Saturday, March 7, 1992 at Walter Brown Arena, Boston, MA
HOCKEY EAST QUARTERFINAL
Boston College Eagles (14-17-3) 1 2 2 - 5
Boston University Terriers (22-8-4) 1 0 1 - 2
FIRST PERIOD BC-BU
1. BU1, Mike Prendergast 17 (Tom Dion, David Sacco), 4:55. PPG 0-1
2. BC1, Mike Delay 1 (Jack Callahan, Joe Cleary), 9:45. 1-1
Penalties: BC, Delay (roughing) 3:37; BC, Moran (double roughing) 5:28;
BU, Pomichter (double roughing) 5:28; BC, Rathbone (roughing) 5:28;
BU, Brennan (roughing) 5:28; BU, Mike Bavis (holding) 6:41; BU, Aucoin
(holding) 13:40; BC, Beran (interference) 17:17; BC, Moran (interference)
19:29.
SECOND PERIOD
3. BC2, Callahan 14 (Cleary, David Franzosa), 4:37. PPG 2-1
4. BC3, Franzosa 18 (unassisted), 19:49. SHG GWG 3-1
Penalties: BC, Callahan (roughing) ~2:00; BU, Friedman (roughing) ~2:00;
BU, Mark Bavis (holding) 4:07; BC, Joyce (slashing) 9:36; BC, Rathbone
(charging, roughing) 14:39; BU, Pratt (elbowing, roughing) 14:39; BC,
Joyce (hit after whistle) 14:39; BC, Cleary (hit after whistle) 14:39;
BU, Dahlberg (hit after whistle) 14:39; BU, Jenkins (hit after whistle)
14:39; BC, Manganaro (interference) 19:30.
THIRD PERIOD
5. BC4, Jerry Buckley 2 (Mike McCarthy), 4:04. 4-1
6. BU2, Prendergast 18 (Steve Thornton, Petteri Koskimaki), 6:42. PPG 4-2
7. BC5, Michael Spalla 7 (unassisted), 13:54. 4x4 5-2
Penalties: BU, Koskimaki (hooking?), ~1:30; BC, Callahan (roughing) ~2:00;
BU, O'Sullivan (roughing) ~2:00; BC, Beran (cross-checking) 5:18; BU,
Pomichter (roughing) 6:54; BC, Beran (interference) 7:50; BC, Buckley
(double roughing) 11:30; BU, Sacco (double roughing) 11:30; BC, Manganaro
(hooking) 16:25; BC, Haggerty (double roughing, misconduct) 19:23; BC,
Buckley (roughing, misconduct) 19:23; BU, Linna (double roughing,
misconduct) 19:23; BU, Prendergast (major slashing, misconduct) 19:23;
BU, Lilley (slashing, misconduct) 19:23; BU, Brennan (roughing,
misconduct) 19:23.
SHOTS ON GOAL: unknown
GOALIES: BC, LaGrand; BU, Herlofsky.
POWER PLAYS: BC 1 of 5. BU 2 of 8.
PENALTIES: BC 24/64. BU 24/83. Total 48/147.
REFEREE: John Gravallese. LINESMEN: John Jones, Bob Fowkes.
ATT: apparent sellout.
MIKE'S THREE STARS: 1. BC, Scott LaGrand (40+ saves, 2 goals).
2. BC, David Franzosa (1-1--2).
3. BC, Jack Callahan (1-1--2).
Penalties, etc. on the above is unofficial but very close; some calls/times
may be off.
Before the game, the talk was of this possibly being BC coach Len Ceglarski's
final game. But BC will go on to the Hockey East semifinals at the Garden,
and it could have been BU's final game of the season. BC finished the
season series with BU unbeaten at 3-0-1, including 2-0-1 at BU. This was
the 172nd meeting between the two schools, but only the 2nd in HE playoff
action and the first in six years. BU beat BC, 9-4, to win the 1986 HE
Championship. So, a BC-BU playoff game is one that is eagerly awaited.
