HOCKEY EAST PLAYOFF UPDATE (3/5/91)
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) (times EST)
3/8/91 Providence vs Boston University NC Semifinal 5:00
Northeastern vs Maine NC Semifinal 8:00
3/10/91 vs NC Championship 5:00
(Hockey East Champion receives automatic bid to NCAA Tournament.)
HOCKEY EAST FINAL 1990-91 REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS
(overall record includes playoffs)
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 || 37 27-10-0 182-127 | 11-5-0
2* Maine 21 15-5-1 31 110-73 || 38 29-7-2 208-119 | 14-2-1
3* Boston University 21 13-6-2 28 104-69 || 35 23-10-2 197-121 | 10-4-0
4* Providence 21 10-9-2 22 94-84 || 32 21-9-2 164-113 | 11-0-0
5 New Hampshire 21 10-9-2 22 79-78 || 35 22-11-2 151-124 | 12-2-0
6 Merrimack 21 7-14-0 14 71-103 || 33 13-19-1 134-162 | 6-5-1
7 Lowell 21 5-15-1 11 69-108 || 34 10-23-1 125-169 | 5-8-0
8* Northeastern 21 3-16-2 8 86-127 || 34 8-24-2 143-192 | 5-8-0
*-remaining in playoffs
PAST HOCKEY EAST FINAL FOURS
1985 at Providence Civic Center
Semifinals: Providence 5, Boston University 2
Boston College 6, Lowell 2
Consolation: Boston University 6, Lowell 4
Championship: Providence 2, Boston College 1 (2 ots)
1986 at Providence Civic Center
Semifinals: Boston University 3, Providence 2
Boston College 5, Lowell 2
Consolation: Lowell 8, Providence 5
Championship: Boston University 9, Boston College 4
1987 at Boston Garden
Semifinals: Maine 5, Lowell 4
Boston College 9, Northeastern 3
Championship: Boston College 4, Maine 2
1988 at Boston Garden (semifinals two games total goals at campus sites)
Semifinals: at Northeastern 3/1, Lowell 1/2
at Maine 6/11, Providence 5/2
Championship: Northeastern 4, Maine 3
1989 at Boston College's Conte Forum
Semifinals: Boston College 6, Providence 5 (2 ots)
Maine 3, Northeastern 2 (ot)
Consolation: Providence 3, Northeastern 2
Championship: Maine 5, Boston College 4
1990 at campus sites (due to measles epidemic)
Semifinals: at Maine 3, Boston University 1
at Boston College 5, New Hampshire 4 (ot)
Championship: at Boston College 4, Maine 3
QUARTERFINAL RECAPS
NORTHEASTERN 6, at BOSTON COLLEGE 5
Northeastern came from down 5-4 in the third period to upset the regular
season champion. Sebastien LaPlante had two goals and three assists to
lead NU. Defenseman Paul Sacco's shot from high in the slot was the
game-winner with 8:44 left was the game-winner. David Emma had the hat
trick for BC, which now awaits the NCAA Selection Committee's verdict
next Monday.
at BOSTON UNIVERSITY 7, MERRIMACK 1
The Terriers scored four first-period goals on the way to defeating sixth-
place Merrimack handily. Dave Tomlinson had two goals and freshman Keith
Tkachuk had a goal and two assists for BU.
(Details of the prior two games were mailed out last week.)
at PROVIDENCE 4, NEW HAMPSHIRE 1
The Friars played superb team defense and built a 3-0 lead after two
periods, holding on for the win. UNH will await the NCAA Selection
Committee's decision, but its season looks to be over as the Wildcats
(22-11-2) finished 5th in Hockey East and now have a losing record against
Providence (1-2-1).
The only goal of the first period came from Friar defenseman Jeff Robison
at 8:52. UNH's Jesse Cooper tried to clear the puck from in front of his
net, but Robison picked it off at the blue line and shot a knuckler that
Wildcat goalie Jeff Levy never saw. He may have been screened by teammate
Bob Chebator, who went down to block Robison's shot.
The Friars added two more late in the second period to take a commanding
3-0 lead. With UNH forward Savo Mitrovic in the box for a dumb elbowing
penalty, dangerous Friar forwards Mike Boback and Rob Gaudreau worked
a give-and-go from behind the net on the left side, Gaudreau sliding the
puck over to Bob Cowan all alone on the doorstep for his 9th of the year.
The third PC goal was a controversial one. Although it wasn't technically a
power play goal, Kevin Thomson had been whistled off for a dumb retaliatory
roughing penalty at 17:55, so the Wildcats hadn't been able to get a man
back out there when Mario Aube scored at what was ruled the 19:59 mark.
