BC, BU will be tested in semifinals
While many fans are clamoring for another matchup between the top two-ranked teams for Saturday’s men’s Hockey East championship game, the reality is that both No. 1 Boston College and No. 2 Boston University have their work cut out for them in Friday’s semifinals at TD Garden.
BC (29-5-1) will kick things off against a UMass team looking to clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Minutemen (2012-3) enter the contest 12th in the PairWise, the system used to determine the tournament field, after a 2-0 win at Providence in the quarterfinals. With a win, they’re in. But a loss would leave UMass sweating out the results from the other conference tournaments.
“I kind of like the fact that it feels like we need to win a game to secure it for sure,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “Although it sounds like the odds are in our favor, let’s try to take the odds out of it.”
The Eagles swept the season series behind Ryan Leonard’s five goals in two games, but UMass showed some resilience in the 6-4 loss at Conte Forum Feb. 18, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to seize leads of 3-2 and 4-3 before BC capitalized on a five-on-three power play in the third period, scoring twice.
Aydar Suniev (12-12—24) had a pair of goals in the loss, and he is one of seven UMass players with at least 20 points, with Jack Musa (12-17—29) and Scott Morrow (623—29) tied for the team lead. Defenseman Ryan Ufko has six game-winning goals and was a finalist for the conference’s Player of the Year.
After losing in the opening round of the Beanpot to BU, BC has rattled off 10 wins in a row. Regardless of how they fare this weekend, the Eagles will be the No. 1 seed when the NCAA pairings are announced Sunday, but the immediate goal is to bring the Lou Lamoriello Trophy back to campus for the first time since 2012.
“You want to win every trophy you can, and the Hockey East championship is a big one,” said BC coach Greg Brown. “We’re excited to be one of the four teams left, and we have to take advantage of the opportunity to try and win the trophy.”
BC has been without Gabe Perreault (15 goals, 35 assists), who led the nation in scoring before getting injured and missing the last five games. BC has gone 5-0 in that stretch, but Brown has had to tinker with the lines, moving Cutter Gauthier and his NCAAleading 32 goals over to play with fellow Hobey Baker candidate Will Smith (1840—58) and Leonard (26-23—49), while Cornell transfer Jack Malone (11-10—21) is centering a line with Bruins draft picks Oskar Jellvik (12-23—35) and Andre Gasseau (1016—26).
Perreault continues to make progress, but Brown said the freshman is day-to-day.
The game features a matchup of two of the top freshman goaltenders in the country. Jacob Fowler has started all but two games for BC, posting a .923 save percentage and a 2.23 goals against average. On Thursday, he was named one of three finalists for the Mike Richter Award as the top goalie in men’s hockey. Michael Hrabal (.916, 2.46) has started 28 games for the Minutemen and was named to the league’s second all-star team.
BU (25-8-2) will take on Maine (23-10-2) in the nightcap. Both teams are headed to the NCAA tournament, with the Black Bears sitting at sixth in the PairWise and BU second. While the Terriers are looking to defend their conference title, Maine is making its first trip to the semifinals since 2012, which is also the last time it reached the championship game.
“This is the time of year you get excited for,” said BU coach Jay Pandolfo. “You work all year to get opportunities like this. This is the fun part, when you’re competing for a championship.”
The teams last met four months ago, with BU sweeping a two-game series at Agganis Arena Nov. 17-18, taking each by one goal. After enduring a stretch in which they dropped five of six games, the Black Bears have won four in a row, including a 5-0 win over UNH in the quarterfinals.
Freshman Albin Boija (.914, 1.94) has taken over in net for Maine, going 10-5-1 and posting two shutouts.
“We’ve played more detailed, hard-nosed hockey, and our details have gotten better,” said Maine coach Ben Barr. “We’ve just been cleaner with things away from the puck, which allows us to have the puck more. Good things happen when you’re not chasing the game the whole time.”
BU is 6-0-1 since dropping the Beanpot championship game to Northeastern, with goalie Mathieu Caron (.917, 2.29) allowing just 10 goals in the seven games. Macklin Celebrini (30-25—55) leads the way for a Terriers squad that has five players with at least 31 points.
Celebrini, the youngest player in the NCAA at 17, was named the conference’s Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year.
Sophomore Lane Hutson (12-32—44) leads all NCAA defenseman in points and joined Celebrini, Gauthier, and Smith on the list of the 10 finalists announced for the Hobey Baker Award.