Men bow out in conference final
With less than a minute remaining and the Eagles down 4-3 to UMass Lowell in Saturday’s Hockey East Tournament final, Ryan Fitzgerald’s shot clanged off the crossbar behind the UMass Lowell goalie. The comeback from a 4-2 deficit ended, as did the Eagles’ season.

Finishing 21-15-4 (13-6-3), the Eagles missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 8 years, falling just outside qualification. It was, however, the 8th consecutive season BC has won 20 games or more, 3rd longest such streak in the nation behind Denver and North Dakota. The Eagles were among 3 teams tying for the this season’s Hockey East regular season title.

BC had beaten BU, for the 1st time this season, 3-2 the previous evening. In the title game, the Eagles outshot UMass Lowell, 41-25.

San Clemente’s Scott Savage and Austin Cangelosi were named to the All-Hockey East 3rd team, while freshman goalie Joe Woll made honorable mention.

Women lose heartbreaker in Frozen Four
With 16.2 seconds remaining in a scoreless tie, #1 Wisconsin scored to defeat the Eagles in Friday’s semifinal of the NCAA Tournament.

Junior goaltender Katie Burt had made 35 saves, one shy of her career best, to that point, but it was the Badgers who advanced to the NCAA championship final. BC had 22 shots on goal, compared to Wisconsin’s 36.

BC entered the game ranked #4 and finished with a 28-6-5 record. Junior defenseman Megan Keller was named 1st team all-America for the second straight year. Keller was the only Hockey East representative on the 12-women all-America team. Earlier she had been named the first defenseman to win the Hockey East Player of the Year award.

Women in Frozen Four!
The #4-ranked Eagles play #1 Wisconsin Friday at 3 pm PT in the opening game of the NCAA Frozen Four national championship. This is BC’s 3rd-straight appearance in the national semifinals and the 6th in the last 7 years.

On Saturday, BC defeated #6 St. Lawrence, 6-0, to advance to the Frozen Four. With the win, the Eagles (28-5-5) moved to 3-0-2 against nationally ranked teams. Five Eagles had two or more points in the St. Lawrence win, led by Kenzie Kent, who had 1 goal and 2 assists. Goaltender Katie Burt had 24 saves and her 8th shutout of the season.

Other teams in the Frozen Four are #2 Clarkson and unranked Minnesota.

Men in Hockey East Semis
Following a two-game sweep of Vermont, BC men’s hockey team will play BU Friday at 5 pm PT in the second game of the Hockey East Tournament semifinals. The game will be telecast on NESN and ESPN3.

The Eagles (20-14-4) (13-6-3) scored 7 goals in each game against Vermont, shutting out the Catamounts in the first game and allowing 4 goals in the second.

Ranked #14 in the country and tied for 15th in the pairwise rankings, BC  is on the bubble for the 16-team NCAA tournament. The Eagles certainly have to win the BU game and may well have to win the Hockey East Tournament to make the NCAAs.