TOLEDO, Ohio — For one brief moment, the Huntington Center was silent. Quinn Hutson didn’t even what he had done.
“I just threw one on net, and I just kinda froze,” Quinn said.
Hutson’s shot from the blue line hit the net behind Cornell goaltender Ian Shane — and for a brief moment, the Huntington Center was silent.
Then, the crowd exploded. Shane’s helmet hit the ice, and his teammates knelt down beside him. The Boston University men’s hockey team emptied the bench and mobbed the corner of the ice. The Terriers were headed to St. Louis.
“For the past few years, we were really confident in ourselves. It could have gone any way this year,” Quinn said. “We’re battling. I wouldn’t say much has changed. We’re just all coming together at the right time again.”
Quinn’s game-winning overtime goal to defeat Cornell 3-2 on Saturday evening in the Toledo Regional Final sent the Terriers (23-13-2) to their third-consecutive Frozen Four in head coach Jay Pandolfo’s third year at the helm.
“It starts with our leadership group,” Pandolfo said. “Those guys understanding what it takes and what it means to get to this point leads our younger players, and I think it’s really important. It’s a special group, and I’m proud of them.”
In as evenly matched of a game as one will find, the Terriers, whose inconsistency has been a hallmark, started the game “ready to play,” Pandolfo said.
An unorthodox first period lasted nearly an hour with two video reviews, a pair of fluky goals and a five-minute major. The Big Red (19-11-6), playing with house money after Thursday’s 4-3 upset of No. 2 overall seed Michigan State, established a defensive presence early.
The Terriers took a tripping penalty less than two minutes in. Cornell answered with a penalty of their own, but nothing came of the early back-and-forth play.
After the Big Red killed the penalty, forward Dalton Bancroft fired a shot on goaltender Mikhail Yegorov. Instead, the puck hit linemate Ryan Walsh, deflecting it into the net. While initially waved off for a hand pass, video review overturned the ruling for a 1-0 Cornell lead at 7:35.
“We come from behind in a lot of games all year,” Quinn said. “We don’t get nervous when we go down.”
Just over a minute later, BU’s Matt Copponi drove through the heart of the Cornell defense, pushing the puck towards Shane. He stretched his left leg out to stop the initial shot, but the puck deflected off a Cornell skate and into the net. Copponi’s second tournament goal, scored at 8:47 of the first, evened the game at 1-1.
The Big Red began to push, and BU, the NCAA leader in penalty minutes, took a slashing penalty credited to Jack Hughes. Cornell kept applying pressure with six straight shots, but Yegorov held strong, ending the night with 37 saves.
After a scuffle late in the first, Walsh was assessed a five-minute major for face-masking after a review. As the period expired, however, Devin Kaplan took a slashing penalty to nullify two minutes of the man-advantage.
The second period was mundane in comparison. The Big Red killed off the rest of the major penalty, successfully keeping BU’s top-five power play quiet.
Each team had its respective push with a bevy of chances. Shane, who made several point-blank saves, ended with 40 on the game.
After Cornell took a penalty at the end of the second period, the Terriers’ lethal power play struck 34 seconds in the third period.
Cole Hutson circled the offensive zone before sniping a goal into the top shelf from an near-impossible angle. Hutson’s sixth point of the tournament gave BU a 2-1 edge.
“When he wants to try to take the game over, he’s capable of it,” Pandolfo said. “He’s tough to defend. Until you play against him, you don’t know what to expect.”
After Cole downplayed the goal in the press conference, Pandolfo added, “He called his number there on that play. I’m just gonna tell you right now,” with a smile.
Hutson, who was named Regional’s Most Outstanding Player, has been a part of all but five of BU’s 11 goals this tournament. The NCAA freshman points leader took blame for the team’s struggles midway through the season.
“I like to think I’ve done decent,” Cole said when asked about his second-half performance. “I don’t think I’ve quite owed it fully back to the team yet, and hopefully we can chase down a National Championship.”
When Cornell’s back was against the wall in the regional semifinals, the team continued to play its style of hockey while Michigan State was caught on its heels. The Big Red had the formula to come back, but could they execute it twice?
Copponi took a tripping penalty at 11:08, and while the Terriers killed it off, Cornell had all the momentum they needed.
With the puck bouncing around the BU zone, Cornell’s Jack O’Leary collected it and whipped it past Yegorov. Cornell head coach Mike Schafer’s miracle retirement run had one more push with the game-tying goal at 14:30.
As time expired, the Huntington Center’s edition of Red Hot Hockey was going to overtime.
