MANCHESTER, N.H. — If it were up to Boston University, they might choose to play the entire NCAA men’s D-I hockey tournament about 60 miles north of their campus.
The Terriers, undefeated in two previous regionals in Manchester’s downtown civic arena, remained that way with a 5-1 win over Western Michigan in their tourney opener on Thursday. BU is now 5-0 all time in tournament games in Northern New England’s largest city.
A three-goal flurry in the second period powered the Hockey East champs (28-10-0) to the win, which puts them one win away from reaching the Frozen Four for the 23rd time in program history and first since 2015. Boston University will play either defending NCAA champion Denver (NCHC) or Cornell (ECAC Hockey) in Saturday’s regional final (4 p.m. EDT).
“Great overall effort by our team tonight, from the goaltender on out,” BU coach Jay Pandolfo said. “I thought at the start of the game we were pretty good. For a stretch there in the first period, we got away from our game a little bit, but I thought we found it again toward the end of the first.”
What the game lacked in suspense, it made up for in expected strong performances by some of the nation’s best players, as both Hobey Baker Award-finalist participants scored the first goal for their respective teams.
After dumping the puck deep into the Broncos’ defensive zone from the red line, BU’s Lane Hutson took a backhand pass from Jay O’Brien at the left face-off circle to high in the slot, where Hutson whipped it past Western Michigan goalie Cameron Rowe for a 1-0 lead. That’s where it stood after the first period.
“Great forecheck by Ethan Phillips, creating the turnover and got it right to ‘O.B.’, and ‘O.B.’ found me there drifting in,” Hutson said. “I was just trying to get it on and off my stick pretty quick.”
Western Michigan’s Jason Polin, also a Hobey finalist, scored his NCAA-leading 30th goal of the year at 12:27 of the middle frame. Polin crashed the net on a 2-1 and tipped a centering pass from left wing Ryan McAllister right through Commesso’s legs, temporarily cutting the Terriers’ lead to 3-1.
“I thought it was a game of them making the plays when the opportunity was there, and maybe us, not,” Western Michigan coach Pat Fershweiler said.
The afternoon appeared to be going the Broncos’ way midway through the opening frame when they appeared to take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Hugh Larkin. Upon video review, however, the goal was nullified when it was determined a Western Michigan player pushed the pad of BU goalie Drew Commesso with his stick before the puck went in.
“I knew right when it went in that it should’ve gotten reviewed,” said Commesso, who finished with 24 saves. “I had a good feeling it was going to get called back.”
Three goals in a span of less than nine minutes of the second period all but made victory certain for BU. Quinn Hutson made it 2-0, Terriers, with his 15th goal of the season, marking the second time this postseason (the Hockey East semifinal vs. Providence being the other) where both Hutson brothers scored in the same game. Matt Brown and Wilmer Skoog — back from a suspension that caused him to miss the Hockey East championship game — also scored to give the Terriers a 4-1 lead after two stops.
Ethan Phillips added an empty-net goal at 17:34 of the final period to put a cap on it. Broncos goalie Cameron Rowe finished with 23 saves.
