BOSTON -- When the postseason comes, records can get thrown out the window.
UMass had been the talk of Hockey East ― and one of the top stories in all of college hockey ― all season long, but the top-seeded Minutemen fell flat in their first Hockey East semifinal game since 2007 as Boston College junior Joseph Woll pitched a 36-save shutout to lift his team to a 3-0 win.
On Saturday at 7 p.m., the No. 7 Eagles and No. 3 Northeastern will meet with a league title on the line for the first time ever. The nearby rivals have already met for a title at TD Garden this season as the Huskies bested BC to win their second consecutive Beanpot back on Feb. 11.
En route to the Beanpot title last month, Northeastern earned a 2-1 overtime win over Boston University. It did the exact same on Friday.
Before the Eagles and Huskies clash for the fourth time in the last five weeks with the Lou Lamoriello Trophy at stake, here are five thoughts from Friday night’s semifinal games at TD Garden:
UMass will be ready for second chance
For third-year head coach Greg Carvel’s UMass team, there have been a lot of new experiences of late. BC is the more experienced team in such big-game situations as the postseason and had much to play for given its seventh-place league finish and needing to win the league title to gain a berth to the NCAA tournament.
Both of those facts showed on Friday when Woll made junior David Cotton’s team-leading 22nd goal of the season ― scored at the 19:47 mark of the first ― stand up for the remainder of play. The Minutemen had only been shut out twice this season before skating at the Garden for the first time since 2007.
Hobey Baker Award finalist Cale Makar is the definition of a big-time player, but he’s still a sophomore and one of 19 underclassmen on the roster. There is no room for excuses at this time of the year, though those factors all played a role in the effort that UMass gave against BC.
“It's definitely a factor that I didn't want to discuss with our kids all week,” Carvel said. “I didn't want to give an excuse, but I'm sure most of those BC players have played six, eight, 10 games. I think that's a distinct advantage. This is a big stage that our guys are not used to. … It took us a while to get going.”
The Minutemen do know that their season will extend into next weekend as they will likely still be the No. 1 seed in Manchester, N.H., or Providence, R.I. However, Carvel sees Friday’s game as an opportunity lost and knows that such an effort won’t, and can’t, happen again.
“(BC) looked like a team playing with a purpose tonight, with desperation and the appropriate enthusiasm for a game of this magnitude. My team just wasn't,” said Carvel. “It's very discouraging because this was a big opportunity for our program. It was honestly one of the poorer games we've played this year. …
“We all feel pretty badly that we let a great opportunity slide by, so I can't imagine we'll let that happen twice in a row. … Maybe in the long run of this season (the loss) will be a good thing.”
Huskies were again heroic
In Friday’s first semifinal, Northeastern proved why it has been one of the top late-game teams in the country all season long en route to advancing to its second Hockey East title game in four seasons. Freshman Tyler Madden scored 16 seconds into the the third period and sophomore Zach Solow netted the winner at 15:44 of overtime, allowing the Huskies to tie St. Cloud State for the national lead with 55 goals scored in the third period and after regulation this season.
The Huskies have faced plenty of late deficits and needed comebacks in the past, so there was no panic. Though it’s not the ideal recipe for success, it’s certainly a trait that plays well at this time of year.
“I wish we could take that mentality from the third period and apply it to the first period, but we talked in between the second and third that ‘this is our period,’” head coach Jim Madigan said. “I think the urgency meter goes up an awful lot, and we have confidence because we’ve done it a lot this year. We answered the bell.”
Not only did the Huskies set a new program record with their 26th victory of the season, but Solow made some individual history of his own in scoring a game-winning goal for the sixth time this year and extending his team-leading goal mark to 15. Of those deciding tallies, five have come in the third period or overtime.
Last year’s talented top line of Adam Gaudette, Dylan Sikura, and Nolan Stevens set the Huskies up for success, but this year’s team has become balanced well offensively. Solow has led that charge, and has the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner and his talented partners of yesteryear to thank for his own individual growth.
“This season, I’ve kind of just tried to shoot more and put myself in positions that they put themselves in last year and try to capitalize on them,” Solow said.
Goaltending shined
Woll pitched his third shutout of the season in Friday’s nightcap after Northeastern sophomore Cayden Primeau (29 saves) and BU junior Jake Oettinger (42) were two of the best players on the ice in the early affair.