When bonus hockey began, Cornell fired off a number of grade-A chances on Yegorov. Then, on the other end of the ice, Quinn Hutson rifled a shot from the top of the offensive zone that broke past Shane at 6:25 of overtime.
The top line of Ryan Greene-Shane Lachance-Quinn Hutson was on the ice at the time of the overtime winner — all three contributed a point to the game-winning goal.
“That’s what you learn about our players and our team,” Pandolfo said. “I knew that they wanted to get that goal back, and they did.”
The Terriers will play in the Frozen Four in St. Louis with the first semifinal game scheduled for April 10, against winner of the Allentown Regional Final between UConn and Penn State.
“When you have success two years in a row and get to the Frozen Four, it’s a big deal,” Pandolfo said. “But when you don’t finish a job off, it’s disappointing, and you want to have that opportunity again.”
after the first 10 minutes, i was like: ok, they are invested and engaged. at that point, if they lost, i was ok with it because the effort was there. so good for them; just need to keep that same focus and let the chips fall as they may
Vinnie, you don’t seem too excited. Well I watched the game at the watch party at GAME ON! and the atmosphere was electric. The Terriers are back on top of the college hockey world by making their 3rd consecutive appearance at the college hockey’s big dance, the FF, as they evidently call it by those commenting on the BC interruption hockey blog. According to them getting to the FF is the ONLY thing. Forget the Beanpot, forget HE. Well we are there and we already have the Beanpot in hand and BC’s presence there is hardly assured after their pathetic performance against minnows Bentley. The Terriers were engaged and determined against a very tough historically for BU Big Red. Cole Hudson was right on as was his brother Quinn who both scored the decisive goals. Yegorov was our savior again especially in the second period when Cornell was controlling the play for the most part and early in OT when he made some terrific saves early before the winner. the path to the title now is clear for them. Either UCONN or Penn State are beatable ( I don’t expect another clunker like in the HE semifinal). The final is only one game and whoever it is i wouldn’t bet against this team now. We caught a bit of a break this time, BU was on the weaker side of the bracket now it seems in retrospect. Anyways congrats boys, keep going.
Vito,
I think I was still in a bit of shock after the game and just so relieved they came to play. VERY EXCITED!!
I would not mind facing Uconn again; i think we would have extra motivation after the semis
To make the weekend complete, GoPioneers!!!!
The BU Hokey team is primed for another NCAA frozen four championship title 👇
GO BU 👍
Double delight weekend. BU wins and BC loses.
so the Conte Clowns achieved : no Pot, no HE title, no Natty. oh wait, they did win the HE regular season title and that got them … what?
i thoroughly enjoyed listening to the BC broadcast of the game on the radio. The post mortem at the end of the game being that if Denver didn’t exist the eagles would have won 2 consecutive nat’l titles of course disregarding the fact that BU beat them twice in the beanpot over the last 2 seasons (including the final this year) ,and that the eags wold still have to beat a 31 win W. Michigan team and eventually BU again in the final (fingers crossed vs Penn State) when even Andy Powers admits WE CAN’T SCORE GOALS. BTW didn’t Penn State look absolutely abysmal in OT vs UCONN. They could have lost 3 times before they scored on their only decent shot of that period. It’s best that we avoided UCONN b/c they’re the type of team that gives the Terriers problems.
i totally agree with you, Vito. i will take a shot playing Penn St. Uconn is sooo physical; it is best we avoided them
the BC blog is worth checking out; one fan said this
Potential for 6 players to leave early.
Leonard – gone
Perrault – 50/50. Rangers might not have room for him, certainly not a lock to make the Rangers next season.
Gasseau – 75 % he signs because the Bruins need players.
Jevlik – 60% due to his injury. Bruins might want to see how he recovers.
Fowler – 75% because the Hans need goalies
Hagens – 50% depends on who drafts him.
You could see Guftason or Minnatian gets offers as well.
Yeah and eag in PA is having an ongoing argument with another attorney about whether or not BCs disallowed goal in 1st period (apparently Puck was headed In when net was dislodged after 3 player collision in front of net. The question here is INTENT. Is that in the rule or does it not require that on the part of the denver defender who evidently created the action that lead to the net being dislodged
I wonder if the 2 legal eagles (pun intended) would care to discuss cornell’s first goal off the body of forward Walsh where they ruled that the Puck was not directed in by his hand. However the critical question our distinguished BCHB might discuss was whether or not INTENT of the player must have been ascertained in deciding whether or not to allow a goal under the strictest interpretation of the rule book?