Hockey East Online

	CCM / RBK Players of the Week BU's Pete MacArthur and UNH's Jerry Pollastrone

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- No. 2 seed Boston University and No. 3 University of Vermont advanced to the semifinals at the TD Banknorth Garden with victories on Sunday night in their decisive Game 3 match ups against UMass-Lowell and Northeastern. No. 1 New Hampshire and No. 4 Boston College swept their respective series vs. No. 8 Massachusetts and No. 5 Providence College to earn extra night’s rest heading into the 24th annual Hockey East Championships.

The Terriers opened Game 3 down 2-0 to the River Hawks and then went on to score four unanswered goals to advance to the semifinals for the seventh straight season. BU makes its 17th appearance in the Hockey East semifinals. BU senior co-captain Pete MacArthur (Clifton Park, N.Y.) scored two goals in the game to give him five points (4g,1a) in the quarterfinal series. MacArthur heads into the weekend’s play, as the leading active scorer in Hockey East Tournament play with 16 points (7g,9a) in 15 career tournament games. UMass-Lowell gave the Terriers all they could handle in the series, as Paul Worthington (Langhorne, Pa.) totaled a series-high five points (2g,3a) in the losing effort for UML.

Vermont took Game 3 from Northeastern with the help of senior goaltender Joe Fallon (Bemidji, Minn.), who posted a 0.98 GAA in the series with a .961 save percentage. He totaled 73 saves in the three-game match up and he recorded his 20th career shutout in the 1-0 triumph on Friday night. The Catamounts are making its first appearance in the Hockey East semifinals. NU’s Dennis McCauley (Billerica, Mass.) forced Game 3 with the overtime game-winner on Saturday night just 3:30 into the extra frame. Sophomore forward Colin Vock (Plymouth, Mich.) and junior Corey Carlson (Two Harbors, Minn.) each had the game-winners in the two victories for the Catamounts.

The top-seeded Wildcats won both games against the Minutemen, as they head into the Championships having won 12 of their last 15 games. Junior forward Jerry Pollastrone (Revere, Mass.) led the quarterfinal round with five goals, which included his first career hat trick on the 7-2 triumph on Saturday. Senior captain Matt Fornataro (Calgary, Alb.) also netted his first collegiate hat trick on Saturday against the Minutemen. UNH has advanced to the semifinals for the 14th time and seventh consecutive year.

The Eagles earned a pair of 5-1 wins over the Friars on Friday and Saturday night at Conte Forum. Junior forwards Benn Ferriero (Essex, Mass.) and Nathan Gerbe (Oxford, Mich.) each scored three goals apiece in the quarterfinal series. BC freshman goalie John Muse (East Falmouth, Mass.) notched a tournament high .971 save percentage with 68 saves for the Eagles. Boston College has advanced to the semifinals for the 16th time and the fourth consecutive season. The Eagles have advanced to the title game twelve times, including each of the last three season. The Eagles have won a league-record seven titles (1987, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005 and 2007). The Wildcats and Eagles will meet for the ninth time in Hockey East Tournament play and the third time in the semifinals. Boston College leads the all-time tournament series, 5-3-0.

Brett Bennett, BU (So., G, Williamsville, N.Y.) Posted a 2.30 GAA and a .913 save percentage in the Terriers’ quarterfinal series with UMass Lowell.

Nick Bonino, BU (Fr., F, Unionville, Conn.) Kickstarted BU’s rally in the decisive third game against UMass Lowell, scoring the team’s first goal before setting up the game winner.

Corey Carlson, UVM (Jr., F, Two Harbors, Minn.) scored the game-winning goal and had an assist in Vermont’s 4-1 victory over NU in the third and deciding game.

Danny Dries, UNH (Fr., F, Lake Orion, Mich.) Had a goal and two assists for three points during a weekend sweep of Massachusetts.

Maury Edwards, UML (Fr., D, Rocky Rapids, Alb.) Had three points on one goal and two assists in three games against BU.

Bryan Ewing, BU (Sr., F, Plymouth, Mass.) Assisted on four of BU’s goals in the team’s series with UMass Lowell and added a +3 rating.

