But you still need to activate your account.
BOSTON – Now it’s just a matter of sit and wait for the University of Maine Black Bears.
Second-period goals 2:28 apart by Benn Ferriero and Brian Boyle staked the Boston College Eagles to a 2-0 lead and the Eagles hung on to oust the Black Bears from the Hockey East Tournament semifinals for the second straight year, 4-1 at the TD Banknorth Garden Friday night.
The third-seeded Eagles improved to 23-11-3 and will now meet top seed Boston University, a 9-2 winner over New Hampshire, in tonight’s title game at 7.
Maine, which had its 10-game unbeaten streak (8-0-2) snapped, fell to 26-11-2 and must wait to see if it qualifies for an eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
The selection committee will announce the 16-team field on Sunday.
With losses sustained by Darmouth, Colgate, and Northern Michigan in their respective conference tournaments, Maine appears to have a good shot to earn a bid.
BC’s Stephen Gionta iced the game with an empty-net goal with 47 seconds remaining as he intercepted a Bret Tyler breakout pass and tapped it into the vacated net.
Nathan Gerbe added another empty-net goal with four seconds left.
Cory Schneider, who backstopped BC’s 2-1 double-overtime win in last year’s semifinal with a 39-save performance, made 35 saves Friday to help his Eagles avenge three regular-season losses to Maine.
The Bears also hit four posts.
“This was a disappointing loss,” said Maine freshman goalie Ben Bishop, who was also sharp and finished with 25 stops, including several off odd-man rushes created by BC’s quick transition game. “We didn’t have any luck.”
Schneider made 16 saves in the scoreless first period as Maine outshot BC 16-7.
“They came out strong the first night we played them at Maine, so I took it upon myself to try to keep us in the game. I was hoping we could keep it within 1-0,” said Schneider.
“We weathered the storm in the first period and we scored some opportunistic goals in the second,” BC senior defenseman Peter Harrold said.
BC coach Jerry York said his Eagles were jumpy in the first period but got better as the game wore on.
“We played excellent hockey the last two periods,” he said.
After Maine dominated the first period, Boston College stunned the Bears with their two-goal flurry.
Ferriero’s goal was shorthanded, BC’s 10th of the season, and broke the scoreless deadlock at the 6:27 mark before Brian Boyle’s backhander made it 2-0 while the teams were even-strength.
Josh Soares’ power-play goal with just 1:46 left in the second period gave the Bears some badly needed momentum to take into the third period, but the Bears couldn’t get the equalizer.
Bishop had made a number of quality saves after BC had taken its 2-0 lead to keep the Bears within striking distance.
Ferriero opened the scoring by converting a two-on-one with Joe Rooney.
Rooney fed the puck to Ferriero, and he broke in alone on Bishop before making a few fakes and roofing a backhander blocker side.
“I tried to get him to go short side, high to the glove, but he went blocker side and put it in off the post,” said Bishop.
It was the 11th shorthanded goal allowed by Maine this season, second most in the nation behind Bowling Green’s 14.
Boyle converted a Brock Bradford pass as he took the pass with his back to the Maine net, moved away from Greg Moore, who was trying to tie him up, and flicked a backhander inside the far post.
“I moved out to give Brock an option. I had my back to the net, so I just shot it to an area,” said Boyle.
“He kind of surprised me. I probably should have come out a little more, but he made a great shot,” Bishop said.
Maine had an opportunity to cut into the lead minutes later, but Mike Hamilton rang his redirection of a cross-ice pass from Mike Lundin off the post.
Soares broke through with a nice individual effort out of the corner to the left of Schneider.
With Moore positioned directly in front and Bret Tyler breaking to the far post, Soares fought through a Tim Filangieri check and snapped a quick wrister that beat Schneider over his glove into the short-side corner.
BC did a good job protecting its net-front in third period, and Schneider made a terrific save off Jon Jankus with six minutes left.
Soares slid a precise pass across to the front of the net onto the stick of Jankus, but Schneider flashed out his pad at the last second and kicked out Jankus’ bid.
“I don’t know if the puck was bouncing or not, but he played it well. I directed it on net and he kept his pad down and it hit the top of his pad,” said Jankus.
Maine coach Tim Whitehead said his Bears gave a good effort but didn’t consistently sustain a net-front presence to impair Schneider’s vision and, as a result, didn’t generate many second and third shots.
EAGLES 4, BLACK BEARS 1
Boston College (23-11-3) 0 2 2 – 4
Maine (26-11-2) 0 1 0 – 1
First period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Ryan, obstruction-hooking, 1:16; Maine, Hamilton, roughing, 9:17.
Second period – 1. BC, Ferriero 13 (Rooney, Boyle), 6:27 (sh); 2. BC, Boyle 21 (Bradford, Collins), 8:55; 3. Maine, Soares 14 (Damon), 18:14 (pp). Penalties: BC, Aiello, high sticking, 5:14; BC, M. Greene, obstruction-tripping, 12:47; BC, Boyle, roughing, 17:18.
Third period – 4. BC, Gionta 11 (unassisted), 19:13 (en); 5. BC, Gerbe 10 (Boyle), 19:56 (en). Penalties: BC, Gionta, interference, 7:25; Maine, Soares, obstruction-hooking, 10:49; Maine, Damon, tripping, 14:42; Maine, J. Hopson, slashing, 19:58.
Shots on goal: BC 7-12-10-29; Maine 16-10-10-36
Goaltenders: BC, Schneider (36 shots-35 saves); Maine, Bishop (27-25)
Power-play opportunities: BC 0 of 5; Maine 1 of 4
High-percentage scoring chances: BC 6-13-9-28; Maine 16-7-6-29
Attendance: 16,909
Comments
comments for this post are closed