McBride's Hat Trick, McKenzie's Penalty Shot Beat BU 4-3 in OT

 

HANOVER , NH: When Boston University and St. Lawrence University have gotten together in college hockey recently, 60 minutes has not been enough.

 

It was the same Friday night in the opening round of the Ledyard Bank Classic at Dartmouth as Brock McBride scored a hat trick with two goals in the third period to force overtime and rookie Mike McKenzie ended the game on a penalty shot midway through the five minute overtime as the Saints upended the ninth-ranked Terriers to advance to Saturday’s championship game.

 

The last time the two teams met, the game took six hours and four overtimes before the Saints won to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four in March of 2000 with a 3-2 win. This one lacked the duration, but had plenty of drama as the Saints evened the all-time series between the two teams 26-26-2.

 

McBride’s hat trick in his first game back in the lineup after missing three games with a knee injury set up the second straight overtime game between the Saints and Terriers. This one couldn’t go as long under tournament rules, but could have ended up in a penalty shot shootout to decide who would advance had it stayed tied after the five minute overtime. Instead it was a penalty shot off the stick of the Saints’ leading scorer which gave the Saints the win over the Terriers.

 

McKenzie had the puck at the side of the BU net midway through the five-minute overtime period and snapped a shot at the upper corner which Terrier goalie John Curry saved. As McKenzie scrambled for his own rebound with Curry off balance, defenseman Matt Gilroy and Curry both crashed into the net, knocking it off its moorings. After a discussion with his assistants, referee Alex Dell gave the Saints the option of a delay of game penalty on Gilroy and power play or the penalty shot and the Saints opted for the penalty shot.

 

McKenzie skated in on Curry, faked left and tucked the puck around the goalie to the right to give the Saints their first win over a top-ten ranked team this season and send them into the tournament title game against the winner of the Dartmouth-North Dakota game which was played later Friday evening.

 

“There wasn’t much question about taking the penalty shot,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “And Mike McKenzie certainly executed it well. He is a very hockey-savvy young man and has played in a lot of big playoff games in juniors, so we weren’t in the least bit surprised when he scored it.”

 

“It was a great way for us to start the second half and a very good hockey game as well. Brock McBride obviously had a tremendous night for us in his first game back after the knee injury and his line gave us some offensive spark. Alex Petizian also turned in a tremendous game in net that put is in the position to win it,” Marsh added.

 

Petizian, who picked up his first ECACHL win at Dartmouth’s Thompson Arena in November, made 27 saves for the Friday night win while Curry finished with 19 saves for the Terriers.

 

The Saints trailed 2-1 heading into the third period, but tied it at 2-2 at 8:58 as Max Taylor intercepted a BU clearing pass along the side boards and fed McBride in the center slot. McBride skated in on Curry, faked twice and tucked the puck between the goalie’s skate and the post.

 

The Terriers answered just 1:05 later when Lawrence finished off a two-on-one rush with his second of the night, but the Saints tied it again when the power play finally paid off on its seventh chance of the night with McBride completing his hat trick just 11 seconds into the man advantage. Kevin DeVergilio got him the puck in the corner and McBride sped out in front and put the puck between Curry’s pads at 16:10 to send the game into overtime.

 

“We still are having trouble finding the back of the net on the power play, but that was certainly a big one for us,” said Marsh. “We’ve had a few moral victories against some highly ranked and very good teams, and it was really nice to be able to walk away with a win in one of those games.”

 

The Saints opened the scoring in the tournament as two players who had missed the previous three games due to injury collaborated on the goal. DeVergilio, who has been out with a shoulder injury, started the scoring play as he circled with the puck in the deep center slot and slid it back to Jared Ross on the point. Ross blasted a shot toward the net and McBride, who was seeing his first action since the Clarkson game, redirected the puck past Terrier goalie John Curry for his second of the year.

 

BU tied the game on a late first period power play as Jason Lawrence took the puck from center Chris Higgins, walked into the faceoff circle and snapped a wrist shot which Petizian got a part of, but couldn’t keep from deflecting into the net off his pads at 18:28.

 

It could have been an even higher scoring first period, but both goaltenders were sharp. Petizian came up big on Ryan Monaghan from point blank range early in the game and robbed Kenny Roche with 4:30 to play while Curry stoned Kyle Rank from point blank range with 2:20 left in the first period.

 

Petizian kept it a tie game with a penalty shot save on Ryan Weston 2:36 into the second period as Weston was awarded the shot after being hauled down on a shorthanded breakaway. Weston skated in on Petizian, who came out to challenge and then backed into the crease, making a pad save to keep it 1-1.

 

The Terriers took the lead at 4:42 of the second as Pete MacArthur walked right down the center slot unmolested and rifled a shot past Petizian off a feed by Roche.

 

The Saints had plenty of chances to pull even with power play opportunities through the second half of the second period, but while the Saints moved the puck well on the power play and had a couple of great chances in front, they couldn’t cash in. BU killed off 1:30 of five-on-three power play right after taking the lead and then killed a pair of late SLU power plays to protect its lead.