But you still need to activate your account.
Sign in or Subscribe to view this content.
BOSTON – Boston College senior All-American defenseman Andrew Alberts wasn’t shooting to score when Brian O’Hanley gave him a cross-ice pass in the second overtime of their 2-1 Hockey East semifinal win over the University of Maine at the FleetCenter Friday night.
“You’re not going to score from there against a goalie like Jimmy Howard,” said Alberts, who was at the top of the face-off circle to Howard’s left. “I was just trying to put it on net for a rebound. Someone deflected it and it went in. I’ll take it.”
Alberts’ game-winner came with 10:51 remaining in that second OT and propelled the top-seeded and 24-6-7 Eagles into Saturday 7 p.m. championship game New Hampshire, a 5-2 winner over Boston University in the nightcap.
Fourth seed Maine, now 20-12-7, appears to still be in good shape for an NCAA Tournament berth but the Bears won’t be any higher than a No. 3 seed and may be sent to Minneapolis or Grand Rapids, Mich.
Howard, who finished with 36 saves, including two breakaways and seven stops in the second OT, said on Alberts’ shot, “John Ronan went out to block it and it hit his stick and went up over my glove.”
Moments earlier, Maine’s Derek Damon had a good opportunity when he intercepted a clearout and was able to tee up a slap shot from the right circle and label it for the far corner.
“It hit the butt-end of his stick,” said Damon referring to BC freshman goalie Cory Schneider, a first-round draft pick of Vancouver who finished with 39 stops.
Howard made 17 Grade-A (high-percentage) saves to Schneider’s 14.
BC outshot Maine 8-1 in the second OT.
Maine outshot BC 14-4 in the scoreless first period but the Eagles did a good job protecting the front of the net and limiting Maine’s second-chance opportunities.
The teams swapped second-period goals 12 seconds apart as sophomore center Brian Boyle staked the Eagles to a short-lived lead at the 6:39 mark on the power play before Maine sophomore left wing Josh Soares equalized.
Both teams had plenty of chances to break the deadlock but Howard and Schneider were tremendous.
And Maine sophomore defenseman Mike Lundin bailed the Bears out late in the third period.
The Bears were on a delayed power play and Michel Leveille had just come off the bench to replace Howard.
Leveille tried to pass back to Lundin but he shanked his pass and it was about to trickle over the goal line when the desperate Lundin extended his stick with one hand and poked it out.
BC’s Bertram swatted the puck into the net but because Boyle was being called for interference, as soon as a BC teammate touched the puck the whistle blew.
Just minutes earlier, Howard made the first of his two stops on Chris Collins’ breakaway as he held his ground and got his left pad on the backhander.
“He tried to go five-hole and I closed my pads up,” said Howard.
Soares had a golden opportunity to decide it with two seconds left in regulation when Greg Moore won a faceoff to the right of Schneider and pushed it ahead to him.
Soares cut across the top of the crease on his backhand but Schneider made back-to-back saves to preserve the tie.
“I tried to put the first shot blocker side but it hit the top of his pad. I tried to put the rebound in between his arm [and body] but he made a nice save,” said Soares.
“I was patient and stayed up to make the first save and was able to recover in time to make the second one,” said Schneider.
BC had the better chances in the first OT but Howard stopped the Eagles.
Howard and the Bears also caught a break when Ryan Shannon’s screened wrister from the right point rang off the crossbar.
Howard opened the first overtime with an alert stick save on Bertram’s turn-around shot from the left circle.
He made another breakaway save on Collins off a pretty aerial pass from Shannon in the final minute of the first overtime.
“The puck was bouncing so I decided to cover the whole bottom of the net,” said Howard who stacked his pads and got his glove on the point-blank shot.
The Eagles had a golden chance early in the second overtime but Howard flashed out his left pad and robbed Taylor Leahy, whose 25-foot slapper following a scramble in front was labeled for the far corner.
Maine’s Keenan Hopson had a rebound opportunity a few minutes later but he wasn’t able to lift the puck over Schneider’s right pad.
A wide open Boyle opened the scoring by taking a cross-ice pass from Pat Gannon in the right circle and, finding himself in a one-on-one with Howard, he calmly roofed a wrister into the far corner over Howard’s blocker.
Soares tied it when he passed it out of the corner to Leveille and followed Leveille’s shot by backhanding the rebound into the short-side corner.
BC was without Hockey East Player of the Year, Hobey Baker finalist and leading scorer Patrick Eaves (bruised lung) and junior defenseman Peter Harrold (mono) and lost junior center Stephen Gionta to a shoulder injury during the game. Maine was without left winger Brent Shepheard (abdominal strain) and right wing Rob Bellamy (broken hand).
“Cory kept us in it in the first two periods,” said Alberts. “We had to mix and match lines when Gionta got hurt.”
“They seemed to have better legs at the end of the game,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “There were a lot of momentum swings. The team played well. They left everything out on the ice.”
Maine sophomore center Leveille added, “You’ve got to give them credit. They’re a real good team. They can all pass the puck real well and they’re defenseman are all pretty good.”
Maine outshot BC 40-38 and Maine attempted 93 shots to BC’s 68.
Maine went 0-for-6 on the power play and had just one power-play goal in 22 chances in its four games against BC. The Eagles are 3-0-1 against the Bears, who exited them from the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals 2-1 a year ago.
EAGLES 2, BLACK BEARS 1 (OT)
Maine (20-12-7) 0 1 0 0 – 1
BC (24-6-7) 0 1 0 1 – 2
First period – No scoring. Penalties: BC, J. Greene, interference, 2:13; BC, Boyle, boarding, 7:39
Second period – 1. BC, Boyle 16 (Gannon, Rooney), 6:39 (pp); 2. Maine, Soares 12 (Leveille), 6:51. Penalties: Maine, Ramsey, interference, 5:05; BC, Alberts, obstruction-holding the stick, 9:06; BC, J. Greene, obstruction-hooking, 14:44
Third period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Soares, interference, 3:36; BC, Boyle, interference, 14:06
First Overtime – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Leveille, obstruction-holding, 10:54; BC, Boyle, obstruction-holding, 12:12
Second Overtime – 3. BC, Alberts (O’Hanley, Bertram), 9:09. Penalties: none
Shots on goal: Maine 14-8-9-8-1-40; BC 4-9-8-9-8-38
Goaltenders: Maine, Howard (38 shots-36 saves); BC, Schneider (40-39)
Power-play opportunities: Maine 0 of 6; BC 1 of 3
High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 8-4-9-5-0-26; BC 2-7-7-6-5-27
Comments
comments for this post are closed