BOSTON — The stage is about for the Hockey East Championship recreation. The No. 2 Boston College Terriers will tackle the No. 1 Boston Faculty Eagles within the Battle of Comm Ave on Causeway.
For the third time in Hockey East historical past, the Eagles and Terriers will meet within the title recreation. Within the earlier two conferences, BU got here out on prime 9-4 in 1996 and 2-1 in an time beyond regulation winner in 2006. This season, the Eagles have received two of the three conferences between the 2 groups, with their solely loss coming in the course of the semifinal of the Beanpot on Jan. 5.
Cutter Gauthier, who recorded a aim and two assists within the Eagles’ semifinal blowout win over the Minutemen, was thrilled to lastly seize a win at TD Backyard.
“If you play in a historic constructing it’s a fairly cool feeling,” Gauthier informed reporters. “Clearly, I’ve been on the other finish of a few of these video games and people losses, however it feels nice to have a full 60 minutes with our group and get the win in the present day.”
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Despite the fact that the Eagles have steamrolled by means of the common season, Will Smith is just not taking without any consideration how arduous it’s to win within the Hockey East convention.
“Truthfully, simply the entire 12 months, the league is so robust,” Smith stated. “We’ve already performed UMass twice earlier than in the present day, and every recreation was a battle. So, I believe the No. 1 seed is good, however we talked about it’s a brand new season now, single elimination. We’re going at each recreation like we’re not the No. 1 seed, so we obtained to battle each night time.”
Extra Hockey East
The Terriers are the defending Hockey East champions, however their path to the ultimate was tighter than the Eagles.
Though BU beat the Maine Black Bears 4-1, the Terriers had been outshot 33-18 within the contest.
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“It’s clearly an enormous win for us,” Terriers head coach Jay Pandolfo stated after the sport. “We get to go to the finals right here and have a possibility to defend the Hockey East championship.
“I don’t know if we had been at our greatest tonight. Give Maine credit score, they did a heck of a job. They obtained on prime of you within the impartial zone. Their (defensemen) pinch on a regular basis. We simply had a bit of little bit of bother advancing pucks and we didn’t have sufficient sustained offensive zone stress.”
The Terriers capitalized on the facility play they usually obtained excellent goaltending between the pipes. BU tallied two power-play objectives, and Mathieu Caron made 32 saves in internet.
“On the finish of the day, our energy play was excellent and our goaltender was wonderful,” Pandolfo stated. “On the finish, we held on there and we did an excellent job of not giving them too many high quality possibilities and once they had, Caron was wonderful.
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Extra notes from Friday’s Hockey East semifinal motion:
— Regardless of being eradicated from the Hockey East Event, the Black Bears will nonetheless play within the NCAA Hockey Event starting on March 28. Maine’s head coach Ben Barr stated for the reason that seedings haven’t been set, he doesn’t know what area the Black Bears can be taking part in in.
“If it’s (within the) East it makes it simpler for us,” Barr informed reporters. “But when it’s out west, it’s all planes, trains and vehicles a bit of bit, relying on what day we go away. I assume all of it is determined by the place we play and what day.
— The Minutemen should still earn a bid to the NCAA Event with Denver defeating St. Cloud within the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals. Massachusetts head coach Greg Carvel is aware of his group must play higher if they’ve the prospect to advance.
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“Towards that group (the Eagles), you higher be at your finest, and we had been a good distance from it tonight proper from the beginning,” Carvel informed reporters. “… It didn’t really feel like our group tonight a lot in any respect. BC is an incredible group. Such a excessive offensive powerhouse and we didn’t handle the puck very nicely. Not lots of poise with the puck.”
— The Eagles’ eight unanswered objectives within the first recreation set a report for essentially the most consecutive objectives in a Hockey East semifinal recreation. Maine nonetheless holds the report for the most important aim differential with their 16-0 win over UMass-Lowell in 1990.
— BC is driving an 11-game profitable streak heading into the title recreation. It’s the longest streak for the reason that Minutemen rattled off 14 straight to win the Nationwide title within the 2020-21 season.
— The Terriers are the defending Hockey East champions, defeating Merrimack within the title recreation in 2023. The Eagles are returning to the ultimate for the primary time since 2019. BC final received the Hockey East championship in 2012.
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— The Hockey East Championship recreation between the Eagles and Terriers is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET at TD Backyard and you may watch the sport on NESN.