Boston College uses strong 3rd period to crush Miami (OH), will play Wisconsin in the NCAA Championship

Like the first game with the Wisconsin Badgers, the Boston College Eagles used a blowout to move on to Saturday's Championship Game as the Boston College Eagles are back in the NCAA Hockey Championship Game as to prove that Hockey East is one of the best conferences in the country.

The Eagles used a huge 3rd period where 4 goals opened up a game where Miami of Ohio thought of having a glimmer of hope as the Redhawks were able to comeback after a horrible penalty kill had burned them early on in the game.

B.C.'s 7 goals came from 6 different players as Ben Smith started and ended the Eagles scoring to put the game away to get back to the National Championship Game.

Hopefully we can expect a better game for the NCAA National Championship on Saturday then what Thursday's Semifinals gave us with the combined score of 15-2 in favor of Boston College and Wisconsin.

By Jim Connelly of the United States College Hockey Website: http://www.uscho.com/

Boston College is headed to the National Championship Game, and this is not 2006, 2007 or 2008.

Thinks to an opportunistic offense, which scored seven goals on just 30 shots, and a solid effort in net by B.C. Netminder John Muse (17 saves), the Eagles knocked off Miami, 7-1, in front of a record 34,954 fans at Ford Field, to advance to it's fourth national title game in five years.

Boston College will now face Wisconsin, an 8-1 winner over RIT in the opening semifinal. Muse is now 7-0 in NCAA Playoff Games.

The Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the four-minute mark of the 2nd period, thinks in part to a power play that finished two-for-five. That same power play hadn't scored a single goal in this year's NCAA Tournament.

"You've got to have amnesia when it comes down to power plays," said BC Cocah Jerry York. "We were 0-for-10 coming into today and the next power play shift is the most important shift. We feel very confident with our special teams now."

John Whitley (G,A) Brian Gibbons (3 A), Ben Smith (2G A) Jimmy Hayes (G 2A), Pat Mullane (2A) and Brian Dumoulin (2A) all had multiple point games for BC.

Though Miami had the best of the early shots, holding a 5-1 lead through the first 8 minutes, BC Responded to take control late in the period, and with 1:28 remaining, got on the board.

Five seconds later after Miami's Joe Hartman was whistled for holding, Ben Smith redirected a Joe Whitney shot past Miami's start Connor Knapp (six saves in 23:05) for the 1-0 lead.

"That was a big goal for us to end the first", said Smith. "Joe Whitney just gave me a great shot-pass and I was able to tip it by the goalie."

In the 2nd, B.C. was flying from the opening faceoff. The Eagles again went on the power play when Will Weber was sent off for interference just eight seconds into the frame, but it was Miami that had the best chance. Andy Miele walked alone, forcing Muse to make an acrobatic pad save to maintain the lead. Before the power play, BC Swung the momentum entirely in its direction.

Jimmy Hayes buried a one-timer through Knapp's legs after Pat Mulane centered a loose puck from the right corner at 2:06 for the two goal lead.

"If Mele scores, it's 1-1 and it's a different game," said Miami coach Enrico Blasi. "You have to capitalize on your opportunities. Absolutely, that was a turning point."

Just 62 seconds later, BC Struck again when John Whitley scored from the exact same spot as Hayes-the high slot- and that goal chased Knapp from the game. Hobey Baker Finalist Cody Reichard replaced Knapp and doing so, seemed to settle down the Redhawks defense.

At the other end, Muse was sharp, particularly late in the frame when Miami packed things into the crease. Miami still only had 4 shots on goal in the frame and the Eagles took the 3-0 lead to the locker room.

In the 3rd, Miami finally got on the board at 5:19 when Hartman's shot from the right point beat Muse over the shoulder through a screen to pull the Redhawks within 3-1.

Midway through the frame, BC struck with the dagger. Three of them in fact.

Cam Atkinson, Patch Alber (first goal of his career) and Paul Carey all scored within a span of 1:35 to take any wind out of the Redhawks sails.

Smith scored his second goal of the game with 3:39 remaining to account for the 7-1 final.

The loss for Miami ends its campaign at 29-8-7, the 2nd most wins in school history (33 in 2007-08). It's also the fourth time in five seasons that Miami's season ended at the hands of Boston College in the NCAA Tournament. The one year that Miami didn't lose to BC, 2009, when they fell to another Beantown School, Boston University.

