BU season over after falling to Friars

It is perhaps one of the most heartbreaking ways for a college hockey season to end.

Unfortunately, the Boston University hockey team knows the feeling all too well.

Three years ago, the Icedogs’ season abruptly ended in overtime when the University of New Hampshire emerged with a 4-3 victory in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Last year, it took four overtimes to halt the Icedogs’ season with a 3-2 loss to St. Lawrence University in the second round of the NCAAs.

And last night, as images of those devastating overtime losses flashed in the backs of the Icedogs’ minds, the Providence College Friars handed BU a 4-3 double-overtime loss at Schneider Arena in Providence, R.I.

With the win, the Friars move on to the Hockey East semifinals, while the Terriers are left stranded on Babcock Street without a trophy and without a foreseeable ticket to the NCAA tournament.

“We’ve seen a lot of these late in the playoffs,” Parker said. “What happened to us tonight was exactly what happened to us against St. Lawrence. After a while, the game just deteriorated, and we didn’t have any legs.”

The Terriers had dropped the first game of the three-game series on Friday night, 6-3. But the Icedogs rallied the following night with unbeatable goalkeeping from freshman Sean Fields. Fields made an equally impressive performance last night, but a tip off the stick of forward Marc Suderman crept through the five-hole late in the second overtime to end the Icedogs’ 2000-01 campaign.

“I just put my stick there and hoped for the best,” Suderman said. “Once I saw it go by Fields, I was just psyched.”

“I was trying to concern myself with stopping the puck,” Fields said. “Unfortunately, he just got a nice tip.”

The Friars scored first at 2:49 in the first period before the Terriers tied it up just 31 seconds later on a short-handed goal from junior forward Mike Pandolfo.

Providence took the lead again on a shot near the left faceoff circle from forward Cody Loughlean to make it 2-1. But again, Pandolfo and the Terriers would tie it, this time just 1:14 later. Pandolfo fired a solid shot from the center of the left faceoff circle to pick up the power-play goal, his second of the year and fourth in the series.

At 18:09 in the second, Providence seized a 3-2 lead when defenseman Jay Leach launched a shot from the top of the point that sailed past Fields into the back of the net.

At 4:30 in the third, freshman forward Mark Mullen picked up the Terriers’ second shorthanded goal of the night on a wraparound move that tied the game at three and sent the series into overtime.

Through the majority of both overtimes, Fields did his best impression of a cement wall, rejecting a barrage of Friar shots that could have easily found the back of the net, if not for Fields’ fancy glovework.

Twice throughout the second overtime, Fields refused tough scoring opportunities from first-line center Peter Fregoe. At 6:12 in the second overtime, Fregoe glided straight toward Fields on a breakaway, but Fields hit the ice and blocked the shot with his pads.

Then at 11:30, Fregoe again tried to top Fields, who had been knocked out of the net to stop an initial Providence shot. With the net wide open, Fregoe nearly knocked it through, but the Terrier defense repelled Fregoe’s efforts.

“In general, it was a pretty good effort from all the defensemen,” Parker said. “There just weren’t enough of them out there.”

The Friars held a clear shot advantage throughout the entire series. But in game three, Providence outshot BU by a margin of nearly 2-to-1. The Terriers took just 27 shots throughout the five periods, while Fields had to fend off 52 Friar shots.

“I’m just out here to play hockey and help my team — that’s it,” Fields said. “I just come out here and try my best for the team.”

But the defensive triumphs — and, ultimately, BU’s season — would end at 16:26 in the second overtime. Defenseman Regan Kelly took the puck into the right corner and fired at Fields. Suderman tipped his shot through the five-hole and into the back of the net, giving the Friars the win, 4-3, and the series, 2-1.

“I like the way [Fields played],” Parker said. “He showed real promise for next year.”

One night earlier, Fields had shown another solid performance between the pipes. Letting up just one goal all game, Fields again flashed his glove throughout the game, keeping the Icedogs’ playoff hopes alive.

With the score knotted at one at 7:56 in the second period, sophomore defenseman Freddy Meyer rolled the puck from the top of the point on the left side, hitting the right corner of the net and giving the Icedogs the eventual game-winner.

Fields turned away 36 of the Friars’ 37 shots Saturday.

“Once you get the first save, it throws all the jitters away,” Fields said Saturday night. “The defense played well. They limited the good opportunities.”

On Friday night, the Terriers dropped the series opener, 6-3. In a rough outing, junior goalie Jason Tapp allowed three goals in the first 9:35 of play. Fields replaced Tapp immediately after the third Providence goal, but would go on to allow three more goals on 25 total Friar shots.

After falling behind, 3-0, Pandolfo captured his first goal of the series. Forward J.J. Picinic tallied the next two goals to stretch the lead to 5-1. Pandolfo would add his second goal of the game at 13:31 in the third to make it 5-2. After a goal from forward Devin Rask to make it 6-2, junior forward Dan Cavanaugh netted the Terriers’ third goal of the game at 16:19 in the third, but it would not be enough to wrestle the eventual 6-3 win away from the Friars.

While the Terriers fought hard against the Friars throughout the weekend, they didn’t help themselves any with two sloppy performances, one against Boston College on March 4 and another against Merrimack College two days earlier. BU lost 5-1 to its B Line-rival in the regular season finale a couple nights after dropping a 3-2 decision to the eighth place Warriors.

Against Boston College, freshman forward Kenny Magowan scored BU’s lone goal of the game 7:34 into the first and the Terriers led, 1-0. Assists went to senior winger Nick Gillis and freshman Steve Greeley, and from there the Terriers “self-destructed,” according to Parker. Boston College scored two power-play goals in the second period, courtesy of junior Jeff Giuliano and sophomore Krys Kolanos. In the third period, Eagle freshman Tony Voce added his eighth of the season before Guiliano scored his second of the night to put Boston College up 4-1. Eagles forward Mike Lephart scored a shorthanded goal 7:02 into the third to stop the scoring at 5-1.

Friday against Merrimack, it was Gillis who put BU up 1-0 just 4:51 into the game. The senior put in his own rebound past Warrior goalie Joe Exter right after a pretty feed from senior defenseman Colin Sheen, who collected his ninth collegiate point in just over 100 games in four years.

Merrimack tied it at 1 less than three minutes later and there it stayed until Warrior forward Nick Parillo put Merrimack ahead, 2-1, just 1:11 after his breakaway goal.

Then 9:52 into the third, Merrimack forward Vincent Clevenger put the Warriors up 3-1 by putting in his own rebound. Freshman forward Mark Mullen cut the deficit in half with 5:46 left to play by notching his first collegiate goal, but it became a case of too little, too late.

With the loss to Providence College, the Terriers end the season with an overall record of 14-20-3. The Friars, meanwhile, face the University of Maine next Friday night at the FleetCenter.

“I like how we competed,” Parker said after the Providence series. “I loved what we did after we lost the first game. We came back and played as hard as we could the next game.”

“You don’t want to set too high goals for your team,” said Providence coach Paul Pooley. “You just want to focus on where you’re going and don’t worry about the price it takes to get there.”