ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jack Hughes and Cole Eiserman scored second-period targets and Boston College beat Penn State 3-1 on Thursday night time to advance to its first Frozen 4 last in 10 years.
Freshman Mikhail Yegorov stopped 32 pictures and Jack Harvey scored an empty-netter with a minute left for BU (24-12-2), which misplaced within the semifinals in every of the previous two years. The Terriers are five-time champions who misplaced to Windfall within the 2015 last and are in search of their first title since beating Miami (Ohio) in 2009.
Boston College will face Frozen 4 first-timers, top-seeded Western Michigan on Saturday night time. The Broncos have gained 9 straight and superior with a 3-2 double-overtime victory over defending champion Denver within the first semifinal.
“We all came here for a reason to win a national championship, so just thinking about having the opportunity to do that in a couple of days is exciting,” Hughes stated. “So it’s a little bit of a relief for now, and then we’re going to get back to work and hopefully win it all.”
Nicholas DeGraves scored 2:15 into the third for Penn State (22-14-4). The Nittany Lions — one other Frozen 4 first-timer — have been making simply their fourth NCAA match look since being established in 2011-12. Arsenii Sergeev made 31 saves in a showdown of two Russian-born goalies.
Hughes opened the scoring 1:35 by sweeping in a free puck after Sergeev was unable to search out it sitting within the crease after he stopped Matt Copponi’s preliminary shot.
Eiserman scored 9 minutes later by changing a 2-on-1 break. Cole Hutson drove deep down the left facet and swung round to feed a cross again by means of the crease to Eiserman, who one-timed it into the open facet.
Yegorov preserved the win with a number of key stops. He acquired his blocker as much as flip apart Dane Dowlak’s shot off a breakaway with seven minutes left within the second interval. And the 19-year-old briefly peeked behind him after smothering Jarod Crespo’s arduous shot from the best circle with 4:19 left within the third.
Yegorov improved to 11-5-1 since becoming a member of BU in January after opening the season within the USHL. He was chosen by New Jersey within the second spherical of the NHL draft in June.
The Nittany Lions nonetheless completed lots in a season during which they opened 0-8-1 in Huge Ten play earlier than ending 9/11-4 and shutting with a 4-3 OT loss to Ohio State within the convention match.
“It’s always tough when the season ends. But I honestly just can’t help but feel so grateful and positive about this year and this team,” coach Man Gadowsky stated. “We were left for dead not long ago and for these guys to come back and play in St. Louis is remarkable, and better than that is how they did it.”
Terriers coach and two-time Stanley Cup winner Jay Pandolfo has reached the Frozen 4 a mixed seven instances, 4 as a participant and in every of his three seasons behind the BU bench. He was a member of the 1995 championship workforce coached by U.S. Hockey Corridor of Famer Jack Parker.
“I was fortunate to play on really good teams when I was a player at BU, and we only won one time, so I have a pretty good understanding of how hard it is to win,” Pandolfo stated.
“Certainly came up short the last two years, and I think it’s helped our team to have an understanding of you have to play a certain way if you want to get to that final game,” he added. “Yeah, it feels good to get there, but we certainly hope the job’s not done yet.”