"Its like the curse of Boston continues," said Miami of Ohio senior forward Jarod Palmer. "I don't really know what exactly happened out there tonight."

The Eagles, on the other hand, advanced to the title game for the 10th time in school history and the seventh time under York. BC is looking for its 4th national title in school history and third in the last 10 years. Saturday's game against Wisconsin will be a rematch of the 2006 final, which Wisconsin won, 2-1.

"I wasn't here in 2006 when BC Played Wisconsin, but I know that was a pretty tough loss for our guys," Said Smith. "It's exciting to be back in the national championship game. Wisconsin is a great team and you saw that tonight. We'' prepare and come out on Saturday Night ready to go."


Boston College Advances to the NCAA National Championship Game. It will be Boston College VS. Wisconsin for the Title on Saturday.


Game Boxscore

Boston College 7 Miami of Ohio 1 (1-0, 2-0, 4-1)

1-0 BC: Ben Smith (PP) (J. Whitney, S. Whitney) 18:32 1st

2-0 BC: Jimmy Hayes (PP) (Mullane, Dumoulin) 2:06 2nd

3-0 BC: Joe Whitney (Dumoulin, Gibbons) 3:08 2nd

3-1 MOH: Joe Hartman (Camper, Hirschfeld) 5:19 3rd

4-1 BC: Cam Atkinson (Gibbons, Whitney) 10:10 3rd

5-1 BC: Patch Alber (Smith, Dumoulin) 10:44 3rd

6-1 BC: Paul Carey (Shea, Mullane) 11:45 3rd

7-1 BC: Ben Smith (Hayes, Kreider) 16:21 3rd


Game Stats

SOG: BC 30 MOH 18

PP: BC 2/5 MOH 0/2

PIM: BC 8 Minutes on 4 Penalties MOH 14 Minutes on 7 Penalties

Goalies: BC John Muse 17 SVS on 18 Shots MOH Cody Reichard 17 SVS on 21 Shots Connor Knapp 6 SVS on 9 Shots

ATT: 34954

3 Stars: N/A

Wisconsin ends up-start RIT's Cinderella Dream, crushes Tigers in a 4 goal 2nd period

Just 5 years ago, the Rochester Institute of Technology Hockey Team became a Division 1 Hockey and became one of the fastest teams to go from expansion to the NCAA Frozen Four in the history of the NCAA Division 1 Hockey Team.

After winning the Atlantic Hockey Conference, RIT was going into the tournament as the #4 seed in a tough East Regional with the University of Denver where they upset in the opening round. The Tigers got a break when the Cornell Big Red got upset by New Hampshire. Then in the Regional Final, RIT was able to beat New Hampshire in the Regional Final.

Regardless of the result, RIT has come along way and are looking to at least be the face of the Atlantic Hockey that has often been labeled as the 5th of the 5 major Conferences in NCAA Division 1 Hockey. (Not counting the College Hockey America Conference that is officially all gone now.)

Wisconsin was able to beat Vermont in the opening round. Then took advantage of a St. Cloud State Team who beat Northern Michigan in Double OT the previous day. The Badgers had a huge 1st period against St. Cloud State to hold on to advance to the Frozen Four.

In last night's game, it was a fast start in the 1st period with 2 goals in the first 10 minutes for the Badgers with goals by John Mitchell and Derek Staphan to stun the Tigers. Then the 2nd period just ended any hope for a RIT Comeback with 4 goals involving a strong Special Teams with 3 power play goals (2 of them 5 on 3) to go up 6-0.

Wisconsin will move on the NCAA National Championship Game against Boston College who's looking to complete a strong 2nd half of the season after struggling and finishing 2nd in the WCHA.


From Paula C. Weston of the United States College Hockey Website: www.uscho.com

Wisconsin pressured early, made the most of the 2nd period power plays and spread the goals around in an 8-1 win over RIT in Thursday's first Frozen Four Semifinal game at Ford Field, giving the Badgers the change to play for their 7th NCAA Championship Game on Saturday Night.