Primeau and Oettinger combined for 28 stops during a second period in which the Terriers were able to draw first blood on BU sophomore Ty Amonte’s (Norwell, Mass.) seventh goal of the year. But the Hockey East Goaltender of the Year came through when he was needed most, earning his fifth win in six March games for the Huskies.
“He’s been very good all year long, but I think he’s elevated his game since World Juniors,” Madigan said of Primeau, whose .935 save percentage entering the night was one of five Hockey East marks above .920 this season. “He’s a confident young man anyway, but that gave him extra confidence. He’s just taken the ball and run with it. He’s in a real good zone. He’s seeing it well and tracking it. … It all manifests itself into what you see here.”
In contrast to the experienced stoppers, Carvel had a decision to make after replacing sophomore Matt Murray with freshman Fille Lindberg during last Friday’s quarterfinal opener with New Hampshire. The latter’s performance made it an easy choice, and he responded with 29 stops in making a second consecutive start for the first time this year, including all 17 in BC’s dominating second period.
“He had a shutout against UNH and played well coming in after Murray,” Carvel said. “They’re very close, there’s not much difference between the two of them. I think it was the right call, and I think he played extremely well tonight.”
At the other end from Lindberg, Woll was staring at an offense that averaged 3.86 goals per game entering Friday and saw his team out-shoot that unit in two of the three periods. Woll was the final line of defense and made the saves all night, including on a pair of power plays over which the Minutemen generated only two shots.
“Not a typical seventh seed”
BC has struggled scoring goals all season long and entered Friday doing so at only a rate of 2.3 per game, but Woll has been a key reason for the Eagles being able to surge of late after the team finishing the regular season with only one win in a nine-game span.
The St. Louis native made 105 stops over the three games last weekend and allowed his offense to do the rest. In York’s mind, the stars were many.
“We’re certainly capable of playing a game like we did tonight. I thought Joseph Woll was outstanding tonight. He’s looking at the top offensive team in the league. I think David Cotton is fast becoming one of the top forwards in the country, and Michael Kim has really progressed as a defenseman. I feel very good about the chance to play again tomorrow night.”
At this time of year that York likes to call “trophy season,” a one-game mentality is a must. The Eagles passed the first test and will have another crack at a Northeastern club which it has already beaten once this month. The teams played their Hockey East home-and-home set on March 1-2 with BC earning the former win on home ice.
The Eagles will have plenty to play for once again, and York knows that North Reading, Mass., native captain Casey Fitzgerald and the rest of his teammates don’t want this ride to end.
“Nobody wants to give up their sticks. UMass knew they were going to play longer into the season, but we fully understand that if we didn’t play well tonight that our sticks are gone,” York said. “Our coaches and players love hockey, so I think there was a little more desperation in our game whether it’s blocking a shot or coming back on the back check. It’s hard to take people’s sticks away.”
BU battled
While the Eagles have battled a sub-.500 record all season and will now have the opportunity to play for a league title, their rivals at the other end of Commonwealth Avenue have had to endure plenty of challenges of their own.
At BU, the season’s second half ― much like Friday’s game ― was a rollercoaster ride. The game result was negative, but it sure wasn’t for a lack of effort.
“I thought our guys played really hard. It was unfortunate,” BU head coach Albie O’Connell said. “We had a goal disallowed, we hit four pipes, and we had some chances that we didn’t capitalize on. And they had a bounce of the puck off our stick for their first goal. It’s a fine line between winning and losing.”
On the whole, roster fluctuation made things even more challenging for BU late in the year. It alternated wins and losses over the final six games to end up at 16-18-4.
Senior captain Bobo Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) missed 10 games in January and February due to injury after junior Chad Krys (Ridgefield, Conn.) was out for a handful surrounding the semester break. Hockey East Rookie of the Year Joel Farabee was out of the lineup for the first time this season on Friday as he suffered a lower-body injury last Sunday at UMass Lowell.
“We’ve come a long way as a team,” O’Connell said. “Our seniors played really hard. Bobo was banged up but showed a lot of character. I think he had three injuries and he was grinding away at it. He didn’t have a lot of legs at the end. … I’m sure they’ve got some bumps and bruises. It’s been a hard road for us to get here, especially after three games last weekend.”
