BU holds on to beat UMass-Lowell for title

BOSTON – Ken Rausch scored one goal and assisted on another as Boston University hung on to beat University of Massachusetts-Lowell, 3-2, Saturday night to win its third Hockey East title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Freshman Greg Bullock had two goals for Lowell.

Eric Boguniecki scored the third of his three goals with four minutes remaining in regulation time to lift New Hampshire into a 4-4 tie with Northeastern in the consolation final.

Rausch beat a Lowell defenseman to the puck in the attacking zone and went in to score the goal that gave the Terriers a 3-1 lead at 6:35 of the second period.

Lowell scored first with Bullock’s first goal coming on a power play at 12:02 of the first period but Rausch helped set up a matching goal by Jon Pratt only 27 seconds later.

Freshman Mike Grier sent the Terriers ahead 2-1 with a goal at 1:37 of the second period.

After Rausch had raised the count to 3-1, Bullock contributed his second goal, his 24th of the season, to close the gap to one at 11:48 of the second session.

Goalie Dwayne Roloson had 35 saves in the Lowell net while J.P. McKersie stopped 20 shots in the BU cage.

The Hockey East title gives BU one of four automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament which starts next weekend on college campus sites. The other eight teams will be chosen by committee Sunday.

Boguniecki’s first goal at 6:40 of the first period gave New Hampshire a 1-0 lead and his second at 5:54 of the second session moved the Wildcats into a 3-2 lead.

Brian Putnam had the other New Hampshire goal while J. F. Sube, Tom Parlon, Francois Bouchard and Jordon Shields did the scoring for Northeastern.

New Hampshire (24-11-3) had 28 shots at Todd Reynolds in the Huskies net while Northeastern (19-12-7) had 38 chances at Wildcat goalie Trent Cavicchi.

Harvard 3, RPI 0

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) – Harvard finally got it right.

The Crimson have been the team of the 90s in the ECAC – during the regular season, that is. They lost only two of 22 league games this season and just three last year.

The ECAC playoffs, however, have been a different story altogether. Suffice it to say that the faces of the Harvard players have probably been, well, crimson.

Last year, Harvard was upset by Brown in the semifinals, and in 1992 a struggling RPI knocked off the Crimson in the quarterfinals. It seemed that they always succumbed to the pressure of the playoffs. Even when they won the NCAA championship in 1989, they were beaten in the ECAC semifinals in overtime by Vermont.

The choke moniker disappeared Saturday night, when the Crimson, making their first appearance in the finals since 1987, totally dominated RPI and won 3-0. It was only the second shutout in 33 championship games. It was tense, but it was convincing nonetheless.

Harvard (23-4-4), which killed six RPI power plays, dominated the first period.