BU bows out of Hockey East Tournament with loss to Maine

A recurring theme that has haunted the No. 5 Boston University men’s hockey team for the past few weeks proved costly Friday night when the Terriers lost in the Hockey East Semifinals, 5-3, to No. 10/11 University of Maine in a game in which BU could not give a thorough effort for a full 60 minutes.

By virtue of the loss, BU (23-14-1) was eliminated from the Hockey East Tournament. Its season will continue for at least one more game, however, as BU already earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament, which will begin on Saturday.

Maine (23-12-3) toppled the Terriers on the strength of four power-play goals and out-shot BU 44-31.

“I can’t describe how disappointed I was in my team’s effort tonight, or lack of such,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “We had a lot of key guys just disappear I thought. I thought that we left [senior goaltender Kieran Millan] out to dry a number of times. We gave up four power-play goals, one of which was an empty-netter, and they didn’t have to work for anything. We just turned it over and gave it to them.”

The Terriers were especially absent in their own zone. For the third time in the last four games, BU allowed its opponent to take more than 40 shots on Millan, who could not come up with the heroics necessary to propel BU into the Hockey East Final. Millan made 39 saves on the night and is now the all-time leader for saves in a single Hockey East tournament with 189 saves in four games.

Millan stopped all 13 shots he saw in the first period, and BU took an early lead when junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson charged into the offensive zone, split the defensemen and lost control of the puck on his way to the net, giving the puck the momentum to slip through Maine netminder Dan Sullivan’s legs.

The Black Bears tied the game early in the second period on the power play. Millan made a save on Maine forward Joey Diamond, but BU junior forward Ross Gaudet barreled into Millan after he made the save, knocking both Millan and the puck into the net.

BU fought back to take a 2-1 lead 6:16 into the second period when sophomore forward Matt Nieto scored on a power play off a pass from sophomore forward Sahir Gill that found its way through the crease and traffic to Nieto.

That goal was the only bright spot of the period for BU. A few minutes after the BU goal, Maine nearly scored when forward Adam Shemansky rang a shot off the right post. The puck bounced on the goal line before slipping away from the net. The officials ruled it a no goal on the ice, but had to go to review to confirm the call.

Maine tied the game at 2-2 just a few plays later, as defenseman Will O’Neill used forward Mark Anthoine to screen Millan on a shot from the top of the slot that beat Millan high glove-side.

The Black Bears took their first lead of the night 18:25 into the second period. Junior forward Wade Megan started the play with a turnover in the Maine zone. Maine forward and Hockey East Player of the Year Spencer Abbott recovered the puck, carried it into the BU zone, then passed to O’Neill, who roofed a shot past Millan to give the Black Bears the 3-2 lead.

BU looked to be in trouble early in the third period when Chiasson hobbled off the ice after being hit into the boards. BU’s leading point-getter missed a few shifts, but the Terriers still tied the game at 4:03 in the third period when Nieto completed a tic-tac-toe play for his second goal of the evening.

Maine received a tough blow right before the goal, as Terrier junior defenseman Sean Escobedo elbowed Abbott in the head immediately ahead of the BU rush that resulted in the goal. The nation’s leading point scorer was down on the ice for several minutes before he was finally helped off, and he did not return.

Abbott did not play in Maine’s 4-1 loss to No. 1 Boston College in the Hockey East Championship Saturday night.

Despite losing Abbott, Maine took control of the game shortly after Nieto’s goal. BU turned the puck over in its own zone on a Maine power play, and Anthoine, filling in for the injured Abbott, made BU pay. He picked the top corner of the net to help Maine to a 4-3 lead.

Despite a desperate BU attack in the waning minutes of the game, Maine held onto the lead and potted an empty-net goal with 28.7 seconds left to punch its ticket to the Hockey East Final against BC.

“We need to reflect on this,” said senior captain Chris Connolly. “Guys need to come to the rink and every time you step foot in that building you need to be focused and realize what’s at stake. We still have an opportunity to win something big. Unfortunately we didn’t win the Hockey East Tournament this year but the big tournament is still ahead of us.”