WORCESTER, Mass. – They had given their all.

A group of University of Maine Black Bears, who didn’t place a single player on the All-Hockey East first, second or all-rookie teams, had extended league regular-season and tournament champion Boston College to the limit before dropping a 3-1 decision in their NCAA Tournament quarterfinal at the Worcester Centrum.

Boston College players occupied seven of the 18 berths on the all-league teams.

But Saturday night’s loss left a bitter taste in the Bears’ mouths.

The team that received the Hockey East sportsmanship award given for fewest penalty minutes (13.29 per game) found itself mystified by Central Collegiate Hockey Association referee Steve Piotrowski’s tripping call on Matthias Trattnig in the right circle with 3:04 left which left the Bears, trailing 2-1, with a two-man disadvantage for 31 seconds. Francis Nault had hauled down Ales Dolinar with 4:33 remaining.

BC’s Rob Scuderi scored the clinching third goal four seconds after the expiration of Nault’s penalty.

Maine coach Shawn Walsh, angered by Piotrowski’s call, was issued a bench minor penalty for chastising the referee and, moments later, he was ejected by Piotrowski.

At the game’s conclusion, Maine’s Chris Heisten, A.J. Begg and Peter Metcalf were assessed 10-minute misconducts for verbalizing or gesturing their frustration at Piotrowski.

Maine had received only two 10-minute misconducts prior to Saturday’s game.

“I don’t want to say anything that could get me into trouble but I’ve never seen a referee take a game into his hands like that with a couple of minutes left. You don’t put a team down two men unless the [second] penalty is blatant or prevents a breakaway. I didn’t agree with his call at all. That’s my opinion,” said sophomore center Heisten.

Bear sophomore center Tommy Reimann concurred.

“You never see a call like that in a game as big as this one. Five-on-four, yes. Five-on-three, no, unless it’s a slash in the neck,” said Reimann.

Trattnig said he couldn’t believe the call.

“I chopped their guy’s stick and he dove. I chopped him hard. I wasn’t going to let him get by. But I got his stick first. It wasn’t a clear penalty and you don’t call it that late in a [close] game,” said Trattnig. “That killed us.”

Sophomore center Robert Liscak said there were “at least a dozen calls he could have called against us or them [that were more blatant than that one]. That wasn’t the right time for a call like that to be made.”

Boston College senior right wing and Hobey Baker Award finalist Brian Gionta said calls should be made regardless of situation.

“If there’s a penalty, he has to call it. I thought the ref was fair all the way through the game and that’s all you can ask for,” said Gionta.

Eagle goalie Scott Clemmensen said “that’s a tough call to make that late in the game. But if it’s the right call, he’s got to make it regardless of the situation.”

One streak intact, another ends

One University of Maine streak continued and one fell by the wayside during the NCAA Eastern Regional Tournament.

The Bears’ 5-4 overtime win over Minnesota Friday night kept them unbeaten in overtime in NCAA play.

Maine has won all six of its NCAA tourney overtime games.

Boston College’s 3-1 triumph over the Bears was Maine’s first NCAA Tournament loss at the Centrum after five wins.

Boston College has become the first Hockey East school to qualify for four consecutive Frozen Fours. The Eagles play Michigan in the April 5 Frozen Four semifinals in Albany, N.Y.. North Dakota and Michigan State meet in the other semifinal.

The next two Eastern Regionals will be held at the Worcester Centrum while the next two Western Regionals will be played at the Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The 2002 Frozen Four will be held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

The sites of the next four Frozen Fours are the HSBC Arena in Buffalo (2003), the FleetCenter in Boston (2004), the Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio (2005) and the Bradley Center in Milwaukee (2006).

Clemmensen honors Walsh, Bears

Classy Boston College senior goalie Scott Clemmensen didn’t get to see Maine coach Shawn Walsh after Saturday’s game but said he wanted Walsh to know that it was an honor playing against his Maine teams over his four years.

“Those games against Maine have been a highlight of my career so far. I considered them our number one rival,” said Clemmensen.

Schutte, Liscak recount heroics

After a two-overtime opening game on Friday night, and the Black Bears’ own overtime win the followed, the main goal turned into getting an account of a contest that ended at 12:57 a.m. into the NEWS.

But what did the players have to say about the game’s decisive plays?

By the time stories were filed, those players hadn’t even stepped to the microphones at the postgame press conferences.

But those two players, Michael Schutte and Robert Liscak, eventually did illuminate their respective roles in Maine’s 5-4 overtime win over Minnesota.

Schutte, who tallied the equalizer with just 2.7 seconds left in regulation, said:

“We had constant pressure in their zone, and basically the puck got right in front of the net and we had a lot of chances,” Schutte said.

“But Marty [Kariya] had the goalie down and out he just fed it over to me at the far post and I put it in the empty net.”

Liscak earned some redemption for an earlier miscue by firing in the game-winner at 13:04 of overtime.

“I had the tying goal on my stick [at the end of regulation] and missed the net,” Liscak said.

The second time around, he didn’t miss.

“Todd Jackson just shot it at the end of the net,” Liscak explained. “It was pretty much at the end of the shift. I just followed the puck because we wanted a faceoff in our offensive zone. [Adam] Hauser wanted to play the puck and he played it right onto my stick. I had nothing else to do but to shoot it in the net.”

His last thought?

“Don’t miss the net,” he joked. “It was so quick, it was so surprising, that I didn’t have time to think about anything. I just reacted and took the shot. … right after that I realized it was over.”