B.U. Rifles Past Maine for NCAA Title

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--It isn't Seattle, but Providence, R.I. still had it share of dramatic March Madness at the NCAA hockey championships last weekend.

The 1994-95 college hockey season came to a thrilling conclusion at the Final Four, as preseason number-one pick Boston University lived up to its billing, claiming its first national championship in 17 years.

B.U. (31-6-3) continued its season-long domination over NCAA competition, soundly defeating Minnesota in the semifinals, 7-3, and Maine on Saturday in the finals, 6-2, to claim the fourth title in school history.

While B.U.'s victory lap at the Providence Civic Center brought the crowd to its feet, the best game of the Final Four took place in Thursday's first semifinal.

In what might have been the most exciting, best-played college hockey game of the season, Michigan and Maine remained deadlocked until the Wolverines succumbed in the third overtime, 4-3.

The contest was a classic showdown between two of the country's top goaltenders, matching each other spectacular save for spectacular save. Michigan freshman Marty Turco and Maine junior Blair Allison each recorded over 50 saves.

But age and experience won out over precociousness, when at 28 seconds into the third extra session, Maine's Dan Shermerhorn beat Turco on a semi-breakaway off a face-off, ending Michigan's season and propelling the weary Black Bears to the finals for a chance at their second title in three years.

The other semifinal game was neither as close nor as exciting as B.U. pummeled Minnesota, 7-3. The Terriers were able to cruise into the final, relatively well-rested and favored over Maine.

Then again, B.U. was favored to defeat Lake Superior State in last year's final. The Lakers embarrassed the Terriers, 9-1.

That, coupled with the fact that B.U. went 0-2-2 against Maine during the regular season, was enough to make the Terriers wary of overconfidence.

And in an interesting move that would prove to pay off, B.U. coach Jack Parker decided to start heralded freshman goaltender Tom Noble in the championship game instead of senior Derek Herlofsky--the winning goaltender in the semifinals.

The Terriers started fast, outshooting Maine 10-2 in the opening period, but Allison continued to prove tough to beat as B.U. could only manage one goal. The lone tally came on a remarkable individual effort by Steve Thornton, who beat Maine's Brad Purdie on a face-off in the offensive zone and went hard to the net, roofing the puck near-side over Allison's left shoulder.

The situation became bleaker for Maine in the second period when B.U.'s Chris O'Sullivan banged home the rebound off a Mike Grier shot to give B.U. a two-goal lead, and captain Jacques Joubert notched a power-play goal increasing the advantage to 3-0 two minutes later.

But there was no quit in the Black Bears as Tim Lovell fired a snap shot from the slot past Noble, stirring the rabid Black Bear faithful into a frenzy and cutting the lead to 3-1 at the end of two periods.

The Maine comeback was in high gear when Trevor Roenick (brother of Chicago Blackhawks' star Jeremy Roenick) tallied on a Maine power-play, making it a one-goal game.

But the Maine momentum proved to be short-lived as the Black Bears, who had played over 100 minutes of hockey just two day ago, ran out of gas. Several Grier body checks seemed to knock the wind out of Maine's sails, and the Terrier offense opened the floodgates for three third-period goals sealing the championship.

One of those three was credited to O'Sullivan who was named tournament MVP for his two-goal performance in the final. Joining O'Sullivan on the all-tourney team were B.U's defenseman Kaj Linna and forward Shawn Bates, and Maine's defenseman Chris Imes, goalie Allison, and forward Shermerhorn.

Holzinger Wins Baker Award

During the day of rest alloted for the teams on Friday, the Hobey Baker Award--given annually to the nation's top college hockey player--was presented to Brian Holzinger of Bowling Green University. Imes, who along with Allison carried Maine throughout the weekend, was the runner-up, and Grier was finalist.