Hockey Terriers Earn Top Seed in Conference Tournament
BU to face Maine in Friday quarterfinals at Agganis
The top-ranked Boston University icehockey team captured the Hockey East regular season crown on the finalday of the season with a 3-0 shutout of Providence on March 8at Agganis Arena. Grant Rollheiser(CGS’10) made 16 saves to record his first collegiate shutout.
The Terriers willnow face Maine in the best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinals startingon Friday, March 13, at Agganis Arena.
This is the eighth regular-season conference championship for theTerriers, who last entered the league tournament as the top seed in the2005–2006 season. BU is unbeaten in its last 16 games (13-0-3) andenters the postseason with a record of 27-5-4.
The Terriers tallied 40 points in the Hockey East standings with an18-5-4 mark in league play to edge Northeastern, which totaled 39points (18-6-3) and had been in first place ever since the beginning ofthe season. The 18 conference wins were the most by BU since the 1997–1998 campaign, when the number was also18.
BU scored once each period, beginning with Luke Popko (SMG’10), netting his fourth goal of the season, at the 7:18 mark of the first. Vinny Saponari (CAS’12) found the back of the net at 6:04 of the second, and Chris Higgins (CAS’09) capped the scoring with 20 seconds left in regulation.
Freshman goaltender Alex Beaudry made 33 saves for the Friars, whofinish the season with a record of 7-22-5 overall and 4-18-5 in leagueplay.
Popko’s tally proved to be the game-winner, as he picked upa puck off the left boards and fired a deep wrister that beat Beaudryjust over seven minutes into the contest. Zach Cohen (CAS’10) and Steve Smolinsky (CAS’09) assisted on the play.
The Terriers doubled their lead in the second with a goal from theirall-freshman forward line. Saponari sent the puck around the rightcorner, where Corey Trivino (CAS’12) touched it before it reached Chris Connolly (CGS’10),who was positioned behind the goal. Saponari streaked to the slot andtook a feed from Connolly before sending the puck home for his seventhgoal of the season.
While the BU defense was putting the finishing touches on its thirdshutout of the season, Higgins created the 3-0 final when he scoredfrom above the left post on a pass from Jason Lawrence (CAS’09) off a play in transition at 19:40 of the third. Kevin Shattenkirk (CAS’11) also assisted on the play.
BU came up empty on all three of its power-play chances, but did not have to kill off any penalties on the afternoon.
The Terriers will host eighth-seeded Maine in a best-of-three HockeyEast quarterfinal series, beginning Friday, March 13, at 7 p.m.Saturday’s contest will start at 7:30 p.m. If needed, there will be a third game onSunday, at 7 p.m. The Terriers went 2-0-1 againstthe Black Bears this season. For ticket information, click here.
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