Hockey East Online

	CCM / RBK Player of the Week Nathan Gerbe of Boston College

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- The Boston College Eagles, who became the third No. 4 seed in tournament history to take home the title, registered their league record eighth Hockey East Tournament Championship with a 4-0 shutout of Vermont on Saturday night at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.

Junior forward Nathan Gerbe (Oxford, Mich.) was named Most Valuable Player at the 24th annual Hockey East Championship with nine points (4g,5a) in four tournament games. Gerbe was joined on the All-Tournament Team, by teammates Benn Ferriero (Essex, Mass.), Mike Brennan (Smithtown, N.Y.), Carl Sneep (Nisswa, Minn.) and freshman goaltender John Muse (East Falmouth, Mass.). UNH sophomore forward Bobby Butler (Marlboro, Mass.) was also selected to the All-Tournament Team. Muse, who has played every minute in the net this season for the Eagles, stopped all 29 shots in the final for the second shutout in Championship Game history.

On Friday night, Hockey East fans saw a epic battle with two storied programs playing the longest semifinal game in the history of the league tournament. Ferriero scored the game-winning goal just 43 seconds into the third overtime to give BC a 5-4 win vs. New Hampshire, which marked the eighth longest game in Division I history at 100:43. Hockey East Player of the Year Kevin Regan (South Boston, Mass.) recorded a career-high 62 saves for the Wildcats, which was tied for the third best total in tournament history. Butler posted two goals in the losing cause for UNH, while Gerbe tallied three assists in the semifinal game vs. the ‘Cats. In the nightcap, Vermont advanced to its first ever Hockey East Championship Game in school history with a 3-1 victory over Boston University. Senior netminder Joe Fallon (Bemidji, Minn.) 49 saves on the weekend, including 25 in the semifinal win against the Terriers. Junior Peter Lenes (Shelburne, Vt.) and sophomore Colin Vock (Plymouth, Mich.) scored goals :29 seconds apart in the second period to guide the Catamounts in their first ever appearance at the Garden, as members of Hockey East.

The Eagles, who earned the league’s automatic qualifier, will face No. 3 seed and WCHA foe Minnesota as the No. 2 seed in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Northeast Regional at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. The Northeast Regional Final will be played on Sunday, March 30 at 4:30 p.m. at the DCU Center.

The No. 1 seeded Wildcats will travel to the West Regional at the Colorado Springs World Arena to face off against No. 4 seed Notre Dame on Friday, March 28 at 6:30 p.m. EST. If the Wildcats should adavnce, they would play in the West Regional Final on Saturday, March 29 at 10 p.m. EST.

Bobby Butler, UNH (So., F, Marlboro, Mass.) Potted a pair of goals in UNH’s semifinal game. The sophomore forward was named to the Hockey East All-Tournament team. Butler scored the first of the game and another to make it 3-1.

Benn Ferriero, BC (Jr., F, Essex, Mass.) Had three points on the weekend (1g,2a), which included the trip overtime game-winner to send the Eagles to the title game. Also was one of three forwards named to the All-Tournament Team.

Chris Higgins (Jr., F, Lynnfield, Mass.) Opened the scoring against Vermont with his 14th goal of the season, setting a new career high.

Carl Sneep, BC ( So., D, Nisswa, Minn.) Assisted on Ben Smith’s first-period goal – the gamewinner – in the team’s 4-0 win over Vermont in the championship game. Earned All-Tournament Team honors after totaling two assists in four BC victories.

James vanRiemsdyk, UNH (Fr., F, Middletown, N.J.) Tallied a pair of helpers in UNH’s semifinal game against Boston College.

Colin Vock, UVM (So., F, Plymouth, Mich.) Scored the game-winning goal on Friday in Vermont’s 3-1 win against Boston U. in the Hockey East Semifinals.

Boston College: BC’s five seniors, Joe Adams (Wayzata, Minn.), Dan Bertram (Calgary, Alberta), Mike Brennan (Smithtown, N.Y.), Matt Greene (Plymouth, Mass.) and Pat Gannon (Arlington, Mass.) finished their league playoff careers with three tournament titles and a 15-1 record, suffering their lone loss to BU in the 2006 championship game (in overtime)...Senior alternate captain Dan Bertram (Calgary, Alberta) notched his 99 th and 100 th career points in BC’s triple-overtime victory over New Hampshire. Bertram has totaled 36 goals and 64 assists in 156 career games...Junior Nathan Gerbe’s empty-net goal in Saturday’s championship game marked his 64th career goal, tying head coach Jerry York (1964-67) and former Eagles Jack Mulhern (1948-51), Billy O’Dwyer (1978-82) and Bill Army (1976- 80) for 25th on BC’s all-time list. Gerbe has totaled 11 points (5g,6a) in the last five games. With 1,057 saves this season, freshman goalie John Muse (East Falmouth, Mass.) became just the fourth goalie in BC history to record 1,000 (or more) saves in a season. He joins Cory Schneider (1,111 in 2006-07 and 1,088 in 2005-06), Scott Gordon (1,048 in 1984-85) and Greg Taylor (1,024 in 1993-94). BC will face Minnesota in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament’s Northeast Regional in Worcester. The last time the teams met in the national tournament, BC (led by captain Greg Brown), defeated the Golden Gophers in a best-ofthree game series in Kelley Rink to advance to the 1990 Frozen Four in Detroit.

