Ice Hockey, NCAA, Sports

Double the fun: Chiasson game-winner in double overtime sends BU to Hockey East semifinals

Throughout his Boston University career, senior goaltender Kieran Millan has broken most of the team’s goaltending records and set quite a few impressive personal records as well.

On Sunday night, Millan shattered a fewer-than-72-hour-old personal record for saves in a game (47) by stopping 68 shots in the No. 6 Boston University men’s hockey team’s 5-4 double-overtime victory over the University of New Hampshire in the final game of the Hockey East quarterfinals at Agganis Arena. Millan, who has saved 151 shots in the past three games, is only seven saves away from tying the most saves in a Hockey East tournament.

He has a chance to set that record next weekend, since the Terriers (23-13-1) will return to the TD Garden to face the University of Maine in the Hockey East semifinals on Friday.

BU required 86:42 of hockey Sunday to complete a comeback from a 4-1 UNH (15-19-3) lead in the second period of Sunday night’s game. Junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson netted the game-winner for BU at 6:42 into the second overtime when he knocked a rebound in the slot past UNH goaltender Casey DeSmith.

“I thought that coming back in this game, we worked too hard to just let that go,” Chiasson said. “It didn’t matter if that was me or someone else. It was just a great team effort. I’m so happy for all the guys.”

The night started off in strange fashion. UNH appeared to get on the board first when freshman forward Grayson Downing batted a puck in the air over Millan. However, the goal call on the ice was overturned when the officials determined via a review that the puck was played with a high stick.

Almost immediately following the no-goal call, freshman forward Evan Rodrigues caught a pass from sophomore forward Matt Nieto, cut to the front of the net and wrapped the puck around UNH goaltender Casey DeSmith to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead 4:11 into the first period.

The lead didn’t last too long, as UNH forward Casey Thrush put his team back on top with two goals in the first period. Thrush scored his first goal on a rebound goal at 8:09 in the frame before netting his second goal of the night six minutes later on a wrist shot. Thrush doubled his season goal total with the effort, as he had two goals all season prior to Sunday night’s game.

The Wildcats weren’t finished on the score sheet after Thrush’s outburst, as forward Greg Burke netted a power-play goal less than two minutes into the second period to increase UNH’s lead to 3-1. Burke received a hard carom off the end boards and roofed a shot over Millan’s shoulder.

UNH captain Mike Borisenok rubbed salt in the Terriers’ wounds later in the period when he scored a short-handed breakaway goal to give UNH the 4-1 lead. BU coach Jack Parker called a timeout after the goal, which caused a few fans to head for the exits.

After the timeout, Millan did not let up another goal, stopping 35 shots from the third period on through both overtimes.

“I just really refocused and was just doing what I could not to let another goal in and give our team an opportunity to come back,” Millan said. “They were able to do that and then when it gets to overtime, you just don’t want to be the scapegoat so for the most part, you just try to stop everything that comes to you.”

Millan gave the Terriers the opportunity to come back, and sophomore defenseman Garrett Noonan used that opportunity when he scored two goals in three minutes late in the second frame.

Noonan’s first goal came on a back-door pass from senior captain Chris Connolly, which Noonan launched over DeSmith’s shoulder. His second goal was a poke-in while the puck sat in the crease after a DeSmith save to tighten UNH’s lead to a 4-3 margin.

With the pair of goals, Noonan is now tied with Justin Schultz for the most goals scored by a defenseman in the nation.

“I’ve just been fortunate. I’m playing on the power play with such skilled people,” Noonan said. “They kind of do all the work and I just camp out and tap goals in.”

The momentum was clearly on BU’s side entering the third period, and junior forward Wade Megan took advantage of it 30 seconds into the frame. Megan fired a wrist shot through a screen as he entered the offensive zone and beat DeSmith in the top-right corner to tie the game at 4-4.

BU couldn’t get much more accomplished with its momentum after that, however, as the play over the rest of the frame was dominated by good goaltending from both sides. When the horn sounded, the teams remained tied at four, and the series went into its third sudden-death overtime.

The first overtime of the contest included chance after chance denied by the goaltenders, as teams traded end-to-end rushes repeatedly. BU and UNH combined for 30 shots on goal in the first overtime, as BU outshot UNH in the stanza, 16-14.

“It was up and down and there was all kinds of chances. For an overtime it was really wide open,” Parker said. “That was like a track meet in the overtime. The chances we had both ways the goalies came up big.”

UNH continued to apply pressure in the second overtime, as the Wildcats peppered Millan with eight shots in just less than seven minutes while BU only managed three on DeSmith. However, it only takes one shot to win in overtime, and BU had the winning shot.

The game-winner came when Megan took a pass from Connolly up the boards, where Megan faked skating into the slot before beating the defenseman wide with his speed. Megan snapped a hard shot into the upper body of DeSmith, who couldn’t handle the rebound. It bounced out into the slot where a streaking Chiasson was looking for a chance on net. Chiasson slammed the loose puck through DeSmith’s five-hole, prompting a celebration in the corner of the offensive zone with his teammates.

“We were trying to just get pucks on him and trying to get a rebound, and, you know, I happened to be there,” Chiasson said. “It was probably the biggest goal of my career for sure.”

The win was a birthday present for Parker, who turned 67 on Sunday. The long-time BU bench boss proved his health this weekend, as he showed no lingering effects from the heart surgery he had in the summer of 2010. Parker said after the game that his heart can now handle these types of games just fine.

“As the lyric from Bob Dylan once said, ‘I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now,’” Parker said with a smile. “[The doctors] actually told me I can do anything I want, but don’t shovel snow. And that was good news.”

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