BOSTON — Joey Muldowney had high hopes for his first time playing at TD Garden.
The Connecticut sophomore forward might not have had visions of hats raining down on him, however.
But that’s what happened Thursday night, as Muldowney led the way for the Huskies with a hat trick en route to a 5-2 win over Boston University in the Hockey East semifinals.
“It’s definitely pretty cool,” Muldowney said. “Honestly, though, it felt just like another game. I think that’s the kind of team that we have. We’re winning. It’s just become a habit and it’s pretty awesome.”
UConn advanced to the Hockey East championship game for only the second time in program history and the first since 2022. With its first-ever NCAA berth already wrapped up thanks to its position in the PairWise, fourth-seeded UConn (22-10-4, 14-8-4 Hockey East) now seeks its first Hockey East tournament title.
The Huskies scored three unanswered goals in the first half of the second period, including a highlight-reel strike by Muldowney, his first of the night. Picking up a rebound of his own shot to the left of BU goalie Mikhail Yegorov (19 saves), and with his skates firmly behind the goal line, Muldowney backhanded it into the net just under Yegorov’s glove. UConn led 3-1 at 8:42 of the frame.
“That stretch in the second period, in the first 10 minutes, I thought that was probably some of the best hockey we’ve played all year,” UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh said.
Muldowney scored his second of the night just over five minutes into the third period to close the door on the Terriers. Muldowney slammed the puck past Yegorov’s left skate after Jake Richard snapped a backhanded pass across the front of the net to give UConn a commanding 4-1 lead.
Richard had four assists on the night, none prettier than a second-period pass from the Huskies’ left faceoff circle to a wide-open Ryan Tattle at center ice. Tattle scooped up the puck, skated uncontested into the BU zone and fired the puck past Yegorov for a 2-1 lead at 2:56.
“All I heard was Tattle screaming for the puck (and) I kind of just threw it there,” Richard said. “He was able to catch it nicely. Great finish.”
Tristan Fraser got UConn on the board less than a minute into the second period, following up a rebound of his own shot for just his third goal of the season to tie the game 1-1.
UConn goalie Callum Tung, making his 13th start of the year, made 25 saves, none prettier than a pad save on a one-timer by BU’s Cole Eiserman early in the third period during a Terrier power play with the Huskies clinging to a two-goal lead.
BU opened the scoring with a power-play goal by Quinn Hutson 9:32 of the first. Hutson faked out his defender high in the slot and fired the puck at ice level just past Tung’s left skate and into the back of the net. The Terriers took a 1-0 lead into the break.
“That was a good, old-fashioned (butt) kicking,” BU coach Jay Pandolfo said. “That’s what that was. Out-competed, out-battled for every puck. Out-battled on the wall, out-battled in the slot. They played winning hockey. They wanted to win. They wanted it a heck of a lot more than we did.”
Muldowney completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal at 16:12 to make it a 5-1 game, and BU’s Kamil Bednarik scored with 10 seconds to play to account for the final score.
No. 3 BU (21-11-4, 13-9-4) was looking for its first Hockey East tournament title since 2023. The PairWise already had the Terriers as NCAA worthy. BU will aim for its third straight appearance in the Frozen Four and fifth since 2009, the last year it won the NCAA championship.
