Hockey East Live Blog: Maine Takes Down BU 5-2, Will Face Boston College in Finals

by abournenesn

Mar 19, 2010

Hockey East Live Blog: Maine Takes Down BU 5-2, Will Face Boston College in Finals Final, Maine 5-2: Maine eliminates the defending champs to advance to the Hockey East finals, where they will meet the BC Eagles.

Third period, 19:33, Maine 5-2: Tanner House puts in an empty-netter to give Maine the 5-2 lead. After a slap shot by BU that appeared to have caught the inner padding, the refs will once again head to the video review.

Third period, 17:56, Maine 4-2: DeKastrozza scores to put Maine on top 4-2. He beat Millan near-side on a slapper.

Third period, 17:15, Maine 3-2: Wilson comes up huge! The Maine keeper stoned BU's Gaudet on a breakaway to keep the lead intact.

Third period, 16:36, Maine 3-2: BU was charged with a penalty on the goal so Maine goes back on the power play.

Third period, 16:13, Maine 3-2: It's a goal! Saponari's goal counts to make it 3-2.

Third period, 16:13, Maine 3-1: This isn't an easy call for the stripes and the judges upstairs. From the replay angles, it looks conclusive and the refs should overturn this no-goal call.

Third period, 16:13, Maine 3-1: BU sneaks one past Wilson but it appeared to have crossed the goal line seconds after the whistle. Check that. Milliseconds. Check that. Upon further review, it appears to have crossed the goal line before the whistle. Let's wait and see what the ruling is.

Third period, 12:50, Maine 3-1: Even strength now, let's see if BU can inch closer to Maine's 3-1 lead with a quick tally. Those Terriers need to stay out of the box if they want a chance to knot it up.

Third period, 10:47, Maine 3-1: Gryba is adding to his school penalty record in extraordinary fashion. After mauling Flynn in the corner with what looked like a hold, he crosschecked Mangene three steps to his left. Gryba will be whistled for both penalties but Maine's Diamond responded with some fists and was whistled as well. 5-on-4 Maine PP.

Third period, 9:18, Maine 3-1: Hegarty just got pummeled by Gryba. The BU defenseman crushed him with a somewhat late hit into the boards and the sophomore Black Bear went flying. Some may argue that Gryba led with his back, but there's no call by the refs. Hegarty simply didn't see that truck coming but luckily, he was peeled off the ice and skated to the bench on his own.

Not sure where he right glove ended up… Charlestown maybe?

Third period, 8:00, Maine 3-1: Maine leads in the shots department 30-15.

Third period, 5:31, Maine 3-1: Nyquist nearly made up for his bonehead penalty with a goal but the Swedish Sniper caught solid iron as he attempted to beat Millan top shelf.

Third period, 4:45, Maine 3-1: After showing signs of life late in the second, BU is controlling this one, five minutes into the third.

Third period, 1:54, Maine 3-1: Shattenkirk buries a rebound in front to get the Terriers on the board. It's the captain's seventh of the season. Now BU will go on the power play. Nyquist should be kicking himself for that hooking call.

Third period, 1:24, Maine 3-0: Nyquist turns the power play into a 4-on-4 with a hooking call. A blown opportunity for the Black Bears.

Third period, :22, Maine 3-0: BU's Chiasson gives Maine a gift with a very stupid and even more obvious holding penalty. Here comes the nation's most dangerous PP unit.

Third period, :05, Maine 3-0: Maine is 15-0-2 when leading after two frames while BU has just two come-from-behind third period wins this year.

Second intermission, Maine 3-0: What a frame for Maine, who now leads 3-0. Although the shots were 7-7 this period, Maine still had the edge.

Second period, 18:58, Maine 3-0: Milan with a glovely save on Mangene with about a minute to play on a 2-on-1 Maine rush.

Second period, 18:36, Maine 3-0: Wilson just got bulldozed by his own player and went tumbling into his own net. Not a bad night when your body is the only thing to make it into your goal against the reigning national champs.

Second period, 17:36, Maine 3-0: Maine was swarming Millan on the power play but were unable to find the back of the net.

Second period, 15:22, Maine 3-0: Wilson has been very good so far, but the post came up with one of the biggest stops of the night as Connolly's bid clangs the near pipe on a feed from Shattenkirk.

Second period, 10:43, Maine 3-0: No goal. Sorry Maineiacs.

Second period, 10:43, Maine 3-0: Replays show that it may indeed be a goal but it has to be conclusive evidence to overturn the call.

Second period, 10:43, Maine 3-0: Maine appeared to have grabbed a 4-0 lead but Nyquist deflected it in with a high stick. The refs immediately called in a no-goal but after a replay, his stick didn't appear illegally-high, which is above the shoulder.

Second period, 10:36, Maine 3-0: Maine isn't letting its foot off the gas and Wilson is keeping the shutout intact as he stoned Bonino who was marching in alone in front.

