DURHAM, N.H. - The third-ranked University of New Hampshire (23-8-2, 18-6-2 HE) men's ice hockey team was upended by the ninth-ranked Boston College Eagles (21-11-1, 17-8-1), 4-1, Friday in the regular-season home finale at the Whittemore Center on senior night. With the Providence win tonight over Merrimack, the Wildcats will host No. 8 seed Providence College in the Hockey East quarterfinals which begin on Thursday, March 8th.

Boston College opened the scoring with 3:56 remaining in the first period when UNH netminder Kevin Regan (South Boston, Mass.) made a stop on BC's Ben Ferriero, but could not recover to make a sprawling save on Matt Greene, who put the puck past the down-and-out Regan.

BC struck again just over three minutes later when a scrum in front of the net led to a Nathan Gerbe power-play score, and a 2-0 advantage for the Eagles. The Wildcats got on the board in the second period after senior defenseman Chris Murray (Dover, Mass.) received a pass from sophomore forward Trevor Smith (North Vancouver, B.C.) and blasted a slapshot over the right shoulder of BC goalie Cory Schneider from just outside the top of the right circle. Sophomore forward Jerry Pollastrone (Revere, Mass.) was also credited with an assist on the play.

Gerbe and Ferriero scored a pair of empty-net goals in the last minute of the game to seal the 4-1 victory for the Eagles.

Regan made 34 stops in the game, including 14 in the second period and 12 in the third and Schnieder recorded 31 saves defending the PC net.

The Wildcats finish the regular season with a 10-5-1 record at the Whittemore Center.

UNH and BC conclude the home-and-home series Saturday night (March 3) at 7 p.m. at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass.