By Tim Healey/DFP Staff
NEW YORK — This time, the Boston University men’s hockey team didn’t need overtime.
After going to an extra frame the last two times they played Cornell University, the Terriers (7-6-1, 2-3 Hockey East) walked away with a 3-2 regulation win over the No. 14 Big Red (7-4-1) Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in the fourth edition of Red Hot Hockey.
BU improved its record in the biennial contest to 3-0-1 and brings the Kelley-Harkness Cup — a new addition to the rivalry, named after two legendary coaches, Jack Kelley (BU) and Ned Harkness (CU) — to Commonwealth Avenue.
All of a sudden, the Terriers are 3-0-1 the last two weeks, with three of those games coming against top-15 teams.
This time they did it despite being on the wrong end of a 39-11 shot differential in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,006.
“I have been coaching for 20 years now, and I don’t know if I have been prouder of a group of guys,” said BU coach David Quinn. “We just refused to lose tonight. There were a lot of obstacles and a lot of hurdles and we found a way to get it done. … To me, that is what BU hockey has been about for a long, long time.
“A month ago we lose this game, but we found a way to get it done. It feels good. It feels good to win a game of this magnitude in this environment.”
The win did not come without its fair share of dramatics, however.
BU clung to a 3-2 lead in the waning minutes, and had to call its penalty-kill units into action for the final 1:47 when sophomore defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was penalized for holding. The Terriers fended off the Cornell power play — which entered the night with a 29.6 success rate, tied for tops in the country — for the sixth time in as many tries to solidify the win.
“Our best killer was our goalie, obviously,” Quinn said. “Everybody knows in hockey if you’re going to kill penalties, you better have a good goalie, and we do.”
That goalie, for the fourth game in a row, was sophomore Matt O’Connor. He finished his night with 37 saves, including no shortage of big stops while Cornell was on the power play.
Cornell’s first period, in which it mostly controlled the pace, was similar to the rest of its game: CU’s big bodies outmuscled the Terriers but were mostly kept to the perimeter whenever they maintained possession.
The Terriers struck on one of their few chances. In the Big Red’s offensive zone, sophomore wing Mike Moran forced a turnover that kicked out to sophomore center Danny O’Regan, who after fighting through traffic sent a pass across the slot to Moran. Moran hammered home the one-timer at the crease to put BU up, 1-0, at the 17:50 mark.
Freshman center Robbie Baillargeon doubled the lead 14:38 into the second. He carried the puck into the offensive zone, then dished to junior wing Evan Rodrigues to his right. Rodrigues repaid the favor by centering back to Baillargeon, who tipped it by the far post for his fifth goal of the season.
The Terriers took four penalties in the frame but killed the Big Red power plays each time, including a two-man advantage for one 31-second span.
BU made it 3-0 just 2:44 into the final frame when freshman wing Kevin Duane corralled the rebound off Grzelcyk’s blocked shot. Duane backhanded a pass through the slot to freshman wing Nick Roberto, who one-timed it for BU’s third goal of the game from in close — this time on the power play.
Cornell got one back moments later, however, when sophomore Christian Hilbrich received a pass at the crease. The puck bounced off his skate and past O’Connor.
The Big Red pulled within one with less than four minutes to play. Junior John McCarron skated down the left wing and centered to classmate Cole Bardreau for the easy finish.
BU held on the rest of the way despite Cornell pressuring until the final buzzer.
“BU figured out a way and got the job done to win the game,” said Cornell coach Mike Schafer. “There’s a talent to do that, whether the shots are 39-11 or the other way around, there’s a talent to figuring on figuring out how to win, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Great game!! LOVE O’Connor!!
Go BU!