Brian McCarthy's shot from the left point was stopped by Levy, but the
rebound bounced in the air where it was grabbed by Aube, who dropped it
and shot a 15-footer by Levy just as the clock ticked to 20:00. But, the
buzzer didn't sound and the light hadn't come on to signal the end of the
period, even though the clock read 20:00. The official time of the goal
was 19:59, but referee Jim Fitzgerald sent the teams to their locker rooms
without a faceoff, which doesn't make sense; if there was a goal with time
still remaining on the clock, there should have been a faceoff.
PC outshot the Wildcats by a commanding 19-8 margin in the second period.
In the third, we had a case of the linesmen-calling-penalties rule coming
into effect. At 4:09, the Providence fans went crazy about something that
happened behind the play but was missed by Fitzgerald. At the next
whistle, linesman Jim Bletzer conferred with Fitzgerald, who sent UNH's Jim
McGrath to the box for elbowing Brian Ridolfi.
But UNH got its revenge. With Ridolfi himself in the box, the Wildcats
finally got on the board with 9:00 left in the game. Domenic Amodeo shot
the puck from the middle of the blue line, Brad Mullahy made the save, but
Scott Morrow knocked the rebound through Mullahy's legs in one of the few
times all night that the Friars could not cover UNH's forwards on a rebound.
This woke up the UNH crowd and we saw the famous fish make an appearance,
as it was UNH's first goal of the game. That was a long road trip the fish
made down from Durham.
UNH didn't get many good chances the rest of the game, and although they
pulled Levy, Mark Doshan scored the empty-netter for PC with one second
left. Levy played a fantastic game in the Wildcat net and perhaps can only
be faulted on PC's third goal. UNH could not get it together on offense
and that's where they lost the game, along with the stupid penalties that
led to two Friar goals.
at MAINE 5, LOWELL 3
Lowell did all it could to keep coach Bill Riley's career alive, but in the
end Maine was just too much for the Chiefs. A 3-2 Lowell lead with eight
minutes left quickly turned into a 5-3 Maine win, but I'm sure Riley is
proud of the way his team played for him in his last game. And now the
Black Bears get to face Northeastern.
Bruce Crowder is the new Lowell head coach, having spent the last year as
associate head coach to Riley, but his several years as assistant to Shawn
Walsh meant Lowell had a clear advantage in being as familiar as you can be
with the Maine system. It almost paid off as the Chiefs executed their
game plan nearly perfectly.
Maine got on the board first at 7:15 on the power play when Jim Montgomery
knocked in Jean-Yves Roy's rebound past freshman Dwayne Roloson. Brian
Downey also picked up an assist for taking a whack at the bouncing puck.
But Lowell played a tough period, and not long afterward Garth Snow was
forced to make a media guide glove save off of Dave Pensa's blast. The
score was tied at 14:26 when Dan O'Connell wristed one from the right
faceoff dot over Snow's left shoulder for his 11th goal. A Hockey East
record was broken twenty seconds later when Montgomery took a feed from
Downey, went in alone and scored on a backhander for his second of the
game, 23rd of the year. That broke the tourney record for fastest two
goals, two teams, by three seconds and gave Maine a 2-1 lead after one
despite being outshot 10-8.
The second period was all Maine, but the only goal went up under "Guest".
With Scott Pellerin's crosschecking penalty carrying over into the second
period, Lowell's Brendan Flynn put in a rebound of Shane Henry's shot
from the point just 54 seconds into the period to tie it at 2-2. Maine
outshot Lowell, 18-3. Roloson was playing a spectacular game, but he
looked injured when Maine's Patrice Tardif was knocked into him and he
went down like a load of bricks. He did continue the rest of the game.
Lowell was getting outplayed ridiculously, but when Normand Bazin's shot
from the right circle beat Snow at 9:44 of the third to give the visitors
a 3-2 lead, you could have heard a pin drop in Alfond Arena. This
happened right after referee Steve McBride blew a (non) call on Maine's
Matt Martin. With Lowell pressuring, Martin covered the puck with his
hands right in front of Garth Snow. The puck was clearly in the crease
when this happened, and yet McBride didn't award Lowell a penalty shot.
Still, Lowell scored almost right off the ensuing faceoff, so it wouldn't
have made a difference in the game.
The floodgates finally opened at 12:36 when Maine tied the game. Keith
Carney's shot from the top of the left circle went off Chief defenseman
Don Parsons' skate and trickled in for Carney's third goal. Not long
afterward, Martin Robitaille scored his 22nd when he fired a loose puck
through Roloson's skates. Then the Chiefs' Keith Carney took a dumb
hooking penalty and Maine was quick to cash in and put the game away. One
minute after the penalty, at 17:58, Pellerin took a cross-ice feed from
Robitaille, who was up against the left boards, and one-timed a shot from
the top of the right circle before Roloson could get over in time. That
made the score 5-3 and it was then that the fat lady began belting out
her tune.
