Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Hockey East Semifinal -- Northeastern
Men's Hockey Advances to League Championship Game
March 18, 2011 | Men's Hockey
March 18, 2011
BOSTON - Five skaters scored one goal each and senior goaltender John Muse recorded 33 saves to lead top-seeded Boston College to a berth in the Hockey East Championship game - its second straight and sixth in the last seven seasons - with a 5-4 victory over No. 6 seed Northeastern before 16,003 fans in TD Garden.
BC will play the winner of Friday's second semifinal between New Hampshire and Merrimack on Saturday, March 19 at 7 p.m.
Junior alternate captain Tommy Cross, freshman forward Kevin Hayes and sophomore forward Pat Mullane each tallied one goal and one assist for the victors, while sophomore defenseman Brian Dumoulin recorded his 29th and 30th assists of the season.
The teams traded the game's first two goals - one by Northeastern senior Tyler McNeely at 13:48 and one by BC's Brian Gibbons at 16:05 - and were tied at 1-1 after the first period. BC led 4-2 after two periods and increased its lead to 5-2 on Mullane's power-play goal at 8:22 of the final frame.
Northeastern cut its deficit to two goals - at 5-3 - on Garett Vermeersch's man-advantage tally with 3:16 left in the game and brought itself within one goal on a Wade MacLeod score while the Huskies were skating with an extra attacker with 1:03 left to play.
Muse stopped seven shots in the first period and 13 in each of the final two frames to record the victory, his career-high 26th win of the season and the 88th of his collegiate career.
The Eagles capitalized on half of their power-play chances (3-for-6 in the contest) while Northeastern scored its last two goals while skating with a man advantage.
Tied at 2-2, sophomore Steven Whitney scored the first of three consecutive BC goals - at 13:14 of the middle period. Cross gave his team a two-goal cushion with a power-play goal with 18.2 seconds left in the second period.
Northeastern outshot Boston College, 37-33, including a 15-6 edge in the third period.
Team Records: Northeastern - 14-16-8; Boston College - 29-7-1
Game Notes: Muse broke Boston College's career saves record on Northeastern's first shot by Braden Pimm at the seven-minute mark of the opening period, surpassing Greg Taylor who tallied 3,605 saves from 1993-97 - Hayes notched a power-play goal - BC's second goal of the game - at 6:56 of the second period - BC won its seventh straight game in TD Garden.
