FINAL REGULAR SEASON HOCKEY EAST STANDINGS
2/25/91 Hockey East Overall Non-league
GP W-L-T Pts GF-GA || GP W-L-T GF-GA W-L-T
========================================================
1 Boston College 21 16-5-0 32 106-77 || 36 27-9-0 177-121 | 11-4-0
2 Maine 21 15-5-1 31 110-73 || 37 28-7-2 203-116 | 13-2-1
3 Boston University 21 13-6-2 28 104-69 || 34 22-10-2 190-120 | 9-4-0
4 Providence 21 10-9-2 22 94-84 || 31 20-9-2 160-112 | 10-0-0
New Hampshire 21 10-9-2 22 79-78 || 34 22-10-2 150-120 | 12-1-0
6 Merrimack 21 7-14-0 14 71-103 || 32 13-18-1 133-155 | 6-4-1
7 Lowell 21 5-15-1 11 69-108 || 33 10-22-1 122-164 | 5-7-0
8 Northeastern 21 3-16-2 8 86-127 || 33 7-24-2 137-187 | 4-8-0
Providence wins tiebreaker over New Hampshire as follows:
1. Both teams 1-1-1 head to head.
2. Both teams have 10 league wins.
3. Both teams 1-2-0 against first-place Boston College.
4. Providence 1-2-0 against second-place Maine, New Hampshire 0-3-0.
2/23/91 Boston College 6 at Boston University 5 HE
Lowell 5 at Merrimack 3 HE
Maine 4 at New Hampshire 2 HE
Northeastern 4 at Providence 3 HE
(end of regular season)
2/27/91 Northeastern at Boston College NC Quarterfinal NESN
2/28/91 Merrimack at Boston University NC Quarterfinal
3/1/91 New Hampshire at Providence NC Quarterfinal NESN
3/2/91 Lowell at Maine NC Quarterfinal NESN
3/8/91 Hockey East Semifinals (Boston Garden)
3/10/91 Hockey East Championship (Boston Garden)
There were three extremely exciting games played on the last day of the
regular season; HE teams must have run up a record phone bill calling
each of the other rinks to find out what was going on. I know we had
the phone ringing every few minutes and our game didn't even mean
anything.
LAST MINUTE HEROICS GIVE BOSTON COLLEGE 6TH REGULAR SEASON TITLE IN 7 YEARS
The Eagles, having already learned that Maine had defeated UNH and was
temporarily holding first place, came back from a 4-1 deficit at BU and
avenged their Beanpot loss to win Hockey East regular season title no. 6.
BU led 4-1 with less than three minutes left in the second period. Tom
Dion and Tony Amonte had each scored two goals to pace the Terriers, who
were expected to paste the Eagles in the final game of the regular season,
and Bill Guerin scored the lone BC goal. But Jack Callahan and Jeff
O'Neill brought the Eagles within a goal at the end of two, and Guerin tied
it at 4-4 just 56 seconds into the third period. Steve Heinze's blast beat
John Bradley at 8:20 and shocked Terrier fans, who had seen their team
blow this lead on home ice. Phil von Stefenelli gave BU a charge of life
when he tied it up with 5:15 left in the game, but David Franzosa scored
the game-winner with 2:50 left. Sandy Galuppo made 37 saves in the Eagle
net and Bradley stopped 24 shots for BU.
The top Hobey Baker candidate from the East, David Emma, who entered the
game leading the nation with 32-45--77, was again silent just as in BC's
loss at Providence Wednesday, and Emma ended up with only an assist at BU.
Still, he won the HE scoring crown for the second straight year, finishing
with 20-31--50 in 21 games. Right behind him were Maine's Jean-Yves Roy
(19-24--43 in 21 games) and Jim Montgomery (12-30--42 in 21 games). Both
Roy and Montgomery were kept off the board in the season finale at UNH.
Bradley was the leading HE goaltender entering the final game, holding a
slim 0.05 lead in goals-against over Scott LaGrand. With LaGrand sitting
for BC in favor of Galuppo and Bradley's allowing 6 goals, LaGrand won the
Hockey East Goaltending Award by default with a GAA of 3.01.
BLACK BEARS DASH WILDCATS' HOME ICE HOPES, KEEP OWN 1ST-PLACE HOPES ALIVE
Maine led UNH 3-1 after two periods and held on to defeat the Wildcats,
4-2, to move into first place for less than an hour. Maine would have
finished first if BU had held on to beat BC. As for UNH, the Wildcats
could have gained home ice with just a tie against Maine, but Martin
Robitaille's empty-netter with 23 seconds left clinched the win for the
Black Bears. It was Maine's 7th straight win against UNH.
Bob Donovan put the host Wildcats ahead at 12:57 of the first, but Matt
Martin and Dave Lacouture quickly made sure Maine led after the first
period with two goals in 16 seconds (15:58 and 16:14). Scott Pellerin
scored the lone goal of the second period to make it 3-1, but Savo
Mitrovic's goal early in the third brought UNH within a goal. Coach Dick
Umile's decision to pull Jeff Levy was thwarted with Robitaille's goal
to close the scoring. Levy made 25 saves, and fellow freshman Mike
Dunham stopped 27 shots for Maine.