Lowell has to be pleased with its performance in their final game,
although I'm sure they are disappointed. Roloson played a tremendous game
and it was one of the few times I saw the Chiefs play truly disciplined all
the way through. Maine was just too much, though; it actually took some
near-perfect plays to beat Roloson and some bounces that went the right
way. Maine held the edge in shots over the final two periods, something
like 30-6.
SEMIFINAL PREVIEW
3/8, 5:00 pm: PROVIDENCE vs BOSTON UNIVERSITY
The teams tied their first game back in early November, 3-3, and then BU
won the last two, 6-2 and 9-5 (both at BU). PC cannot win a shootout
against the Terriers, so they need to play a tight defensive game like
they did against UNH and keep the shot total down. Still, the Friars
have some big guns like Rob Gaudreau, Mike Boback, and Lyle Wildgoose
(out for the UNH game, not sure if he'll be back Friday) that must be
reckoned with. Mullahy has played well in the PC net but he's not a
Terreri; he can't win a game for the Friars by himself. BU has averaged
over seven goals a game in its last seven games (6-1-0) and seven goals
will be enough to win. The Red Line of McEachern, Amonte and Tkachuk
continues to terrorize opposing goaltenders, and this game should be no
different. These guys come to play.
PREDICTION: Boston University 6, Providence 3.
3/8, 8:00 pm: NORTHEASTERN vs MAINE
Maine won the season series, 2-0-1, with a 9-3 win at Northeastern, and
a 6-6 tie (NU blew a three-goal lead) and 3-1 win (NU blew a 1-0 lead in
the third) at Alfond. Over the past five years, the teams are 8-8-4
in all games, but on the Garden ice, Maine is 0-1, losing the 1988
Hockey East Championship to the Huskies, 4-3. Also, at Northeastern's
Matthews Arena, the Huskies have lost only two of eight games (4-2-2)
including this season's 9-3 loss. That makes NU 5-2-2 since 86-87
against Maine on either the Garden ice or at Matthews - and Matthews
has the same small ice surface as the Garden. Maine hasn't played on
Garden ice since 12/10/88, when they beat Vermont 6-3 in one-half of the
Boston Garden Doubleheader. Northeastern plays two games there every
year. I bet Walsh will be bringing back his 7x7 and 8x8 drills this
week!
Of course, Maine has probably been one of the most consistent teams in
the country all season long, and they have the horses to blow out the
Huskies. Montgomery, Roy, Downey, Carney, Straub have all had great
seasons. But I think Northeastern is a much better team than its record
when it wants to play. LaPlante, Cowie, Sullivan, Taylor, and Saunders
can all score at will. Goaltender Tom Cole has played several games in
the Garden, and I think that will give him an advantage over either Snow
or Dunham (although I think Cole is not as good a goalie). He has immense
confidence there, as does the rest of his team.
The nine-day layoff since the BC win could hurt the Huskies. It could
also help them calm down a bit and prepare for Maine, a team it knows
how to play. I expect them to continue the defensive style they played
against BC, and the LaPlante-Taylor-Grossi line will be the one to watch.
Maine will try to jump out and get an early lead, to put NU deep in a
hole. If they can't do that, this game will be a nailbiter. If you look
at the records, how they did this season head-to-head, etc. everything says
Maine *should* win. That's why I'm picking the Huskies.
PREDICTION: Northeastern 5, Maine 4 (ot).
To those of you who would accuse me of jumping on the bandwagon, I say,
hey - the bandwagon just got out of the garage a week ago!
CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW
I don't care who BU faces. They will win because the Garden is their
second home, because they are playing as good as anyone in the country
right now, and because Amonte, McEachern, Lachance, Tkachuk, Ahola know the
next time they step on Garden ice, it will be in an NHL uniform.
PREDICTION: Boston University 7, Anybody 4.
ADDENDUM
The Eastern Guru is looking forward to this weekend - between cable and
traveling to the Garden, I should be able to catch all four conference
championship games. I will be offering my services to the fine folks
at HockeyFest as a game statistician all three nights, so you can wave to
me in the press box sometime during the action even though you don't know
what I look like. If you're up there, ask around for me. Good luck to
fans of all eight teams, have a safe trip to Boston, and I'll look forward
to reading your commentaries next week on the list.
******************** See you at HockeyFest! *******************************
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