offensive fireworks for 60 minutes, winning 8-3 to advance to Sunday’s Northeast Regional final against the third-seeded University of New Hampshire. The Wildcats advanced after a thrilling come-from-behind 6-5 overtime victory over the second-seeded University of North Dakota that included a game-tying goal with one-tenth of a second remaining in regulation.
Before looking ahead to its fourth meeting with UNH this season, BU (32-6-4) had to put away a Buckeyes team (23-15-4) eager to continue the trend of upsets that began Friday when Miami (Ohio) University and the United States Air Force Academy took down the University of Denver and the University of Michigan, respectively.
When BU sophomore forward Nick Bonino slotted a feed from senior forward Brandon Yip high and tight to the right post 8:49 into the game, the fuse was lit, putting any chance of another No. 4 seed advancing out of the question.
‘I knew that Michigan had lost and I brought that up,’ BU coach Jack Parker said. ‘I mentioned that they were getting a lot of opportunities, but they weren’t making sure. They weren’t driving. They weren’t getting gritty goals. We have a tendency to play ‘pretty goal, pretty goal’ and not get into people’s faces, so I was trying to get that across to them.’
Whether they were pretty or gritty, BU scored plenty of goals Saturday. Bonino fought off a Buckeye to set up a two-on-one with forward Jason Lawrence and the senior slapped a backhand shot through Buckeyes sophomore goaltender Dustin Carlson’s five-hole, stretching the lead to 2-0 just 45 seconds after Bonino’s goal. And if that one-two punch didn’t put concerns of more March Madness to rest, junior forward Zach Cohen’s unassisted rifle from the high slot four minutes later certainly did.
Freshman goaltender Kieran Millan (22 saves) preserved the 3-0 lead entering the first intermission, sliding left to right to make a pad save on Ohio State sophomore forward C.J. Severyn, who had the puck on his stick at the doorstep but couldn’t beat the agile rookie.
The BU offense continued to flow after the break, beginning with a nifty give-and-go play between freshman forward Corey Trivino and senior defenseman Matt Gilroy that gave Trivino an easy tip-in from the left post. Yip followed, scoring on a rebound after senior forward John McCarthy’s slap shot bounced off Carlson (9 saves).
‘The puck obviously jumped in the net for us tonight and the game was over pretty quickly,’ Parker said.
Though senior forward Chris Higgins, Lawrence and sophomore forward Colin Wilson have comprised the Terriers’ first line most of the season, Bonino, McCarthy and Yip took the ice to start Saturday’s game. Parker said the latter trio has been his best line of late and gave BU the best chance to win. Both lines produced for the Terriers, combining for five goals.
After Wilson carried the puck the length of the ice and put a pass on Lawrence’s stick for the right winger to deposit into the net, making the score 6-0, BU temporarily lost its edge. Buckeyes sophomore forward Hunter Bishop flipped a shot over Millan’s glove to snap the shutout, and senior forward Zach Pelletier scored off a faceoff to put Ohio State within reach at the end of the second period.
Buckeyes freshman defenseman Matt Bartkowski’s power-play tally at 11:12 of the third period trimmed the Terriers’ lead to 6-3, prompting a desperation move from Ohio State coach John Markell.
With just under seven minutes to go, Markell pulled freshman goaltender Cal Heeter (10 saves), who replaced Carlson after the Terriers’ fifth goal. Hoping to ride a wave of momentum with the aid of an extra attacker, Markell’s move backfired when Cohen scored an empty-net goal to ice the game. The Ohio State net remained empty until the 17:12 mark, when Higgins added another empty-netter to end the scoring.
‘I was hoping that we could put an A-game out there,’ Markell said. ‘Unfortunately we didn’t, from the goalie on out.’
Game notes: Gilroy had four assists, giving him 28 for the season. ‘hellip; Yip became the second Terrier to reach the 20-goal mark this season, following Lawrence’s 23 scores. ‘hellip; Yip set a BU single-season record by amassing his 114th penalty minute. ‘hellip; BU was the only No. 1 seed to make it out of the first round, as the University of Notre Dame dropped its matchup Saturday with Bemidji State University, 5-1.
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