A quick look back a last season's playoff run for the Terriers reminds us of just how good that team was. On their way to the top of the College Hockey Mountain, BU singlehandedly ripped the hearts out of nearly every contender in Hockey East.
The Terriers unceremoniously ended the seasons of six Hockey East teams in 2009. Six teams were left with the lasting image of the Terriers celebrating in front of them, with nothing left to do but spend the summer plotting their revenge. Six teams who saw an entire year of work end thanks to 60 minutes of Terrier Hockey. Six very, very pissed off conference rivals.
In the final weekend of regular season play, the Terriers officially closed the book on Providence's season. While PC had already been statistically eliminated from playoff contention, the last thing they saw in 2008-09 was the Terriers celebrating a weekend sweep, culminating with a 3-0 victory at Agganis Arena. The Friars' season ended at the hands of BU, who were able to clinch the Hockey East regular season title as a result of that win.
PC Didn't Do A Whole Lot To Prevent BU's HE Regular Season Title
The very next week, the #8 seeded Maine Black Bears came to Agganis for a best of three quarterfinal series. They put up a much better fight than most anticipated, but despite winning the middle game of the opening round series, Maine didn't have enough to get past BU and advance to TD Garden. The Terriers were all over Maine, 6-2 in the clinching game. Just like the Friars, the Black Bears were eliminated by BU.
And so the semi-finals were set, with the Terriers slated to face off with bitter rival Boston College. BC had just one shot at defending their National Championship, and it was through an automatic bid via a Hockey East tournament win. For a while the Eagles out-paced the Terriers, but a typical flurry of 3 goals in under a minute for BU dashed any fleeting hopes of the boys from Chestnut Hill. BC's season ended thanks to the timely sticks of the Terriers.
A win over their rivals meant that the Terriers would get a chance to win the Hockey East Championship the next night against UML. While Lowell's season had been a big step up for their program, and helped out the Riverhawks on the national map, their only shot at a National Tournament bid would come from defeating the Terriers to get the automatic spot for Hockey East. Kieran Millan was un-beatable in net, and Brandon Yip, fresh off getting booted from the BC game, completed his stellar career at the TD Garden with the game's only goal, elevating the Terriers to the Hockey East Title. Lowell could only sit and watch the Terriers celebrate on the Garden Ice, as the Riverhawks season had come to an end.
Fast forward eight days to the NCAA Regional Final in Manchester, NH, where the Terriers had just one more roadblock to their first Frozen Four in over a decade. That nasty speed bump just happened to be yet another Hockey East foe, the UNH Wildcats. UNH controlled the tempo for the majority of the game, putting on a show for their hometown fans, but never pulling away from the favored Terriers. Finally, after countless glove saves by Kieran Millan, the Terriers were aided by "The Hand of God," or more apporiately the hand of UNH's Jerry Pallastrone, which pushed a Jason Lawrence pass attempt over the goal line with just 14.4 seconds to play. The Terriers won 2-1, eliminating the Wildcats from the tournament.
BU Left UNH Scratching It's Head
Finally, just over a week later in Washington, D.C., the Terriers had to get through Vermont to have a shot at the National Championship. Would the prospect of facing yet another Hockey East rival prove too tall a task for the Terriers? Not this time. In what most of us believed at the time to be the most exciting college hockey game of our lives, the Terriers stormed back from a late deficit to crush the Catamounts of UVM by a final of 5-4.
For those of you keeping score at home, that's six Hockey East teams whose seasons ended at the merciless hands of the 2009 Terriers. PC, Maine, BC, UML, UNH and UVM. All done thanks to the Scarlet and White.
Last weekend, the Terriers went into Matthews Arena and completed an improbable two-game sweep of the Northeastern Huskies to earn a home playoff spot. More importantly, the sweep eliminated the Huskies from playoff contention on the final day of the season.
One down. Another shot at a notch in their belt this weekend. Can the Terriers make Merrimack the next in a long line of unfortunate victims?
How many eliminations does BU have in its bones?
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