BOSTON - The No. 20 Boston University men's ice hockey team advanced to the championship game of the 69th Beanpot with a 4-3 semifinal victory over Harvard on Monday evening at TD Garden.
In the first Beanpot contest in two years, the Terriers never trailed as they opened the scoring and later broke a 1-1 tie with three consecutive goals.
BU took a 4-3 into the final period and held off the Crimson to advance to the Beanpot final for the sixth time in the past seven tournaments.
Junior Jay O'Brien had a goal and an assist while senior Logan Cockerill and juniors Matt Brown and Ethan Phillips each found of the back of the net.
Sophomore Vinny Duplessis made 22 saves in his Beanpot debut to help the Terriers improve to 11-1-1 since the start of December and 15-10-3 on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Cockerill opened the scoring 13:52 into the contest when he took a pass from junior Case McCarthy and cut through the left circle before tucking a backhand inside the far post.
- The Crimson got a quick equalizer, however, as Casey Dornbach scored 35 seconds later when he teamed up with Matthew Coronato to force a turnover in the BU zone.
- The Terriers scored on their first two power-play opportunities and used their initial one to take a 2-1 lead after one.
- O'Brien used a slick wrister from just above the right dot on the man advantage to find the back of net with assists from juniors Domenick Fensore and Wilmer Skoog.
- BU established its first multi-goal lead off another power play as Brown ripped a shot past Harvard netminder Mitchell Gibson from the top of the left circle at 4:10 of the middle frame.
- The game-changing three-goal run culminated in a perfectly executed redirect at the right crease by Phillips off a right-point bid by freshman Ty Gallagher at 10:58 of the second.
- Harvard used a power play to notch its second goal and then got right back into the contest with another tally 21 seconds later.
- Coronato pounced on a rebound in front and hit teammate Zakary Karpa's stick on his attempt, pushing the puck in and causing Karpa to get credit for the power-play tally at the 18:16 mark.
- Moments later Jack Donato sent home a deflection at the left crease after a couple of attempts by Austin Wong, making it a one-goal affair at 4-3 and giving the Crimson the momentum heading into the third.
- BU got its third man-advantage chance at 7:41 of the third but was unable to notch an insurance goal.
- The Terriers played a smart third period, limiting good looks while allowing just seven shots.
- The Crimson called timeout with 2:09 to play and pulled Gibson in favor of an extra skater.
- Duplessis and the BU defense stood tall in the closing moments and sealed it with a lofted clear that chewed up the final seconds on the clock.
GAME NOTES
- Cockerill now has three career Beanpot goals after scoring in both games as a freshman in 2018.
- The other three BU goal-scorers all tallied their first career Beanpot tally.
- BU was 2-of-3 on the power play while the Crimson was 1-of-2.
- Skoog executed effective screens near the crease on both power-play markers.
- The Terriers held a 33-25 shot advantage.
- Junior Case McCarthy had a game-high four blocked shots.
UP NEXT
- The Terriers will return to action on Friday when they visit No. 17 Providence.
- Game time at Schneider Arena is set for 7 p.m.
