UNH CATCHES BC WITH THREE GOALS IN THIRD  TO CLINCH TITLE

The Cardiac Kids struck again! Down by three at the start of the third period, the Wildcats struck for three goals to gain a 3-3 tie with Boston College and clinch the Hockey East regular season title on Friday at the Whittemore Center. Blake Kessel got the tying goal with 3:55 to go when his slapper from the high slot rang off the crossbar and into the net behind BC goalie Parker Milner.

“The puck came out to me and one of their guys came at me,” Kessel said, “but he peeled off toward Bob (Butler) so I had the open lane and kind of stepped toward the middle. (Paul) Thompson (right) had a great screen and I tried to get it off quick to get it through and it found its way in somehow.”

The goal capped yet another improbable comeback for a team that has gained four points in their last three games by outscoring the opposition 8-0 in the third period. This time the ‘Cats found themselves down 3-0 after two, having been outshot 25-15, with BC having a significant territorial edge, especially in the second period.

Chris Kreider had given BC the lead at 12:26 of the first when he jammed home the rebound of a Ben Smith shot at the crease. The Eagles had a decided edge in play in the second and scored twice in a 1:32 stretch on goals by Matt Lombardi (at 4:15) and Tommy Cross (at 5:32).

However, the newly minted never-say-die Wildcats got it going in the third. They got their first strike just 1:46 in when Mike Borisenok cleanly won and end zone draw to the left of the BC net. The puck went back to John Henrion (left), whose snapper beat Milner to the far post.

The gave both the Wildcats and the crowd some hope and over the next five minutes UNH began to take the play to the Eagles. They cut the lead to one at 8:33 when Kevin McCarey (below) pounced on the rebound of a Phil DeSimone and ripped it past Milner.

That set the stage for the tying goal, set up when Joe Whitney was sent off for tripping at 14:38. UNH had no trouble setting up in the BC zone and had plenty of chances before Kessel’s strike.

“It would’ve been nice to get the win,” Kessel said after the game. “We’ll take the 3-3 tie after the way we started. It shows the character of the guys on the team. No one’s going to give up. Everyone’s going to keep playing until the final whistle and we showed that again tonight.”

The following night at Chestnut Hill, it was a bit different. The atmosphere was not as electric and the play, at least for UNH, was not as purposeful. However it was Senior Night for Boston College and, fittingly, they came out and took it to UNH. However, despite out shooting the Wildcats 42-18, the Eagles needed a third period goal from Paul Carey in order to gain a 3-2 victory.

BC was undoubtedly smarting from their third period meltdown the night before, while UNH may have begun the game with some complacency after clinching the number one seed the night before. From the opening whistle, the jump was in BC’s skates as they tested Brian Foster (39 saves) early and often. After big stops on Jimmy Hayes and Barry Almeida, Foster was finally beaten when Joe Whitney finished off a 2-on-1 with Ben Smith at 8:28.

The Eagles had a decided advantage for the most of the period (15-5) but found themselves in a tie after Butler’s goal with 59 seconds left in the period. After taking a cross ice pass from DeSimone, Butler skated down the right wing, got an edge on the BC defender and beat John Muse with a rising wrist shot, top corner.

The second period was almost a carbon copy of the first, with BC again controlling play and amassing a 14-4 shot advantage. However Foster was immense, particularly in a sequence midway through the period when he thwarted the Eagles on back-to-back power plays. At the end of the second penalty, it was UNH that struck. Mike Sislo got control of the puck in the UNH end and hit Mike Beck with a home run pass as the defenseman came out of the penalty box. Beck skated in alone, made a couple of head fakes, and beat Muse top corner at 19:01.

It looked like the Wildcats would have the lead heading into the third, but BC had other ideas, swarming the UNH end in the last seconds. After a wild scramble in front, the puck came out to freshman defenseman Brian Doumoulin, who banged it home with 3.3 seconds left in the period.

BC took the lead at 2:44 of the third period on Carey’s goal, then held off UNH down the stretch, including a power play chance with five minutes to go. Muse’s final save came in the waning seconds when he turned aside a Sislo blast from the right wing as the final buzzer sounded.

Photos Courtesy of Josh Gibney (Photographer Extrodinaire)

COMMENTS FROM THE COACH

Things weren’t looking good in the second period Friday night, to be honest. But we played a solid third period and, I’ve said it before, this team just finds ways to battle back. I think the faceoff play, Henrion’s goal, was huge. It got some momentum going, got the place moving, and I think from that point on we played pretty well. We tied, but it was like a win for us.
Saturday night we didn’t generate many shots (18). I’ve got to give credit to them. Thank God Brian was in the net because they just out skated us, they played hard at the blue line and didn’t let us into the zone. We were on the defensive and backchecking all night. We never really got in the zone and generated much offense. They played well and I don’t think we ever got a chance to get it going. ~Dick Umile