Scott LaGrand was outstanding in net for BC as the Eagles took advantage
of their few opportunities to score five times and win the emotional,
physical, penalty-filled game. Almost every HE playoff penalty record was
smashed to pieces in tonight's War of Commonwealth Avenue. The game wasn't
very cheap while the clock was running, but a lot of hitting after the
whistle and several tangles, including one with 37 seconds left that
resulted in 79 minutes in penalties, were the chief factors in the record-
setting performance.
FIRST
The game was physical from the start. BC's Mike Delay went off for
roughing at 3:37, and BU capitalized on the power play at 4:55. David
Sacco tried to center the puck and it deflected off of LaGrand's stick
right to Mike Prendergast, who rapped it in the far corner for his 17th
of the year. BU wouldn't score again for over 41 minutes.
Shortly afterward, the game's first battle took place when BU's Doug
Friedman hit LaGrand on the head after the puck was covered up. Referee
John Gravallese sent two players from each side to the box, two for double
minors and two for minors, and the game's first 3x3 action was played.
Gravallese was forced to call a lot of penalties for action after the
whistle during the game, and he probably prevented it from getting out of
hand until a frustrated BU team lost control in the game's final minute.
BC tied the score at 9:45 when Delay took a pass at the right point and
shot the puck along the ice through a screen for only his first goal of
the year, second of his career. BU freshman goalie Derek Herlofsky never
saw it. Herlofsky was a surprise starter over Scott Cashman, but Cashman
had just lost to BU one week earlier and with Herlofsky unbeaten on the
year at 7-0-1, Jack Parker likely wanted to shake things up a little.
Herlofsky played well and was the victim of very shaky defense all night
despite not seeing many shots. BU held a 15-7 edge in shots after one
but LaGrand was stoning the Terriers left and right.
SECOND
After Mark Bavis went off for holding at 4:07, BC went ahead 30 seconds
later when BU was caught up ice. There were no BU players back to help
out Herlofsky, and the result was a 3x0 on which Callahan easily
converted a pass from Franzosa.
The second battle of the game came with 5:21 remaining in the period. It
was on a shift where both teams had delivered several crunching checks
and the physical play, which had subsided for much of the period, suddenly
exploded again. BC's Cleary had slammed a BU player into the boards about
20 seconds earlier, and when he went to get the puck deep in his own zone,
BU's Jon Pratt took a run at him and was followed by Eagle Jason Rathbone.
Six players were sent to the box - Pratt and Rathbone for double minors,
and two others from each team for minors, so we had four minutes of 3x3
that saw little in the way of scoring chances. Late in the 3x3, BC D Ron
Pascucci sent Ian Moran in alone, but Moran didn't put much of a fake on
Herlofsky before trying to go five-hole, and the goalie played it well in
making the stop.
BU had a chance to tie it up late in the period when the Eagles' Sal
Manganaro was called for interference with 0:30 left in the period, but
instead they went to the locker room even further behind after some sloppy
work by the points. Linna and O'Sullivan were moving the puck back and
forth, and as Franzosa crept up closer, Linna tried one more pass across
to his partner and Franzosa poked it free for a breakaway. Franzosa came
in and tried to snap off a shot, but he only got it with the heel of the
stick and it barely slid through Herlofsky's legs to make it 3-1 with 11
seconds left. That may have been the biggest goal of the game.
THIRD
If Franzosa's goal wasn't the biggest, then Jerry Buckley's was. BU's
Friedman couldn't handle the puck off the sideboards in his own end and
it came to Buckley at the top of the left circle. Again BU had been caught
up ice and Buckley had a clear path to walk in. He got within ten feet of
Herlofsky and snapped a quick shot upstairs for his 2nd goal of the year, and
BC had a commanding 4-1 lead.
The Terriers weren't about to pack it in yet, however. Before the seven-
minute mark, they got that one back on the power play to cut it to 4-2,
with Prendergast getting his 2nd of the game. BU moved the puck around
well and had Thornton and Koskimaki controlling it behind the net to
either side of LaGrand, where the BU forwards love to work plays from.
Once BC D Todd Hall decided to go after Thornton, the Terrier quickly found
an uncovered Prendergast for a point-blank shot and a goal.
