BU scares up 2 OT win
McAvoy’s goal ousts champs
FARGO, N.D. — The first West Regional semifinal yesterday was the longest NCAA tournament game in program history for the North Dakota’s men’s hockey team. Boston University would argue there was nothing longer than the seven-minute wait for a referee review following what originally was viewed as the game-winning goal by the Fighting Hawks early in the first overtime.
The referee buckled his helmet before making the call that UND’s Ludvig Hoff was offside, thus negating the goal. BU knew once that helmet went back on it still had life.
“It seemed like the longer it took the better chance that we were going to have another chance to live another day,” Terriers coach David Quinn said.
BU then made sure there would be a new champion, topping the Fighting Hawks, 4-3, in double overtime on Charlie McAvoy’s gameender.
Clayton Keller found McAvoy backdoor 11 minutes, 48 seconds into the second overtime, and the defenseman sent the Terriers into tonight’s regional final.
“That one’s very special,” McAvoy said. “First, you have to give that team a lot of credit. When we were up 3-1, we thought that we probably had it. They never got discouraged at all, and they played off that crowd.”
Jake Oettinger made 56 saves for BU (23-11-3).
“I know a lot of people were counting us out in this game,” Oettinger said. “It’s grit and heart and determination we showed tonight. Couldn’t be more proud of these guys and I couldn’t be prouder to be a BU Terrier right now.”
Just 80 miles from Grand Forks, Scheels Arena was decidely filled with fans cheering for North Dakota (21-153) and spitting venom at BU.
With 10:48 remaining in regulation, Mike Gornall woke up the crowd, after goals by Bobo Carpenter and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson put the Terriers ahead 3-1 in the first five minutes of the third. Gornall smashed BU’s Kiefer Bellows into the glass, shattering it and causing a 14-minute delay. Fighting Hawks coach Brad Berry used the time to tell his team it was about to make one of the best comebacks in college hockey history.
Hoff cut the BU lead to one with 7:44 to play, and three minutes later, Christian Wolanin’s backhander tied the game.
UND may have shattered glass and rallied to tie, but the Terriers eventually shattered the Fighting Hawks’ dreams of a title repeat.
Said McAvoy: “Throughout the year, something that we’ve battled with, is trying to act way beyond our years. It’s obvious we’re a young team. Maturity might be something people question in our locker room at times. I think tonight we proved we could play our game plan, we can stick with it, regardless of what happens. They scored those two goals and tied it up. That’s obviously discouraging, but on our bench I don’t think there was ever a (time) when we thought this game wasn’t ours.”
It appeared the game wasn’t for BU when Wolanin’s wraparound was stopped and Dixon Bowen pushed the rebound past Oettinger at 3:48 of the first overtime.
“Obviously, when you thought that they ended it, you’re obviously upset,” Oettinger said. “You see them go look at it, it obviously took a long time, so we knew that we might get another shot at it. I think we took advantage of the opportunity that we were given. I can’t say enough about the effort that our guys gave.”
Doyle Somerby had the first goal for BU, in the second period.