BU, UMass Lowell to play in Hockey East final

BOSTON – One thing the Hockey East playoffs have been known for is unexpected teams reaching the final. On Friday at TD BankNorth Garden, the silver anniversary rendition of the championship didn’t disappoint.With two of the nation’s top ranked teams – Boston University and Northeastern – seemingly on a collision course for tonight’s final, UMass Lowell pulled a shocker, upending the Huskies, 3-2, in overtime on Chris Auger’s goal 3:00 into the extra session to give Lowell only its second berth in the title game.In the nightcap, the No. 1 ranked Terriers got a huge fight from Boston College, trailing 1-0 in the third period. But the nation’s No. 1 ranked offense asserted itself in a record setting way over the final 10 minutes.Zach Cohen, Brian Strait and Colin Wilson scored three times in a Hockey East tournament record 44 seconds to send the Terriers into the final with a 3-2 win over their rivals.St. John’s Prep grad John McCarthy had a pair of assists in the game while Saugus’ Jason Lawrence recorded the assist on Wilson’s game-winning goal.It didn’t take long for bad blood to surface between the two rivals on Commonwealth Avenue as Brandon Yip was given a 5:00 major and a game misconduct for a hit from behind on Eagle defenseman Tim Filangieri at 1:31 of the first period.The Eagles looked to get off to a quick start via the major but the BU penalty killers did the job, along with a couple of clutch saves by Hockey East Rookie of the Year Kieran Millan, as BC failed to strike on the long advantage.BU’s power play, ranked second in the country, had a pair of chances to break the ice later in the period but BC easily killed off both opportunities to keep the game scoreless after one.The deadly Terrier power play had another chance to strike in the early moments of the second, but Eagle goalie John Muse came up with several critical saves.Then late in the second, the Eagles finally got on the board as Ben Smith went to the net and scored by batting a Brian Gibbons rebound past Millan to make it 1-0.A tripping penalty to BU’s Vinny Saponari with 1:25 left in the second gave the Eagles another power play chance, which carried 34 seconds over into the third. That power play went by the boards, as did another moments later.BU went back on the power play with 11:00 left when Tim Kunes was called for tripping, but the Eagles were able to clog the shooting lanes and held the Terriers to only one shot over the two minutes.After dodging bullets all night, BC finally was hit with 8:59 left when fourth line wing Zach Cohen cut off the left halfwall, across the crease and tucked a shot past Muse.Cohen’s goal sparked the most explosive sequence in the history of the Hockey East tournament.On the next shift, Strait took a John McCarthy pass at the blue line and snapped a shot past Muse at 11:27 to put the Terriers ahead. Not to be out done, Hobey Baker Award finalist Wilson took a pass from Jason Lawrence, slipped in front of the net and fired a shot inside the left post to make it 3-1 and completed BU’s record-setting explosion.BC wasn’t done though as Joe Whitney tipped home Anthony Aiello’s drive from the right point to cut the lead to 3-2 with 5:42 left.