Freshman forward Kevin Roy’s first-career hat trick was enough to carry the Northeastern hockey team past Boston University, 3-2, in the Beanpot semifinal at TD Garden on Monday.
The Huskies (8-13-3, 4-11-3 Hockey East Association) will take on Boston College in the final for the second time in three years next Monday.
Roy scored a goal in every period to earn Northeastern’s first hat trick in the Beanpot in 11 years, while goaltender Chris Rawlings made 33 saves to keep the Terriers (13-11-1, 10-7-1 HEA) at bay.
Roy scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season just three minutes into the game giving the Huskies an early lead. BU countered just four minutes later when freshmen Danny O’Regan scored his 10th goal of the season to knot the game at one a piece.
The Huskies regained the lead again with just under eight minutes remaining in the second period when Alexx Privitera sent a crisp pass Roy’s way for the finish. Northeastern doubled its lead with 4:38 remaining in the game as Roy completed the hat trick on a shot that clipped inside the right post.
BU cut the lead to one with 1:11 remaining in the game on a Sahir Gill goal, but it was too little too late.
BC downs Harvard
Sophomore forward Quinn Smith scored two goals to lead the No. 4 Eagles (16-7-2, 12-6-1 HEA) to a 4-1 win against Harvard in the Beanpot semifinal at TD Garden on Monday.
BC seeks its fourth consecutive Beanpot title when it takes on the Huskies next Monday.
Smith had the first multi-goal game of his short collegiate career, as BC improves to 3-0 when he scores a goal in a game this season.
Eagles net minder Parker Milner had 19 saves in the victory to move his record to 16-6-2 for the season.
Crimson (5-15-1) goalie Raphael Girard had his hands full against the overpowering Eagles’ offense, turning aside 42 shots on goal.
Smith gave BC the lead heading into the first intermission when he found a loose puck in front of the goal that he slammed home with just 28.8 seconds remaining.
The Eagles would break away from Harvard in the second period when they scored two more goals less than a minute apart near the end of the second period .
Quinn scored his second goal of the game and his fourth of the season on a backhand goal at 18:18 in the second period. Freshman defenseman Michael Matheson followed that up on a one-timer past Girard’s glove on a power play at 19:09.
Harvard finally beat Milner as Danny Biega whistled a one-timer into the goal to cut the spread to two goals.
Steven Whitney scored the dagger for the Eagles when he wristed a goal past the glove of Girard at 14:58.
Maine prevails in OT
With less than two minutes remaining in overtime, Maine senior forward Joey Diamond scored his second goal of the game to help the Black Bears pull the upset on No. 13 UMass Lowell Sunday afternoon at Alfond Arena.
Diamond opened up the scoring for Maine (8-14-5, 4-9-5 HEA) early when he beat his defender and landed a shot past goalie Doug Carr 9:50 into the first period.
The River Hawks (14-9-2, 8-8-2 HEA) went on to score two goals in a row, the first coming just 14 seconds after Diamond’s goal. The second came at the beginning of the second period on a power play goal by Riley Wetmore 7:53 into the period.
The Black Bears countered with the equalizer on a power play by freshman Ryan Lomberg for his fifth goal of the season. The River Hawks came right back with a goal by Ryan McGrath at 16:08 in the second period.
Less than a minute later it was Diamond who found Steve Swavely for the goal that sent the two teams into overtime after a scoreless third period.
Diamond won it for Maine after stealing the puck from a UML defender, leaving him with a game-winning breakaway score.
The River Hawks outshot Maine 38-29 for the game.
Chris Corso can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Corso.
