BU Avoids Upset In Thrilling Win Over Yale

Danny O’Regan and Evan Rodrigues celebrate O’Regan’s game-winning goal that pushed Boston University past Yale and into the Northeast region final. Elise Amendola/AP

By Jeff Pini

March 27, 2015

2 minutes to read

College hockey fans certainly got their money’s worth with the opening game of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. No. 3 overall seed Boston University survived an upset bid by Yale when Danny O’Regan notched a game-winning goal in overtime for a 3-2 victory.

BU’s Jack Eichel – the nation’s leading scorer with 67 points on the year – put a shot on net that produced a rebound to O’Regan, who corralled the puck and put it past Yale goaltender Alex Lyon. The OT goal sent into the BU into the regional final where the Terriers will meet the winner of Minnesota/Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday.

The game pitted the top scoring player in Division I hockey in Eichel against the country’s best goaltender in Lyon, who entered the game with a .939 save percentage and 1.58 goals against average. Coming into the NCAA tournament, BU had scored a nation-leading 3.89 goals per game, while Yale allowed the fewest goals per game at 1.59.

Sitting in the penalty box in the second period, BU’s Ahti Oksanen could only watch as Yale struck first and took a 1-0 lead in their Northeast regional matchup of the NCAA Tournament.

Fifteen minutes of game time later, it was Oksanen who cleaned up a rebound to tie the game 1-1, while Evan Rodrigues gave BU a 2-1 lead shortly after. But before BU could savor the go-ahead goal, Yale’s Frankie DiChiara knotted the game at 2 with a high wrist shot that beat Matt O’Connor.

Both teams traded opportunities early on, but neither could get on the scoreboard. DiChiara had an excellent chance to give the Bulldogs the lead in the first, deking out the BU netminder, but rang the crossbar on the shot attempt.

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Each side had first period power plays wiped out by infractions by their own team. Yale’s man advantage five minutes into the game lasted just over a minute before it was negated by a hook, while BU later got in 1:03 of power play time before a too many men on the ice penalty evened up the sides.

In the second period, Yale would finally capitalize on its fourth power play chance of the afternoon. With Oksanen in the box for elbowing, Yale’s Nate Repensky let a shot fly from the blue line that deflected off O’Regan’s stick to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead with 6:41 to play in the second.

Yale had a 2-on-1 chance 2:39 into the third, but O’Connor made an impressive glove save to deny DiChiara a bid to put the Bulldogs up by two.

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The Terriers had a couple chances to end the game in regulation, with 2:11 of power play time over the final three minutes. A shot from Rodrigues went off Lyon’s shoulder and hit the post with two seconds to play before the horn sounded on the third that sent the game to overtime.