HUSKIES SURPRISE FRIARS AT HOME, 4-3
In an afternoon game before any of the exciting action Saturday night got
under way, Northeastern won only its third league game of the year at
Providence. The first period was scoreless, but with the teams skating
4x4 in the second, Rob Gaudreau nailed his 29th goal of the year at 4:01
to get PC on the board. With the teams again 4x4, Rob Cowie tied it for
NU at 11:32, his 18th of the season. Joel Bishop gave NU a 2-1 lead
entering the third when he beat Brad Mullahy at 14:09.
Mike Taylor was the hero of the third period and of the game for the
Huskies. His goal just 36 seconds into the period gave NU a commanding
3-1 lead, and after Gaudreau cut the lead to one, Taylor scored again
at 13:03 to make it 4-2. Erik Peterson's goal with one second left and
goalie Mullahy on the bench made the final 4-3. Tom Cole made 22 saves
for NU, but Mullahy was forced to make 37 saves as the Huskies must have
picked up some offense hitchhiking on Route 95 into Providence,
outshooting PC 41-25.
CHIEFS GET RILEY FINAL WIN, 5-3 AT MERRIMACK
I won't repeat the details posted by Kevin Yetman earlier. This game
had no bearing on the playoffs or on the teams' final positions. Still,
both teams like to beat each other, and even though it was Lowell coach
Bill Riley's final regular season game (and likely, last win), Ron
Anderson stated that he liked to win more than he liked Bill Riley. :-)
Riley was given a gift certificate to Bliss Marine from Anderson and
Merrimack hockey, since he is an avid boater. The Warriors continued to
sink in their eighth straight loss.
*PLAYOFFS*
THE single-elimination quarterfinals begin Wednesday with Northeastern
traveling to BC. BC has won all four games:
Boston College 7 at Northeastern 4 HE
Northeastern 4 at Boston College 6 HE
Boston College 5 vs Northeastern 3 NC Beanpot
Northeastern 8 at Boston College 10 HE
although they have been relatively close. A hot Tom Cole gives the
Huskies a shot at an upset, but BC should be too strong for NU.
THURSDAY, Boston University hosts Merrimack. Merrimack has never really
beaten BU; the only recorded win came wihen a 9-0 loss was reversed due
to BU's use of an ineligible player some years ago. This year, we had:
Merrimack 1 at Boston University 7 HE
Merrimack 0 at Boston University 4 HE
Boston University 6 at Merrimack 2 HE
indicating that there's every reason to believe this game won't be close.
Yet, Ron Anderson is known for getting his team prepared well for one game
(last year's q-finals with BC, 1988 NCAAs with Northeastern and LSSU), so
anything could happen. Still, the betting man will put his $$$ on BU.
FRIDAY, in a rematch of last year's quarterfinals, Providence hosts New
Hampshire. I think this is the biggest game of all four, partly because
it is the most difficult to call (UNH lost the first game, then won the
next two in last year's best-of-three at PC) and partly because not only
will the winner continue onto the Hockey East Final Four, they will have
the edge on being selected the fourth HE team to make the NCAA tourney if
the committee chooses to select four (very possible this year with five
outstanding teams from HE). The winner would be 2-1-1 against the loser.
Here's how this year's games went:
Providence 6 at New Hampshire 1 HE
New Hampshire 2 at Providence 2 HE ot
Providence 3 at New Hampshire 4 HE
This is one of those flip-a-coin games. I pick UNH, just because I think
they are playing a little better right now. IBM presents, you make
the call!
SATURDAY, in another rematch from last year, Maine hosts Lowell. Last
year the Black Bears blew out the Chiefs, 7-3 and 16-0 - but that second
game score is a little misleading since Lowell put a JV goalie in net
after falling behind 7-0 in the first period. You might think this game
shouldn't be close, but the only team to beat Maine at home this year is
not Northern Michigan, Clarkson, Boston College, or Boston University. You
got it. I wonder how concerned Shawn Walsh is right now. Maine rolled
up an 18-1-2 home record, 9-1-1 in Hockey East. They took the series, 2-1:
Maine 6 at Lowell 2 HE
Lowell 5 at Maine 4 HE
Lowell 2 at Maine 4 HE
Again, I'll call Maine the favorite because they usually win the big games
on their home ice and because on paper they should have no trouble with
Lowell. Yet, I think it will be a close game. A hot goalie could again
be the difference, for either team.
SO, I'm calling BC, BU, UNH, and Maine to again make the Final Four, just
as they did last year. But the single-elimination format unquestionably
allows for a high probablity that an underdog will pull out an upset, so
we will have to see. Hope the local fans enjoy the playoffs.
- mike
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