After 100 minutes and 43 seconds of hockey, Boston College's Benn Ferriero wristed a shot from right point, which deflected off University of New Hampshire's Carl Switzer over Kevin Regan's left shoulder to end the longest semifinal in Hockey East history on Friday night. BC defeated UNH 5-4 to head to its 13th appearance in the championship.
Ferriero's goal, which followed two scoreless overtimes, occurred during the only power play of the overtimes. Danny Dries was called for interference after taking a BC player out at the legs at 18:55 of the second overtime. The winning goal was BC's third power-play goal.
"The penalties just changed the momentum of the game. We kind of left [Regan] out to dry tonight," said UNH head coach Dick Umile.
Regan played a career night. His 62 saves are the third most in Hockey East tournament play, and the most ever in a semifinal. He was able to block most of BC's best chances for goals; multiple goals were deflections off sticks or skates.
Despite each team getting off 13 shots, BC left the first period down 2-0. At the 5:17 mark of the game, UNH's Bobby Butler sent a shot high blocker side over John Muse. Then, at 15:16 on a delayed penalty call, Jamie Fritsch fired a low shot from the left point, beating Muse for the second goal of the game.
BC got on the board 1:34 into the second period. Ben Smith scored his 20th goal of the season on a power play. He smacked a rebound out of mid air at the fight post. Before BC could close the lead, UNH scored two quick goals. Butler scored his second goal of the game at 10:33, taking a pass from Jamie vanRiemsdyk and buried a shot low on the blocker side. Two minutes later, Thomas Fortney scored a short-handed goal, taking advantage of a two-on-one situation, making it a 4-1 game. "We thought we won it after we were up by three," Umile said. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, that was not the case; they had scored their last goal.
The Eagles immediately began to fight back. Just over a minute after Fortney's goal, Joe Whitney responded with a goal from above the right point, assisted by Ferriero and Nathan Gerbe. Brian Gibbons followed, scoring off his own rebound at 16:34 to make it a one-goal game. Gerbe then had an opportunity to tie the game; he took a shot as Regan stepped forward, giving Gerbe an open net. The puck sailed wide of the net.
2008 Woodie Awards
