By Jason Mastrodonato, News Staff
It was a typical Northeastern vs. Boston University series. A few injuries, a whole lot of penalties, and a final three minutes that featured three goals and a goaltender that was pulled, put back in net, and pulled again.
Put all that together in the Hockey East quarterfinals and there’s bound to be some drama.
“That was one of the most stressful last three minutes I’ve had coaching,” NU head coach Greg Cronin said.
The sixth-seeded Huskies survived a chaotic finish at Agganis Arena on Sunday to outlast the third-seeded Terriers, 5-4, and advance to the semifinals for the third time since 1994.
“It was a tough series and a lot of people doubted us, but we followed through and got it done,” said freshman forward Brodie Reid, who scored twice in the series finale and leads all freshman with 28 points.
With the Huskies third in the nation in penalty minutes per game (18.70) and the Terriers struggling to get the power play going all year (fourth last in the conference at 14.9 percent), special teams figured to play an important role in deciding the outcome.
Northeastern spent 20 minutes in the penalty box during the opening game last Thursday, but BU went 1-for-9 with the extra man as sophomore goalie Chris Rawlings and the NU defense fended off 39 Terrier shots.
Senior forward Steve Silva scored twice as the Huskies won, 4-2.
“That was not the type of game I wanted to play,” said Cronin, who was behind the bench for the first time in three weeks after serving a suspension for potential recruiting violations. “That’s not a healthy way to win a game. We’re fortunate to dodge a bullet.”
The penalties started to pile up again in Game 2 on Friday, as NU players spent 24 minutes in the penalty box. And again, BU struggled to capitalize, going 1-for-10 on the power play. But spending a third of the game killing penalties made it difficult for the Huskies to put anything together on offense.
“People say we kill a penalty,” Cronin said, “but the problem on the bench when you only have six killers is there’s six guys sitting there and they keep sitting and they lose that rhythm that athletes need to play with some confidence. And we kept doing that. It’s like a broken record.”
Rawlings had to be pulled after the Terriers scored on three of their first six shots. Freshman Clay Witt entered the game and made 29 saves in 30 chances, but the damage was done as BU evened the series with a 5-2 win.
Despite the strong performance of Witt, Cronin gave the nod to Rawlings to start game three, who made 31 saves in the final game.
“We kicked it around for a while,” Cronin said. “Clay played well enough to deserve a start. Chris has played about four really poor games over two years. And all four times he’s come back and played really well. And that’s really what I hinged it on.”
The Huskies held a 4-2 lead with three minutes to go in the third period when BU coach Jack Parker pulled goalie Kieran Millan in favor of an extra attacker.
Senior forward Wade MacLeod scored an empty-netter to give the Huskies a three-goal lead, but the Terriers scored twice in the final two minutes, nearly potting a game-tying goal with time winding down.
“I told [my assistant coaches] I hate this part of the game,” Cronin said.
The 5-4 win sent the Huskies to face top-seeded Boston College at TD Garden on Friday in the semifinals. Student tickets through Northeastern have sold out.
“BC is a different team,” Cronin said. “Everybody still talks about the Beanpot because it was such a great game, but we didn’t win the game. You have to win those games. I thought the game we won Sunday was a good start for us to start believing that they can win the big games.”
It also wouldn’t be a BU/NU game without some confrontation after the game.
There was confusion following the final whistle when the referees directed the Huskies immediately to the locker room without shaking hands with the BU players, who were waiting at center-ice.
To Parker and his squad, it initially appeared like a disrespectful move by Northeastern, but Cronin explained that it wasn’t his decision to leave without a post-game handshake.
“I thought it looked really poor that this is a great series and we’re exiting the ice and the BU team who lost the series is waiting for us to shake hands,” Cronin said after the game. “I really didn’t think it was that bad-blooded of a game and the classy thing to do – this is college athletics – is to walk through the line and shake hands. As the head coach, I took some abuse for it. I was trying to explain it wasn’t my decision. I actually went back and tried to get my team on the ice, but [it was too late].”