Boston University: Senior Pete MacArthur (Clifton Park, N.Y.) finished his career with 16 points (7g, 9a) in the Hockey East tournament, tied for third all-time at BU...MacArthur played in 159 career games, tying him for fifth in school history...The Terriers nearly had two 30-point freshmen for the first time 1991-92 (Mike Pomichter, Mike Prendergast), as Colin Wilson (12-23--35) and Nick Bonino (16-13--29) combined for 64 points on the year... The Terriers were not shut out in any game this season and were held to a single goal just six times, but they scored just one goal in each of their last three losses...BU’s nine seniors helped lead the Terriers to 88 wins, three NCAA appearances, three Beanpot titles and the 2006 Hockey East title during their four years with the program.

New Hampshire: UNH and BC’s triple overtime game was the eighth-longest in Division I history at 100:43... Kevin Regan was unanimously selected as the Hockey East Player of the Year. Regan was also named as one of 10 finalists for the prestigious Hobey Baker Memorial Award given to the best player in college hockey. Regan stopped a career-high 62 shots in UNH’s triple overtime loss to BC in the Hockey East semifinals. Regan’s 62 saves shattered the record for saves in a semifinal of 47 set by Bob Bell of Providence in 1995. In addition, his 24 second-period saves was a tournament record. Regan was just three saves shy of Colin Clark’s program best 65 save performance...Senior defenseman Craig Switzer played in his 157th consecutive game, he needs one more game to tie Darren Haydar’s record of consecutive games played...Freshman forward James vanRiemsdyk was impressive in the Hockey East tournament. He scored in all three games tallying five points (0g, 5a) during the tournament... Sophomore forward Bobby Butler was selected to the Hockey East All-Tournament team. Butler potted a pair of goals in UNH’s tripleovertime loss to BC. Overall, Butler has four goals in three games at the Garden in the Hockey East tournament...The Wildcats qualified for the NCAA tournament for the seven-straight season. UNH is one of just three teams to earn this feat with Minnesota and Michigan... UNH, the third overall seed, will play No. 11 Notre Dame in the first round...The Wildcats and Irish have never met in the postseason, although UNH holds a 4-0 advantage in the all-time series.

Vermont: The Catamounts advanced to just their second postseason tournament championship game in team history on Saturday after defeating Boston University 3-1 on Friday in the Hockey East Semifinals at the TD Banknorth Garden…Friday’s attendance of 12,522 at the TD Banknorth Garden was the largest crowd the UVM men’s hockey team has ever played in front of. The previous high was 12,328 at the Bradley Center in 1997 against Wisconsin in the Badger Classic…Friday’s Vermont and Boston U. game was delayed by 2 hours and 40 minutes after Boston College defeated top-seeded New Hampshire 5-4 in triple overtime in the early semifinal game in a contest that went 4 hours and 51 minutes…The game between the Catamount and Terriers didn’t end until after 1:00am on Saturday morning…Vermont is 62-3-10 in the last 75 games when leading after two periods in the Kevin Sneddon era…The Catamounts went 9-8-4 against ranked teams this season…Senior Joe Fallon finished his career second all-time in NCAA Division I history in shutouts with 20 and was 11th all-time in goals against average at 2.05.

Hockey East in the NCAA Tournament Notes: Hockey East has now placed 74 teams all-time in the NCAA Tournament since 1985 with four of its teams winning NCAA titles. A total of 32 of those teams have qualified for the Frozen Four... Most recently, Boston College won the NCAA Championship back in 2001, along with Maine in 1993 and 1999 and Boston University in 1995. Hockey East Teams owns a 96-85-1 all-time mark in NCAA Tournament play...Hockey East was represented by at least one team in the NCAA championship game in 10 of the last 11 years, and each of eight straight years from 1997 to 2004. That is the most consecutive appearances in the title game by any conference since the inception of Hockey East in 1984-85...Hockey East has boasted 15 of the 30 teams that have advanced to the championship game since 1993.