Saturday night, all eyes were on Boston University’s Agganis Arena as the Hockey East regular season reached its conclusion.
With a share of the regular-season crown still up for grabs, the Terriers didn’t disappoint.
Freshman Clayton Keller scored the final two of four unanswered goals, while three teammates recorded multi-point efforts as No. 6 BU scored a 4-1 win to split its weekend series with No. 13 Notre Dame and clinch a share of the league’s first-place title for the 10th time in program history.
“To share the league championship for the regular season is a great accomplishment for our guys,” BU coach David Quinn said after his team improved to 21-10-3 on the season and 13-5-1 since starting an eight-game winning streak Dec. 10 in Vermont. “I thought we made a jump over the last two days with how hard we competed, getting to dirty areas, and not playing pond hockey.”
This year, the Terriers share the top spot with UMass Lowell and Boston College. It is the first three-way tie for the regular-season championship in Hockey East history.
The Irish got off to a fast start for the second straight game as freshman Mike O’Leary gathered a rebound at the top of BU goaltender Jake Oettinger’s crease for his second goal of the season at the 15:19 mark. Oettinger made 14 saves in each of the last two periods and totaled 40 in his 18th win of the season.
Saturday marked BU’s sixth straight game surrendering the first goal. This time, though, it never relinquished the lead after scoring twice in a fast-paced second period.
“The momentum changed in the second period last night, and it did again tonight; tonight, we couldn’t recover,” said Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson, whose team will be the No. 4 seed in the Hockey East playoffs. “One of the toughest things to do in college hockey is to win two games in someone else’s building, especially when you’re playing a high-quality team.”
Freshman Kieffer Bellows grabbed sophomore defenseman Dante Fabbro’s point shot at the right crease to tie the game at 9:21, while John MacLeod’s winner at 16:30 came on a hard shot from just inside the blue line on the right side. MacLeod, a junior defenseman, had not scored a goal in 47 games before doing so last Saturday at New Hampshire.
“I thought we handled going down 1-0 well,” Quinn said. “We needed something good to happen to feel good about ourselves. The longer we went without scoring, it’s not easy, especially when you get chances.”
Keller added his team-leading 18th and 19th goals for insurance in the final frame, tipping home Fabbro’s point shot at 4:08 before wristing home sophomore Bobo Carpenter’s feed from the left circle with 3:30 to play. Keller has now scored a point in 20 of his last 21 contests.
Hockey East roundup
Maine 5, Northeastern 4
The Black Bears scored three times on the power play and once on a short-handed penalty shot to split a weekend series at Alfond Arena and snap the visiting Huskies’ five-game winning streak. Junior Nolan Vesey led the way with Maine’s third hat trick of the season and scored the game-winner 6:51 into the third period, while senior Blaine Byron scored a goal and added three assists. Nolan Stevens had a three-point night with a goal and two helpers for Northeastern, but Maine senior goaltender Matt Morris nabbed his second win of the season with 40 saves.
Providence 2, Massachusetts 1 (OT)
At Schneider Arena in Providence, sophomore Garrett Gamez scored his second goal of the game 2:16 into overtime to lift the Friars to a weekend sweep and fifth place in the league standings. Sophomore Hayden Hawkey made 19 saves en route to his 20th win of the season. Senior Ray Pigozzi scored the game-tying goal 11:48 into the second period for UMass, while freshman Ryan Wischow made 40 stops in net.
Merrimack 3, at Vermont 2
Thanks to junior Brett Seney’s goal with 6:28 left in regulation, the Warriors salvaged a split at Vermont’s Gutterson Fieldhouse and will now host New Hampshire for the second straight year in the opening round of Hockey East postseason play. Seney is tied for the national lead with six game-winning goals. Sophomore Derek Petti and junior Jace Hennig also scored goals for Merrimack, while junior Collin Delia made 31 saves in goal. Senior Mario Puskarich assisted on both Vermont tallies, which came from junior Jarrid Privitera and senior Brady Shaw in the first.
Connecticut 4, New Hampshire 2
Tage Thompson and Corey Ronan each notched a goal and an assist as the Huskies finished the regular season on a high note at XL Center, holding the powerful UNH offense to just 16 shots. Senior Evan Richardson scored the game-winning goal 4:19 into the second period. Senior defenseman Matias Cleland assisted on each of the Wildcats’ goals in the first period, while classmate Tyler Kelleher scored the second and finished the night tied for the national scoring lead with 58 points.