Benn Ferriero, BC (Jr., F, Essex, Mass.) Scored three times, including his second two-goal performance of the season on Friday, in BC’s 2-0 weekend.

Nathan Gerbe, BC (Jr., F, Oxford, Mich.) – Registered four points (3g,1a) in two wins vs. Providence. Scored twice in the team’s 5-1 home win over the Friars on Friday night.

Chris Higgins, BU (Jr., F, Lynnfield, Mass.) Recorded three goals and an assist against UMass Lowell and had a +3 rating in the series.

Carter Hutton, UML (So., G, Thunder Bay, Ont.) Started all three games and collected a career-high 41 saves in Saturday’s win. Hutton had a .911 save %, stopping 92 of 101 shots faced.

Kevin Regan, UNH (Sr., G, South Boston, Mass.) Picked up a pair of wins against eighth-seeded Massachusetts, stopping 70 shots over two games en route to the two victories.

Colin Vock, UVM (So., F, Plymouth, Mich.) Scored the game winner in a 1-0 victory against Northeastern on Friday and had a total of two goals in the series.

Joe Whitney, BC (Fr., F, Reading, Mass.) Tallied four assists over the weekend in the series sweep vs. the Friars.

Paul Worthington, UML (So., F, Langhorne, Pa.) Tallied five points on (2g,3a) in the three game series against BU.

Boston College: Saturday’s victory over Providence marked the 100 th victory for BC’s five seniors; Joe Adams, Dan Bertram, Mike Brennan, Pat Gannon and Matt Greene. The 2008 senior class is the seventh class is head coach Jerry York’s Boston College tenure to capture 100 or more victories. With two victories, Boston College improved its postseason record to 51-15 (.773 win percentage) since the 1997-98 season. That win total and playoff win percentage are first among all Division I hockey programs in the country during that time. With three points (1g,2a) in two BC victories, senior alternate captain Dan Bertram (Calgary, Alb.) has registered 98 career points (35g,63a) in 154 games...Junior forward Nathan Gerbe’s (Oxford, Mich.) converted penalty against Providence marked BC’s first since Feb. 23, 1999 (Chris Masters also vs. Providence). Since 1999, Dave Spina (Nov. 16, 2004 vs. Harvard) and Benn Ferriero (Jan. 14, 2006) were awarded penalty shots but failed to convert...BC is 17-for-17 in penalty-killing situations over the past four games and is 25-for-26 over the previous six games... Boston College head coach Jerry York enters the Hockey East Tournament semifinal round with 797 career victories. York totaled 125 victories at Clarkson, 342 wins at Bowling Green and has 330 victories (and counting) at Boston College.

Boston University: The Terriers have now won at least one game in the Hockey East playoffs in each of the last 16 years, the longest streak of its kind in league history...With senior Kevin Kielt’s (Brick, N.J.) assist on Sunday, 25 different players have earned at least one helper this season, tying the school record set in 1988-89...BU has come out on top in each of its last four best-of-three quarterfinal series that went to a third and decisive game...Senior Pete MacArthur is the first Terrier in eight years (Carl Corazzini, 1999-00) to accumulate 20 goals and 20 assists in a season...MacArthur, who ranks 25th all-time at BU in goals with 64, needs three more points to become just the 18th player in program history to tally 150 points in a career.

Massachusetts: UMass qualified for its sixth consecutive Hockey East Tournament and 11th overall this season…UMass is now 8-18 in HEA Tournament games after falling twice at New Hampshire…UMass finished the season 7-10-1 against ranked teams this year including a 4-4-1 mark against top 10 teams…UMass finished the year 14-3-2 when scoring three-or-more goals in a game and 0-13-4 when scoring fewer than three goals…UMass had its best home season attendance average in program history of 5,017 fans per game.

