HOCKEY EAST PLAYOFF UPDATE (3/13/91)
2/27/91 Northeastern 6 at Boston College 5 NC Quarterfinal
2/28/91 Merrimack 1 at Boston University 7 NC Quarterfinal
3/1/91 New Hampshire 1 at Providence 4 NC Quarterfinal
3/2/91 Lowell 3 at Maine 5 NC Quarterfinal
Final Four at Boston Garden (HockeyFest '91)
3/8/91 Providence 5 vs Boston University 7 NC Semifinal
Northeastern 3 vs Maine 4 NC ot Semifinal
3/10/91 Boston University 4 vs Maine 3 NC ot Championship
(Boston University receives automatic bid to NCAA Tournament.)
1991 HOCKEY EAST CHAMPION: Boston University Terriers
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RECAP
Hobey Baker candidate Shawn McEachern scored his 32nd goal of the year
at 2:19 of overtime to give Boston University a 4-3 win over Maine in
the 7th Hockey East Championship Game at Boston Garden. BU won its second
Championship and first since 1986, while Maine, which has appeared in the
last five title bouts, is now 1-4 over that stretch. McEachern, a junior
center from Waltham, Mass., was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player
and has 32-44--76 on the season.
The All-Tournament Team was:
G John Bradley, Boston University
D Keith Carney, Maine
D Peter Ahola, Boston University
F Sebastien LaPlante, Northeastern
F Steve Tepper, Maine
F Shawn McEachern, Boston University
BU has now won an incredible 23 championships on Garden ice - 16 Beanpots,
five ECAC Championships, one Hockey East Championship, and one NCAA
Championship. The Terriers received the second seed in the East in the
NCAA Tournament and will host the winner of the Cornell-Michigan series
next weekend. Maine was seeded first in the East and will host the
winner of Providence-Minnesota at Alfond Arena next weekend.
FIRST PERIOD
The first period was very chippy and referee Frank Cole wasn't afraid to
call penalties when the boys mixed it up a little too much. Six records
were broken for penalties in the first period and one was tied. Among
those, Maine broke the championship game mark for penalties and penalty
minutes *in just one period*, with 8 for 24 PIM to BU's 6 for 12. For
the game, Maine would end up with 12/32 to BU's 12/24. These two teams
racked up a lot of minutes the last time they had met up in Orono, and
Cole was obviously aware of that.
The first whistle of the game came when the puck was shot into the Maine
end along the dasher and collided with a puck left there from warmups,
resulting in two pucks on the ice at the same time.
Maine coach Shawn Walsh was pulling no punches in this match. While BU's
Jack Parker began the game with the Red Line of McEachern, Tony Amonte and
Keith Tkachuk, Walsh countered with his Slug Line of Tepper, Martin Mercier
and Dave Lacouture to bang around the speedy Terriers. Walsh also took
heavy advantage of being the home team as he often sent out one line,
waited to see who Parker countered with, and then yanked that line off the
ice for another.
Ed Ronan got BU on the board at 6:44 with the only goal of the period,
and it broke a 120-minute+ scoring drought for BU against the Black Bears.
Mark Krys picked off a clearing pass at center ice and sent it to Petteri
Koskimaki at center. At this point, all five Maine players were on the
left wing and Ronan was coming on the ice on the right side. Koskimaki
redirected Krys' feed to Ronan, who sped up the right side and let go a
blast from inside the right circle that just eluded Garth Snow, deflecting
off his glove or left pad into the net.
BU had the definite edge in play in the first. Maine was lucky to get
out down only 1-0; Snow played fantastic in net as BU had 8 quality shots
on goal to Maine's 2, 14-7 overall.
One thing I didn't notice but which was pointed out to me later was that
Bradley would pile up snow at the corners of the net to help block the
puck from going in there, then the linesman would come over and sweep
away the snow, and Bradley would just pile the snow right up again.
Although Cole called so many penalties in the first, I felt that most
of them deserved to be called with the exception of about two, and those
were matching calls. A lot of people have complained about the job Cole
did, but from high above rinkside and especially after watching the game
replay again, I thought he did a decent job. To those who think he didn't,
think about chippy the game was during the first period; there was a
potential for a brawl of a game there. Cole did a fine job of keeping the
game under control, with two teams who didn't like each other.
There has been some confusion about people arguing that Ahola hooked/
slashed/speared/mugged Jean-Yves Roy. I'm not sure what you're referring
to. In the first period, Ahola was winding up for a shot as Martin
Robitaille came up behind him, and Robitaille got whacked and fell to the
ice (an admirable job of acting, if you ask me). This was the play where
Walsh got up on the sideboards and put the stick around his neck in a
hooking motion. I didn't think he had a case then, and I don't now.
However, this did come right after Matt Martin was sent off for a
questionable interference call (along with a misconduct, earning him the
championship game record for penalty minutes).