Down two, the Terriers started to throw everything *and* the kitchen sink
at LaGrand who was impenetrable. After several minutes of BU pressure, one
sudden mistake allowed BC to score again. All-Hockey East defenseman Tom
Dion couldn't control a bouncing cross-ice pass in the neutral zone and
Michael Spalla picked it up and went in alone, firing the puck over
Herlofsky's left shoulder for a 5-2 lead with 6:06 left, and that did it
for BU's hopes. Parker didn't pull Herlofsky for another attacker on a
power play with three minutes left and he only came out when the clock
neared one minute.
BU's frustration came out in an ugly situation with 37 seconds left, the
third battle of the War. Pomichter gave BC's John Joyce a heavy hit into
the Terrier bench, and several BU players on the bench started hitting him
before he could get free. As he started to skate away from the bench, a
Terrier (looked like Pratt, #18) reached out from the bench and swung his
stick at Joyce. Gravellese blew his whistle and started to call penalties,
but it wasn't over yet. Players on the ice starting grabbing each other
and there was one clear fight, BU's Kaj Linna and BC's Ryan Haggerty. Both
players exchanged several punches but hadn't dropped their gloves. The
head coaches from each team and their assistants came onto the ice and tried
to break the whole thing up, with BC associate Steve Cedorchuk screaming at
his players and tossing them towards their bench.
Gravellese went a little soft on the combatants, issuing no game DQs,
but the six players who were penalized did all receive misconducts. Four
Terriers were called and 2 Eagles. Linna and Haggerty only got double
minors for roughing. Buckley and BU's Rich Brennan were issued minors
for roughing, and the odd penalties (not matching) were both to BU - Lilley
for slashing and Prendergast got a major for slashing (but no DQ). Clearly
the reason for no DQs was the playoff situation both teams were involved in,
as the Eagles would miss the HE semifinal and the Terriers might miss the
first game of any NC$$ action. A total of 14 penalties for 79 minutes
came out of the battle.
The final seconds of the game ran off without any further incident, and
Parker came out to congratulate Ceglarski on his 673rd win in what was
the final time the two longtime coaches would meet at center ice.
RECORDS
A quick look at the HE record book shows that the (unofficial) 149 penalty
minutes is easily the most ever in a HE playoff game. There was no
previous two-team record, but the one-team record was 46 by PC in 1986.
That was also broken by both teams, but BU's 85 PIM will be the new record.
The old record for penalties in a game, 17 (Lowell 1990), was broken as
both teams had 24. The individual penalty records weren't even tied -
Buckley's 4/16 were short of the records which were 5 penalties and 18
minutes.
There are no current records for periods by teams, but the third period
will now go in the book since BU broke the game record in the third period
alone. BU had 14/63 in the period, and combined with BC's penalties, there
were 25 penalties for 91 minutes assessed in the third.
POSTGAME
This was clearly an upset waiting to happen - but maybe it wasn't really
an upset with the success the Eagles have enjoyed against the Terriers this
season and especially at Walter Brown. In fact, it took the final game
of the year for the Terriers to clinch the right to host this game. BC
has played well lately - good, solid defensive hockey where they will allow
quite a few shots but control rebounds and let LaGrand see everything. And
LaGrand himself has been very hot lately after a so-so year. If he continues
to play well, the Eagles could be a surprise in the HE semifinals. Should
they go on to win the HE title, they would make the NC$$s with a below-.500
record.
BU, however, lost control of its own destiny by dropping this game, not to
mention failing to defend its Hockey East Championship. The Terriers will
obviously be rooting against BC in Hockeyfest. Should PC win HE, I can
see the Terriers losing out to UNH for a bid, as the Terriers lost all
three games to the Wildcats this year. In fact, BU is likely now in the
odd position of rooting for Maine to win the whole thing.
So, #3 PC and #5 BC are two of the four headed to the Garden on Thursday.
The other two will be decided tomorrow (Sunday).
---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] mikem@{beanpot,bubba}.ma30.bull.com
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