Second period, 7:00, Maine 3-0: Hope we don't have too many lip readers at home because BU head coach Jack Parker just called timeout and offered his players a verbal lashing on the bench after that tally.

Second period, 7:00, Maine 3-0: Robby Dee just buried his 13th of the season in incredible fashion. Dee took a feed at red line, fended off the defender along the right side and buried it top shelf on Milan.

Second period, 5:04, Maine 2-0: Maine's penalty kill was just as good — if not better — than their lethal power play. BU managed just one shot on net during their man adavantage.

Second period, 2:08, Maine 2-0: The Terriers will get the man-up here just minutes into the middle frame as captain Tanner House gets called for an interference.

Second period, 1:25, Maine 2-0: BU looking strong out of the gait. What, you thought the defending national champs were just going to roll over and die? Shots tally in the first was 18-5 in favor of Maine. 

First intermission, Maine 2-0: Robby Dee helped supply the traffic in front of the net on Flynn's tally and it looked like the puck may have touched a BU defender before sneaking past Millan.

First intermission, Maine 2-0: With too much action in front, Millan can't get an eye on the shot from the point as Maine takes the 2-0 lead. Flynn slipped it through traffic and will get credit for the power play tally — his 19th of the season.

First period, 17:54, Maine 1-0: There's 1:14 left in Maine's PP. A goal here heading into the locker room would be tough for the Terriers to come out to in the second frame.

First period, 17:07, Maine 1-0: Colby Cohen gets called for an interference to put the Maine power play unit back on the ice.

First period, 16:20, Maine 1-0: Diamond was popped off his feet on the left faceoff circle but managed to keep control of the puck as he stood up. After beating the two BU defenders who knocked him down, he fled towards the net where he absolutely undressed Millan with an incredible near-side deke.

First period, 14:14, Maine 1-0: Joey Diamond's highlight reel goal puts Maine up 1-0. The freshman's seventh of the season was the result of an incredible individual effort.

First period, 12:53, tied 0-0: BU's Warsofsky storms in on a shorthanded break and nearly beats Wilson with a wrister. Warsofsky has four shorthanded tallies on the season and nearly netted his fifth.

First period, 11:18, tied 0-0: With just one second remaining on the power play, Millan gets a tripping call for taking down Nyquist with his paddle. That will keep Maine on the PP for another two minutes.

First period, 9:31, tied 0-0: BU's Andrew Glass gets whistled for a contact to the head, putting Maine on the power play. Not good news for the Terriers as the Black Bears own the best PP unit in the nation at 27.9 percent, more than four percent higher than Yale, the second-best in the country with a man up.

First period, 8:37, tied 0-0: There was a firing range of shots for the Maine attack but the Black Bears failed to get any of their four consecutive shots on net.

First period, 7:20, tied 0-0: Great kill by Maine as BU got just two shots on net. Just moments after the power play expired, Flynn came flying down the left wing and got a good shot on Millan.

First period, 6:40, tied 0-0: Goalie Dave Wilson and the Maine PK are looking strong through the first minute of the BU power play.

First period, 5:13, tied 0-0: BU will get the first man-up as Maine's Theo Andersson gets called for the hook.

First period, 4:10, tied 0-0: It's been a very fast-paced, hard-hitting contest to no one's surprise. Neither team is holding the edge as things are pretty even thus far.

First period, :53, tied 0-0: And we're off here at the Garden. The crowd is roaring with Maineiacs and the ever-popular and always loud Terrier faithful.

8:26 p.m.: Looks like Maine is rocking playoff stache's. Oh wait BU is too, so there will be no awesome facial hair advantage tonight.

8:20 p.m.: We're just about ready to go here for the nightcap as the Terriers are looking to return to the Hockey East finals. Standing in their way is Maine, led by a pair of sophomores Gustav Nyquist and Brian Flynn, who both own 18 goals this season.

8 a.m.: The defending national champion Boston University Terriers are just two steps away from their second Hockey East title in a row as they take on the No. 4 Maine Black Bears.

Maine found its way into the semis thanks to an overtime win over UMass Lowell in a decisive Game 3 quarterfinal match. Captain Tanner House tallied the game-winning goal 5:10 into the extra frame. Sophomore Gustav Nyquist dished out three assists during the series, while keeper Dave Wilson enters the semifinal match with a 1.30 GAA and a .944 save percentage.

BU finished off Merrimack after trading wins in the first two contests with an easy 3-0 victory in Game 3 on Sunday.

The Terriers own the season series against Maine with a 2-1-0 record, and BU has every right to have some swagger heading into this one, especially with a red-hot netminder between the pipes. Sophomore Kieran Millan has stopped 92 of the 97 shots (.948 save percentage) he has faced and kicked aside all 34 shots to notch a shutout his last time out.

Sophomore forward Vinny Saponari paced the BU offense with four points (two goals) and a plus-3 rating in the quarterfinal series.

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