It was Tkachuk who was guilty of a slash on Roy, but that comes in the
second period.
At 19:15, Carney and BU's Mike Bavis went off for slashing and hitting
after the whistle, and Walsh must have thought only Carney was sent off
because he grabbed a towel and waved it at Cole in mock surrender. His
antics may have influenced Cole to not call as much the rest of the game;
I tend to think it was because the teams decided to play hockey.
SECOND PERIOD
Maine was a completely different team in the second period. They came out
firing on all cylinders and pressured in the BU end, but several times
Roy, in particular, tried to be too cute and looked for the extra pass when
he had a high-percentage shot. At 7:27, Maine's Tony Link went off for
interference on Tkachuk right in front of the Maine net - a good call, but
Walsh wasn't happy with it. His team got several good shorthanded bids
out of it from Carney and Roy with a very aggressive forecheck, similar to
what BU was doing in the first. After the power play, Snow made two big
stops on Tkachuk and Amonte.
At 12:27, Mark Bavis hammered Roy into the boards in the corner and drew
a cross-checking penalty. This set up a faceoff to the left of Bradley.
Off the draw, which appeared to be won by Montgomery, the puck went to the
corner past Amonte, and Roy picked it up, wheeled in front and shot it in
the far side of the net for the tying goal at 12:32, just five seconds into
the power play.
Then, the infamous Roy-Tkachuk incident took place. The two tangled near
the blue line in the BU end, and Tkachuk pushed Roy away but his stick was
up. It didn't look intentional at all, despite Walsh calling for a major.
Also, before he fell, Roy slashed Tkachuk, and that wasn't called. It
looked as if Cole didn't see it but one of the linesman made the call on
Tkachuk - a minor for slashing. Roy got up after a while and went to the
bench, then Walsh came over and pointed out on the ice, and Roy went back
out after Cole to give him a few more words. As far as I know, Roy isn't
a captain, but Cole let him get away with it.
Late in the period, Tkachuk was called for a hook on Roy, and then five
seconds later Ahola and Montgomery were sent off for roughing. All this
along with an earlier penalty on Robitaille would result in a Maine power
play after the first 17 seconds of the third.
Shots in the second went Maine's way, 9-7, but BU still had the quality
shot edge, 5-3. Maine outattempted the Terriers 18-9, but the game
remained tied, 1-1.
THIRD PERIOD
Maine came out flying again and Bradley was forced to make big saves on
Roy, Pellerin and Downey early. Parker called a timeout at 6:35 to try
to get his troops back in the game. Again Maine players (Martin) would
pass up quality shots for teammates who were covered (Mercier).
Maine finally went up 2-1 at 9:23 on Dave Lacouture's 7th goal. Tepper
dug the puck out of the left corner and got it to Matt Martin at the blue
line. His shot was stopped, but Lacouture was left uncovered by Ahola,
and he popped in the rebound. Tepper had a great Final Four and I'm glad
to see a hard-working guy make the All-Tourney Team. His line was Maine's
most effective all weekend.
Martin hauled down Amonte in the corner soon afterward to put BU on the
power play at 11:07. This time, the Red Line finally clicked. McEachern
dug it out behind the net and fed Amonte at the right circle; his blast
beat Snow at 12:01 for Amonte's 25th goal, continuing a ten-game goal
scoring streak for the sophomore and tying the game at 2-2.
At this point, both teams began to crank it up, and the remainder of the
game was all up-and-down action. BU went ahead with 2:15 left in the game
on Ahola's 12th goal. Tkachuk took the puck from McEachern off the boards
and spotted Ahola drifting in alone from the left point. He fed the
defenseman, who walked in and beat Snow to the stick side, just inside the
post. But just 17 seconds later, Cole whistled BU's Ronan for
interference, and Maine was quick to take advantage again.
Montgomery won the faceoff to the left of Bradley and fell, but he got the
puck back to Roy, who slid it to Martin at the right point. Martin gave it
over to Carney at the left point, and he let go a wrist shot from the top
of the left circle, keeping the puck along the ice. Bradley was screened
and never saw the puck until it was too late. The goal came at 18:08, six
seconds into the power play. Maine must have broken a record for most
power plays/fewest cumulative time in this game.
Both teams had good chances in the final minute as the Garden was rocking,
but Snow and Bradley stood their ground, and for only the second time in
the short history of the league, the Hockey East Championship Game was
headed to overtime. Shots in the third went Maine's way, 11-10, as did
quality shots, 6-4.
OVERTIME
It only took 2:19 to end this one. BU had the better of the play in the
overtime, and I think Maine may have been caught in a change on the
game-winner. Phil von Stefenelli had the puck along the boards near the
benches at center ice and he gave it to Amonte. At this point, the
runaway train known as Shawn McEachern was on its way out of the BU
station and headed for the Maine net. Amonte gave the puck to McEachern
at the Maine blue line, and McEachern turned it up a notch and blew right
by defenseman Martin. All alone, he cut in, held the puck, then
backhanded it through Snow's split pads for the championship-winning goal.
