Quinnipiac’s run atop ECAC Hockey continues as senior Desi Burgart scored 9:09 into Saturday night’s second overtime to propel the Bobcats to a 4-3 win and two-game quarterfinal-round series sweep of St. Lawrence. Despite making three NCAA tournament appearances recently, QU will be playing for its first ECAC crown since 2016 next weekend in Lake Placid, N.Y.
A model of consistency under coach Rand Pecknold (Bedford, N.H.), the Bobcats have become the first program in ECAC history to put together three 30-win seasons. They have three in 10 years.
UCONN'S RUN: Huskies enjoying ride amid first-ever trip to Hockey East semis
Graduate defenseman Griffin Mendel took the shot that created the rebound for Burgart, accounting for his third point of the game and fifth of the series. The Denver transfer scored three goals himself, two in his first career multi-goal game in Friday’s 4-1 triumph.
The opener featured a game-winning goal by sophomore Ty Smilanic, who hadn’t scored in his previous six and 14 of his last 15 games but still ranks in a tie for second on the team with 13 goals on the season.
Harvard made some history of its own, beginning its three-game series victory over RPI with the most miraculous of comebacks for a 4-3 overtime win Friday. The Crimson scored three extra-attacker goals in the last 3:42 of regulation before senior Jack Donato (Scituate, Mass.) scored two minutes into overtime, his career-high eighth goal of the season.
Buzzing to Utica
Speaking of consistency, American International earned the chance to keep marching towards its third consecutive Atlantic Hockey postseason championship after sweeping ninth-seeded Bentley. The 5-2 and 6-2 wins were AIC’s second and third in four meetings with the in-state rival Falcons this season.
Junior Blake Bennett led AIC in Saturday’s series-clinching game, registering his first career hat trick, AIC’s third of the season by three different players, and an overall four-point game. Bennett has a team-leading 14 goals as he broke a four-way tie for the team scoring lead on his career night.
Senior Chris Theodore became the team’s sixth 10-goal scorer with his third marker in a six-game span in the opener, while graduate Alec Calvaruso made 25 saves in his first of back-to-back starts.
The Yellow Jackets, who have also won four consecutive regular-season titles in the conference, will play Friday against a No. 7 Mercyhurst club that has made more semifinal appearances (11) than any team in league history.
No. 5 Sacred Heart was one win away from joining AIC in Utica, as it fell to No. 4 RIT, 3-1, in a deciding third game Sunday. Senior Austin Magera scored the lone goal, but it was not enough to build upon the previous night’s win by the same score. Northeastern junior transfer Neil Shea (Marshfield, Mass.) was the top Pioneer scorer with 31 points, including 11 goals on the season and a pair of assists in the playoff win.
Rounding out the Hockey East field
Northeastern welcomed freshman center Justin Hryckowian back to the lineup after he missed more than a month due to an upper-body injury. He scored a goal in a 3-2 win over Boston College, the team’s third win in a row and sixth in seven games.
“He’s huge (because) not only does he score, but he defends really well, plays in every situation and he’s our go-to guy on the faceoffs,” head coach Jerry Keefe said. “... The guys trust the way he plays. He plays the game the right way, and he’s a winner. For the guys on the bench, it’s contagious when he’s throwing his body around and blocking shots coming off an injury.”
Sophomore Sam Colangelo (Stoneham, Mass.) tallied the winner in the final minute of the second period while Devon Levi made 46 shots, finishing off his fourth 40-save effort of the season.
Joining Northeastern, UConn and UMass in Boston for the Hockey East semifinals will be third-seeded UMass Lowell, which posted the most convincing Saturday win, 7-2 over No. 6 Merrimack. Junior Carl Berglund scored twice and freshman Isac Jonsson assisted on three goals to bring the River Hawks -- who made a surprise run to the final as a No. 7 seed last year -- advanced to the Garden for the first time since the 2017 championship season.
Three more stars
Hockey East — Eric Dop, Boston College
The Bowling Green grad transfer helped the Eagles play some of their best hockey of the season down the stretch, posting a .959 save percentage during four straight victories entering Saturday’s Hockey East playoff games. He finished the campaign with a 33-save effort against Northeastern.
After making 67 saves in a regular-season sweep of UMass, he corralled a season-high 44 in Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime win over New Hampshire to open tournament play.
ECAC — John Farinacci, Harvard
The junior from Red Bank, N.J., was one of the leading offensive catalysts who helped send the Crimson to Lake Placid for the sixth consecutive postseason since 2015. He logged four points in the three-game series win over RPI, including his second goal in Sunday’s 3-1 clincher and two assists during Harvard’s epic four-goal Friday comeback to win in overtime.
Farinacci’s two goals and two assists matched freshman Matthew Coronato’s effort across the weekend and put an end to a personal four-game scoring drought.
Atlantic — Matt Lombardozzi, Bentley
The fifth-year defenseman from Leominster, Mass., picked a key time to record his first two-goal game of the season and career, scoring the only two Falcon goals in Saturday’s ultimate playoff loss to AIC. Previously, he hadn’t scored a goal since the first weekend of February.
The Rivers School product had scored only five goals in 103 career games prior to last October, but he finished in a tie for the team lead with 10 during his final collegiate season. He matched sophomore Cole Kodsi -- who scored once in 16 games last season and started this year as a scratch -- for tops in that category.
This week's hat trick
1. Back to the Garden: The Hockey East semifinals and championship return to TD Garden for the first time since 2019. That year also marked the last final four to feature all of the top four seeds, but it was No. 4 BU and No. 3 Providence advancing to the title game.
Northeastern will look to continue its success against the fellow Huskies of UConn in the 4 p.m. semifinal, having just capped the regular-season series with a sweep to end the month of February.
The 7:30 p.m. nightcap pits UMass and UMass Lowell for the fourth time this year. The Minutemen, who won the playoff title as a No. 3 seed last year, held a 2-0-1 edge in the season series against its university system rivals.
2. Two alive in ECAC: Both games in the ECAC Hockey final four will involve New England clubs. First on Friday, Quinnipiac will take on fifth-seeded Colgate, which pulled off the only quarterfinal “upset” against No. 4 Cornell. The Bobcats swept the two-game series between the teams, capping the regular season with a 4-0 shutout.
Harvard advances to take on No. 2 Clarkson in search of its first win of the season against the Golden Knights. The Crimson is hoping that the third time will be the charm as Clarkson was the only team in the conference to win twice head-to-head in 2021-22.
3. Yellow Jackets stand in AHA: When AIC takes the ice in Friday’s opening semifinal in the Atlantic Hockey Championship, it will be just two wins away from becoming just the second team to win three consecutive titles in league history and first since Air Force won its first three of seven total from 2007-09.
The Yellow Jackets will face Mercyhurst, while the second game pits No. 6 Air Force and No. 4 RIT.
