ALBANY, N.Y. - The No. 10/11 Boston University men's ice hockey team had its season come to an end on Saturday afternoon as No. 7 St. Cloud State took a 6-2 victory in the first round of the NCAA Northeast Regional at the Times Union Center.
BU opened the scoring in the opening moments of what ended up being a five-goal second period and found itself down 3-2 with a period to play.
The Huskies prevented the Terriers from getting an equalizer and tacked on three more goals to advance to Sunday's regional final.
BU finishes the season with a record of 10-5-1 while SCSU improves to 18-10-0.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Neither team got on the board in the opening period but the Terriers were forced to kill off a major penalty after freshman Dylan Peterson had his afternoon cut short after being issued a game misconduct for hitting from behind just 9:08 into the contest.
- Freshman Drew Commesso was impressive in the first, stopping all 14 shots he faced, including nine on the major power play, to keep the game scoreless.
- BU came out of the gates quickly in the second as sophomore Wilmer Skoog punched in a loose puck in the slot after senior Logan Cockerill knocked it away from a St. Cloud player.
- The Huskies got an equalizer on a bizarre play as a deflected puck went high into the air and most of the players of the ice had no idea where it went.
- The puck dropped right in front of Micah Miller, who took full advantage of the confusion - and a relatively empty net - and sent it in at 12:14 of the second.
- Just over a minute later, the Huskies got lucky once again as a shot by Nick Perbix from the right side went off two BU skaters and in to give St. Cloud at 2-1 lead.
- BU used a power play to get back in the contest as junior Jake Wise took a pass from freshman Luke Tuch and curled around the top of the zone before cutting in through the left circle and wristing a near side shot that beat SCSU netminder David Hrenak high at 15:28, making it a 2-2 affair.
- That deadlock lasted all of 32 seconds as Easton Brodzinski scored off a faceoff with exactly four minutes left in the middle stanza to give the Huskies the lead for good at 3-2.
- BU appeared to have a great opportunity to get back into the game when St. Cloud's Chase Brand was dealt a game misconduct for an illegal hit to the head of sophomore Jay O'Brien at 3:29 of the third.
- That chance changed in the blink of an eye, as a shorthanded breakaway for the Huskies turned into a penalty shot that was converted by Jami Krannila to double the lead.
- The Huskies successfully killed off the major and then got another goal from Brodzinski at 10:04 of the third before Veeti Miettinen capped the scoring with just under five minutes to play.
GAME NOTES
- St. Cloud held a 38-36 shot advantage as Commesso made 32 stops and Hrenak had 34.
- BU went 1-for-4 on the power play and killed off both of the Huskies' chances with the man advantage, including the first-period major.
- The Terriers were playing their first game in Albany since the 2000 NCAA East Regional.
- Skoog's goal was his fourth of the season while Wise's was his first since the 2020 Beanpot title game.
- The Terriers were making their 37th NCAA Tournament appearance, which ranks third all-time.
