Box Score | Season Stats
BOSTON - Senior co-captain David Van der Gulik (Abbotsford, B.C.) netted his second hat trick in three games to lead the No. 3/4 and top-seeded Boston University men's ice hockey team (24-9-4, 17-7-3 Hockey East) to a convincing 9-2 victory over No. 9/12 New Hampshire in the Hockey East Semifinals on Friday night at the TD Banknorth Garden. With the win, the Terriers advance to the championship game versus Boston College (a 4-1 winner over Maine), which will be played on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.
With three goals and an assist, Van der Gulik was one of 12 Terriers to get on the score sheet, while senior defenseman Dan Spang (Winchester, Mass.) also had a four-point night with a pair of goals and assists. Adding multiple numbers were sophomore Bryan Ewing (Plymouth, Mass.) with two goals and freshman blueliner Matt Gilroy (North Bellmore, N.Y.) and senior co-captain Brad Zancanaro (Trenton, Mich.) with a goal and an assist each. Meanwhile, junior netminder John Curry (Shorewood, Minn.) made 25 saves in goal, while senior Stephan Siwiec (Calgary, Alta.) added two in the last 8:11 of play.
Although it was UNH that struck first for the 1-0 lead, it was the Terriers who then scored five-consecutive goals and never looked back. Taking a 2-1 lead into the second period, BU scored three times in a 6:09 span for the four-goal advantage. After the Wildcats’ second power-play goal from Jacob Micflikier late in the frame, the Terriers came out swinging in the final period, racking up four more goals in a 2:54 span before four minutes had expired for the 9-2 final.
"We played very very well in a whole bunch of ways," said BU Head Coach Jack Parker. "We didn't give up many grade-A shots in the first and second periods, and in the third, it was over - it was anti-climatic."
UNH wasted no time in getting on the board, using its ninth-ranked power play to take the 1-0 lead early in the first period. Brett Hemingway set up Jacob Micflikier for the one-timer with a backhanded pass in front of the net. Micflikier snapped off the quick shot from the right faceoff circle for the lamp-lighter at 2:53.
BU then picked up the pace, starting with a power-play opportunity at the 5:44 mark. Although the Terriers were unable to convert despite quality chances, they kept the pressure on and got a pair of goals within a 1:22 span for the 2-1 advantage.
Spang, who was yesterday named a Hockey East First Team All-Star, netted BU’s first goal at 9:06. Sophomore Ryan Weston (Henniker, N.H.) won a scuffle in the right corner and passed to classmate Brian McGuirk (Danvers, Mass.) along the boards. McGuirk took a hard-angled shot that met with UNH goaltender Kevin Regan at the right post. Spang caught the rebound in front of the net and put it in the open net for his seventh goal of the season.
Barely over a minute later, Van der Gulik passed to senior defenseman Jekabs Redlihs (Riga, Latvia) as the Terriers entered the Wildcat zone. Redlihs skated up the left boards, wrapped around the back of the net and put a shot on goal from the right post that Van der Gulik tipped in at 10:28.
The Terriers took the 2-1 lead back to the locker room for the first intermission, along with a 17-12 shots advantage. Although it was the Wildcats who evened the shot total in the middle frame (26-26), it was the feisty Terriers who scored three more goals, compared to one additional tally by UNH for the 5-2 score.
Van der Gulik posted his second of the night at 7:40 into the period. Getting the puck from junior Sean Sullivan (Braintree, Mass.) at his own blue line, he skated all the way up the left boards before beating Regan five-hole for the 3-1 score. Gilroy then gave BU the three-goal lead when he took a shot from the right point through heavy traffic that deflected off a UNH stick and into the top right corner of the net.
Completing his hat trick in just 23:21, Van der Gulik got a pass at the left post from Zancanaro and put it in the net for BU goal number five at 13:49. It marked the first time that any player recorded two hat tricks in the league playoffs.
The Wildcats closed out second-period scoring with their second power-play goal from Micflickier at 14:34 for the 5-2 score heading into the last stanza.
The Terriers solidified their already hefty lead with four more goals right off the bat in the third, starting with a wrap-around play by Ewing at just :42. Coming around the back of the net from the left side, the puck took a lucky bounce from Ewing’s stick, off of a UNH blade and into the wide-open net with Regan still at the left post.
Zancanaro and Van der Gulik used a pretty give-and-go play as BU went up 7-2 at 2:07. Zancanaro skated the width of the rink at center ice and entered the UNH zone on the left side, where he dropped a pass to Van der Gulik in the faceoff circle. Van der Gulik then skated toward the net and fed the puck back to his linemate for a five-hole goal from the right post.
With Regan pulled in favor of Jeff Pietrasiak, and a BU 4-on-3 advantage, Ewing potted his second of the night at 3:21 with a tip-in at the right post off a hard shot by Gilroy from the left point off a pass from Spang.
The scoring barrage ended at 3:36 when Spang caught a Wildcat clearing pass at the left point while still with the 4-on-3 advantage and took a sniper slap shot for the 9-2 score.
The Terriers out shot the Wildcats, 38-29, while BU was 2-for-4 and UNH was 2-for-5 on the power play.