*SCORING SUMMARY*
7th Hockey East Championship Game
at Boston Garden, Sunday, March 10, 1991
Boston University (25-10-2) 1 0 2 1 - 4
Maine (30-8-2) 0 1 2 0 - 3
FIRST
BU1, Ed Ronan 13 (Petteri Koskimaki, Mark Krys), 6:44.
Penalties: BU, Shawn McEachern (hitting after whistle), 3:42.
BU, Mike Bavis (holding), 5:36.
UM, Tony Link (holding), 5:36.
UM, Randy Olson (interference), 9:32.
UM, Scott Pellerin (high-sticking), 13:35.
BU, Tony Amonte (elbowing), 14:05.
BU, Kevin O'Sullivan (hitting after whistle), 14:51.
UM, Steve Widmeyer (hitting after whistle), 14:51.
UM, Matt Martin (interference served by Olson,
misconduct), 15:40.
UM, Steve Tepper (hitting after whistle), 18:30.
BU, Mike Bavis (hitting after whistle), 18:30.
UM, Keith Carney (slashing), 19:15.
BU, Scott Lachance (hitting after whistle), 19:15.
SECOND
UM1, Jean-Yves Roy 32 (Jim Montgomery), 12:32. PPG
Penalties: BU, O'Sullivan (tripping), 4:32.
UM, Link (interference), 7:27.
BU, Mark Bavis (cross-checking), 12:27.
BU, Keith Tkachuk (slashing), 12:57.
UM, Martin Robitaille (hitting from behind), 18:17.
BU, Tkachuk (hooking), 19:50.
BU, Peter Ahola (roughing), 19:55.
UM, Montgomery (roughing), 19:55.
THIRD
UM2, Dave Lacouture 7 (Martin, Tepper), 9:23.
BU2, Amonte 25 (McEachern), 12:01. PPG
BU3, Ahola 12 (McEachern, Tkachuk), 17:45.
UM3, Carney 5 (Martin, Roy), 18:08. PPG
Penalties: Martin (holding), 11:07.
Ronan (interference), 18:02.
OVERTIME
BU4, McEachern 32 (Phil von Stefenelli, Amonte), 2:19. GWG
Penalties: None.
SHOTS ON GOAL POWER PLAYS
Boston University 14--7-10--1 = 32 1 for 6
Maine 7--9-11--0 = 27 2 for 7
SAVES
BU, John Bradley (62:19, 27 shots-24 saves).
UM, Garth Snow (62:19, 32 shots, 28 saves).
TOTAL PENALTIES
BU, 12 for 24 minutes. UM, 12 for 32 minutes.
ATTENDANCE
8,827.
SEMIFINAL RECAP
MAINE 4, NORTHEASTERN 3 (ot)
Steve Tepper scored his sixth goal at 8:16 of overtime to lift Maine past
tough Northeastern and into the Hockey East Championship Game. The game-
winner came when Brian Sullivan threw the puck out of the corner without
looking in an attempt to clear, and Matt Martin grabbed it at the blue
line, dropped it and shot it at Tom Cole. Cole made the initial save, but
his teammates had already headed away from the net in anticipation of
Sullivan's clear. Tepper came from behind the net and flipped the rebound
over the sprawled Cole for the game-winner.
All four Maine goals came off the sticks of low-scoring players, as Justin
Tomberlin, Carney, and Widmeyer got the other goals. Northeastern's Keith
Cyr scored along with Sebastien LaPlante (2), who tallied late in the
second and one minute into the third to bring the Huskies back from a 3-1
deficit and force overtime.
It was a very evenly played game with both teams exhibiting great defense,
especially in the few man-down situations. Northeastern
uncharacteristically stayed out of the box with only three minors all night.
Maine played well when it had to and simply waited for the Huskies to
make a mistake, and then capitalized on it.
Well, at least I called the overtime.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY 7, PROVIDENCE 5
The Friars fought back from a 2-0 deficit after one to tie it 2-2 and then
3-3 in the second, but late goals from Ronan and Amonte rebuilt the
Terriers' two-goal lead after two, 5-3, and that was pretty much all she
wrote. Tomlinson's insurance goal made it 6-3 early in the third. Cashman
played a weak game in the BU net, in my opinion, and his defense didn't
help him out, either - although Parker praised the play of Cashman and the
Terrier D afterwards. I don't know what game he was watching. It was
a little scary that BU really did not seem to be playing well, yet they
racked up seven goals against a Friar club that has been playing solid
defense lately. Gaudreau had two goals for PC, one a shorthanded goal to
make it 2-2 in the second.
END
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