Boston University rallied from a 2-1 deficit and sophomore Ty Amonte scored early in the third period as the Terriers defeated Connecticut, 3-2, to advance to the championship game of the 2018 Friendship Four in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The Terriers will face Union, which needed overtime and a penalty shot shootout to advance past Yale in Friday’s opening semifinal.
Karl El-Mir and Jachym Kondelik sandwiched first period goals around a Patrick Curry goal for BU as Connecticut jumped to a 2-1 lead through one.
Logan Cockerill’s goal from Patrick Harper at 8:55 of the second knotted the game heading to the game’s final 20.
It took 2:39 of the third for Amonte to score the would-be game winner, but things were hardly easy in the late going for the Terriers. UConn had 57 seconds of 5-on-3 power play with less than six minutes remaining, but couldn’t find a way to get the equalizer pass Jake Oettinger, who finished the game with 39 saves.
In the tournament’s matinee, Jack Adams goal at 1:48 of the first stood up as the only goal for much of the game until Yale’s Charlie Curti fired home the tying goal with 8:28 left in regulation.
After an overtime frame where each team had three shots, Adams goal in the shootout ended up being the difference as Union advanced. The game will be recorded as a tie for NCAA purposes.
❌SAVE!!!@Unionmhockey are going to the #FriendshipFour championship game – Saturday 7pm in Belfast?? pic.twitter.com/oELf6FaGIn
— Friendship Four ? (@Friendship_Four) November 23, 2018
Saturday’s consolation game between Yale and Connecticut will begin at 10:00 a.m. ET (3:00 p.m. GMT), while the championship game will begin at 2:00 p.e. ET (7:00 p.m. GMT).
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No. 6 Penn State 4, No. 5 Ohio State 3
Penn State may not have maintained its six-goal-a-game pace it has posted for the last three contests, but four goals was enough for the No. 6 Nittany Lions to sneak past No. 5 Ohio State, 4-3.
Denis Smirnov scored the game-winning goal with 11:24 left in regulation after John Wiitala had knotted things at three early in the third.
Each team scored on the power play with Penn State scoring twice on four chances while Ohio State netted one goal in four attempts.
No. 7 Denver 3, No. 9 Providence 1
Less than three minutes after Providence’s Greg Printz tied the game at 1 early in the third, Denver’s Jackko Heikkinen scored to put the No. 7 Pioneers ahead for good, as they skated past the No. 9 Friars, 3-1.
After a long scoreless period to begin the game, Denver finally struck with 3:31 left in the second on Colin Staub’s first goal of the season.
The two teams trades goal to make to 2-1 before Tyler Ward finished off tic-tac-toe passing from rookie line mates Brett Stapley and Slava Demin for the insurance tally.
⬆️➡️⬇️⬅️ #PioneerTogether pic.twitter.com/QiyzGvdLO5
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) November 24, 2018
Devin Cooley stopped 39 shots to earn the victory for the Pioneers.
The two teams will play the back end of the non-conference series on Saturday.