UMass-Lowell: The River Hawks finished with 16 wins, doubling their win total from 2006-07…UML’s 4-1 victory Saturday night snapped a 10-game playoff losing streak and was the program’s first postseason win over Boston University (1-5-0)…The River Hawks were 5-for-10 on the power play in the series against the Terriers and 8-for-23 (34.8%) in six games against BU…UML’s line of Kory Falite, Ben Holmstrom and Paul Worthington combined for 10 points (5g, 5a) in the series. Falite had a point (2g, 1a) in each game while Worthington had five points (2g, 3a)…The Terriers and River Hawks combined to score 45 goals in their season series, including playoffs, for an average of 7.5 goals per game.

New Hampshire: UNH advances to his league-best seventh-straight Hockey East semifinals by virtue of a weekend sweep of Massachusetts… Overall, the Wildcats have won 11-of-12 quarterfinal series including 10 by virtue of a sweep…Kevin Regan closed out his career a perfect 6-0-0 in the HE quarterfinals with an impressive 0.66 GAA, a .981 save percentage and 206 saves…In a rout 7-2 win over Mass., Jerry Pollastrone and Matt Fornataro each netted their first career hat trick…The seven goal output matches the most by a Wildcat team in 2007-08 when the ‘Cats scored seven in a 7-4 win over Northeastern…The seven goals in a Hockey East tournament game were the most since UNH earned back to back 8-4 wins over Mass-Lowell in the 2002-03 quarterfinals…For the second-straight season, the Wildcats have won 25 games. Last year’s team closed out the season with 26 wins. Overall, UNH has eight 25-plus wins season and seven of those came under Coach Umile’s tenure…UNH and Boston College have met in the Hockey East semifinals and the Eagles holding a 2-1 advantage including a 2-1 win in the last meeting in 2000. UNH’s semifinal win came in a 4-0 win in 1997.

Northeastern: Northeastern reached 16 wins for the first time since 2001-02, when NU finished the season 19-17-3 overall...Northeastern’s 12 Hockey East wins were the team’s most since 1997-98, when the Huskies went 13-8-3 and earned home ice for the playoffs...Northeastern beat Vermont, 2-1 in overtime, on Saturday, the team’s first playoff win since beating UMass Lowell, 4-2, on March 8, 2002...The Huskies went 4-1-3 in overtime games this season...Northeastern had four players over 20 points for the first time since 2001-02, when the Huskies had six. The four were Joe Vitale (12-23-35), Wade MacLeod (11-16-27), Tyler McNeely (11-12- 23) and Ryan Ginand (10-10-20)...Senior Jimmy Russo (So. Weymouth, Mass.) scored in his final collegiate game and ended his career with 20 goals and 33 assists.

Providence College: Tyler Sims (Fort Wayne, Ind.) finished his career at PC ranked first all-time in games played (116) and shutouts (7). He is also third all-time in career saves (2,793) and goals against average (2.57)…Senior forward Jon Rheault (Deering, N.H.) finished tied for 42nd all-time at Providence College with 105 career points, including a career-high 31 points (17g, 14a) this season...A total of eight Friars finished with a career high in points this season, led by junior Matt Taormina (Washington Township, Mich.) who had 27 points. His previous career high was 11 points…Ten of the Friars’ 14 wins this season were against ranked opponents…PC matched a school record this season by playing in 10 overtime games.

Vermont: Senior Joe Fallon is 11-4-1 with a 1.67 GAA, three shutouts and a .937 save percentage in this last 16 starts…The Catamounts are 12-5-2 in their last 19 games…178:21 of the 183:33 in Vermont’s quarterfinal series with Northeastern was game action where the score was either tied or a one-goal difference…Vermont is 11-3 in one-goal games this season…The Catamounts are 60-3-10 in their last 73 games when leading after two periods in the Kevin Sneddon era…UVM is unbeaten in 38 straight games when scoring at least four goals…Vermont went 10-7-4 at Gutterson Fieldhouse this season…Vermont plays Boston University on Friday in the Hockey East Semifinals at 8pm at the TD Banknorth Garden in a game televised on NESN…It’ll be the first trip to the Boston Garden since 1989 for the Catamounts, who played in the ECAC Championship game that season…UVM went 1-1-1 against BU in the regular season.