By: Jake Reiser
The last weekend of Hockey East regular season play is finally here. After a long season, there was one matchup left for the No. 6 Boston University Terriers on the docket: No. 13 University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
In a battle of strong third period teams and large goaltenders, the Irish prevailed in game one, by a score of 3-1. Jake Evans had two goals for Notre Dame while Cal Petersen made 37 saves against the Terriers.
Evans got the Irish on the board just before the midway point of the first period. On a Charlie McAvoy giveaway to Cam Morrison, Evans’ one-timer got through BU netminder Jake Oettinger to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead.
Almost at the end of the period, and in the minute following a successful penalty kill, the Terriers put one home. Clayton Keller spun with the puck around the offensive zone, turned to take a shot and fired one towards net. The puck deflected off the shin pad of Patrick Harper, beating Petersen and evening the game at one goal a side.
Notre Dame took the lead for good with less than two minutes left in the second period. On a play that was initially waived off as no goal, Bobo Carpenter pushed a Notre Dame forward into Oettinger, who couldn’t make a play on Ben Ostlie’s backhand bid. After review, the call was overturned, giving the Irish a 2-1 lead.
The goal was Ostlie’s first goal of the season and first point by a Notre Dame senior this season.
Throughout the game, the referees made themselves known, with early whistles, and two reviews that defined the game.
It felt like the Terriers had all the momentum in the third period, landing 23 shots on Petersen in the frame. Again, late in the period, Evans’ one-timer on an odd man rush just beat Oettinger, sealing a Notre Dame victory. Boston University had two power plays in the third period, but couldn’t convert, only getting three shots total with the man advantage.
“Our power play is not good enough. End of story. We’re very, very immature with our power play,” said BU Head Coach David Quinn.
Quinn also noted how strong Cal Petersen has been against BU in his career at Notre Dame.
“Petersen’s had our number for three years if you go back and look at our games with them,” Quinn said. “Two years ago, we were here, and I think we put 50 shots on him both nights, and we get a point. Last year, we went out [to South Bend] and we played well in the first game, won 3-2, and the second night, they beat us, 1-0.”
Even still, Quinn believes there were a lot of positives to take out of the game as whole.
“I thought we played hard, I thought we were much more responsible…I thought our grit was there, I thought our determination was there,” Quinn said.
With the loss, the Terriers will not be able to claim the Hockey East regular season title outright. Depending on the outcome of the Friday night match-up between Boston College and UMass-Lowell, as well as their own game Saturday night at 7 p.m. against Notre Dame, BU could claim a share of the Hockey East lead only on points.