Boston University was so dominant in the second period this afternoon that it led Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy to suggest a rule change, admittedly in jest.
“I think we should get rid of the second period and just play two halves,” Dennehy said. “I think it would be better for TV, sell more ads.”
You’d probably have to go back to the 1990s at least to see a Boston University outshoot a team by a 24-2 margin in a period, but that’s what happened. In the process, the Terriers scored three times to break open a scoreless tie on the way to a 5-0 win in game two of the Hockey East quarterfinals, ending Merrimack’s season and earning a trip to the TD Garden Friday for the Hockey East semifinals.
Nationwide scoring leader Jack Eichel added to his points total with three assists, while senior Cason Hohmann celebrated his last game in Agganis Arena with a pair of goals. Junior netminder Matt O’Connor made 26 saves but gave way to graduate student Anthony Moccia, who was put behind the pipes for the last 1:02 to play in just his fourth collegiate game in his last opportunity to do so at home. Moccia stopped the only shot he faced.
Most importantly, BU looked like a team that is totally primed for postseason play for the second night in a row. The Terriers seem to have shaken off their bad habit of slow starts, outshooting Merrimack 18-9 in the first period this afternoon on top of an 18-4 margin last night.
“I’m just really happy for our guys,” BU coach David Quinn said. “I’m really proud of the way we played all weekend, all six periods. That’s a very difficult team to play against; I thought we stuck with what we needed to do to have success.”
“Congratulations to the Boston University Terriers,” Dennehy said. “They’ve proven themselves to be an excellent team. We knew that after the regular season; posed a lot of problems for us. I thought we played pretty hard tonight, harder than last night.
“To beat a team like that, you need a couple of bounces, and the game needs to take shape a certain way. I want to congratulate David and his team.”
“We’re not going to deviate from what we know we’re going to have to do to score against these guys,” Quinn said. “We just turned it up a notch in the second period.”
The Terriers looked solid right out of the gate, outshooting the Warriors by an 18-9 margin in the first period. It probably should have been at least 1-0 BU, but Merrimack goalie Rasmus Tirronen held the fort well for the second night in the row.
BU began to break it open with two goals in 91 seconds in period two. With Merrimack on a power play, Hohmann got the puck at the end of a very long shift and dished it to Eichel on the right wing. Eichel got the defenseman to go down, then maneuvered the puck around him before slipping it over to Hohmann for an easy finish and a short-handed goal at 4:11.
At 5:42, just 12 seconds into a power play, BU made it 2-0. Eichel passed to Danny O’Regan, who set up Rodrigues at the point. Rodrigues held the puck, inched in, and shot. The puck went in, and eventually the goal was awarded to Ahti Oksanen, who tipped it.
BU effectively ended the game at 17:40. Freshman defenseman Brandon Fortunato drove in from the left point, circling behind the net before passing to O’Regan rushing into the right-wing circle for a one-timer that squeezed through Tirronen short side.
The 24-2 shot margin in the period reflected a BU team that is setting its sights high this postseason.
“Obviously, the stakes are higher; it’s a new season,” BU captain Matt Grzelcyk said. “We wanted to make sure we were mentally in it. In the beginning of the season, we had tough starts, but obviously we’re very pleased with both games. We came out hard and really set the tone for the rest of the game.”
BU scored a pair of empty-net goals in the last five minutes to seal it. First, Eichel won a faceoff to Grzelcyk in the defensive end and the Beanpot hero banked it off the boards for a long score.
With less than a minute to go, Hohmann shot through traffic from the neutral zone for the final empty-netter.
BU now awaits word of its opponent in the Hockey East semifinals; the Terriers could play Lowell, Notre Dame, Vermont, or New Hampshire.
