Friars Fall to BU in Hockey East Title Game

By Bob Murph

Sophomore forward Josh Wilkins digs the puck out in a vain effort to
attack the BU net. Terrier netminder Jake Oettinger was perfect,
however, throwing a shutout against the Friars and earning Hockey
East Tournament MVP accolades.

BOSTON—Saturday may have been a great day to be Irish, but not such a great day to be a Providence College Friar fan. Precisely one day after the basketball Friars were unceremoniously bounced from the NCAA Tournament with a one-and-done 73-69 loss to Texas A&M, the PC pucksters team met a similar fate in the Hockey East Championship game, dropping a 2-0 decision to archrival Boston University before an announced crowd of 10,169 at the TD Garden.

After two hard-fought scoreless periods, the Terriers broke the ice when Junior Jordan Greenway got the puck behind the Friar net and fed senior Drew Melanson in the left circle. The 5-11 senior from Paramus, NJ, promptly sent a one-timer past the Friars’ goaltender, junior Hayden Hawkey, to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead just 46 seconds into the third stanza. It was Melanson’s second goal in as many games, and his third marker of the postseason. Freshman Brady Tkachuk also assisted on Melanson's fifth goal of the season.

At that point the heralded Terrier defense took over as B.U., the No. 18-ranked team in the country, shut down No. 9 PC, limiting the Friars to just six shots in the final 20 minutes. Junior Bobo Carpenter sealed the victory when he notched his 20th goal of the campaign—an unassisted empty-netter—with just 1:22 remaining in regulation.

Sophomore netminder Jake Oettinger, who played brilliantly between the pipes for the Terriers, was named Hockey East Tournament MVP. He was particularly effective in the first period when he turned aside all 18 shots he faced. Junior Jordan Greenway and sophomore Chad Krys joined Oettinger on the Hockey East All-Tournament Team.

For the Terriers, it was a win-or-go-home scenario. And they came up big.

“It was the first time that we had to win this thing to get in the national tournament,” BU coach David Quinn told The Boston Globe after the game. “I think that makes this one a little bit more special than the others. What had to go into it, the adversity we faced and the path that we created for ourselves just says an awful lot about the guys in the locker room.”

BU outshot the PC 20-12, over the final two periods. This was the second time the Terriers shut out the Friars this season, having earned a 2-0 victory over Providence at Agganis Arena on Nov. 3.

With the win, the Terriers extended their unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1). That is the second-best streak (Princeton is 7-0-1) heading into the postseason. Both teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament. BU, which finishes the season at 21-13-4, is seeded No. 4 in the Worcester Region and will take on No. 1 seed Cornell (25-5-2) at the DCU Center in Worcester on Saturday at 1 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPNews.

The Friars, meanwhile, finish the regular season at 23-11-4, and are seeded No. 2 in the Bridgeport Region. They will face the No. 3 seed, 23-10-6 Clarkson, at the Webster Bank Arena on Friday at 6:30. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

Winners of the four Regional tournaments (Sioux Falls, SD and Allentown, Pa., join Worcester and Bridgeport as Regional host sites) will advance to the Frozen Four, which will be played next weekend (April 5 and 7) at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. All Frozen Four games will be televised on ESPN2. In addition, the entire NCAA Tournament will be streamed on WatchESPN.

For the complete NCAA Tournament bracket, click HERE.

—with staff reports