"It was one of our emphasis to get off to a great start, and we wanted to take time and space away as quickly as we could just to see how they would handle it", Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves said. "And we did we needed to do, and we were able to get an early lead. And the power play put us, separated the gap a little bit. But getting the good start was paramount for us."

John Mitchell's first period goal at 1:27, on a rebound by Cody Goloubef, seemed inevitable after UW controlled the play from the opening faceoff of the game. Stepan's first goal was a tip-in of Ryan Mcdonagh's shot from the point at 9:38, giving the Badgers a 2-0 lead that held through the first period.

RIT Coach Wayne Wilson said that an early UW lead was a changing point in the game. "And then, just the power plays in the 2nd period," said Wilson. "They have a tremendous power play. We knew that going in. And we didn't want to give them those opportunities."

The Badgers netted four straight goals in the second before RIT's Tyler Brenner scored for the Tigers at 19:32. The last three UW goals in the 2nd period were with the man advantage, the last two with two Tigers in the penalty box.

"The Penalties we took, took us right back out of it," said Wilson. "And then particularly in the 2nd period, you know, they just started scoring goals and reviewing - it was just a slow, methodical period, and we didn't get anything going whatsoever."

Jordy Murray scored at 2:18 and Justin Schultz at 4:26 to give the Badgers a 4-0 lead before Wisconsin had two nearly consecutive stretches of two-man advantages. During Tigers forward Mike Cornacchia's five minute-major penalty for hitting from behind at 10:26 - a penalty for which he was also given a game misconduct - the Badgers scored twice, first with Taylor Mazzei also in the box for roughing, and then with Taylor Mcreynolds out for tripping.

Michael Davies tic-tac-toe goal at 11:15 made it 5-0, and Blake Geoffrion scored at at 13:24 on a rebound of Brendan Smith's shot from the circle to give UW (28-10-4) a 6-0 lead.

Mitchell said that creative traffic in front of the Tigers net was essential to the win. "Our forwards take Jared DeMichiel's eyes away," he said. "He's been hot."

Toward the end of the third period, Wilson pulled DeMichiel to allow freshman Shane Madolora and Junior Jan Ropponen a little time in net. Madolora gave up one goal to Craig Smith at 17:28; Ropponen let in Stepaen's at 17:48.

"I almost felt bad, but I got both of my other goalies in the game as well," said Wilson. "Unfortunately, they were on the other score sheet. I put them in a tough situation. I want them to experience it. You never know when you're going to get back here. So I wanted them to enjoy that."

The Tigers finish the regular season 28-12-1; this was their first trip to the NCAA Tournament.

"There's no such thing as an easy win." said Eaves. "And you can speculate and look at paper and do all that. But you've got to out and perform. And I think our kids did a tremendous job 0f sticking to the game plan and focusing on what we needed to do to win this game here."

The University of Wisconsin has advanced to the NCAA National Championship Game on Saturday Night.


Game Boxscore

RIT 1 Wisconsin 8 (0-2, 1-4, 0-2)

0-1 WISC: John Mitchell (Goloubef, Schultz) 1:27 1st

0-2 WISC: Derek Stephan (Mcdonagh) 9:38 1st

0-3 WISC: Jordy Murray (Bendickson) 2:18 2nd

0-4 WISC: Justin Schultz (PP) (Smith, Geoffrion) 4:26 2nd

0-5 WISC: Michael Davies (PP) (Smith, Geoffrion) 11:15 2nd

0-6 WISC: Blake Geoggrion (PP) (Smith, Stepan) 13:24 2nd

1-6 RIT: Tyler Benner (Ringwald, Favot) 19:32 2nd

1-7 WISC: Craig Smith (Bohmbach, Smith) 17:28 3rd

1-8 WISC: Derek Stepan (Street, Smith) 17:48 3rd


Game Stats

SOG: RIT 14 WISC 37

PP: RIT 1/4 WISC 3/7

PIM: RIT 29 Minutes on 9 Penalties WISC 10 Minutes on 5 Penalties

Goalies: RIT Jared DiMichiel 27 SVS on 32 Shots Jan Ropponen 2 SVS on 3 Shots Shane Madolora 0 SVS on 0 Shots WISC Scott Gudmandson 13 SVS on 14 Shots

ATT: N/A

3 Stars: N/A