Eagles move on to face Badgers for title

By Tom Balog at the Frozen Four

It was close early, but Boston College turned it on in short, explosive stretches to down the Miami Redhawks, 7-1, in the second semifinal game on Thursday at Ford Field in Detroit.

"We were very, very sharp," said BC head coach Jerry York. "We moved pucks extremely well and got excellent goaltending from Johnny Muse. If this was an NHL playoff series, it would go a long time. We played well on both sides and I liked our enthusiasm."

Ben Smith scored at 18:32 of the first period to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

"It was a big goal to end the first," said Smith. "We had a powerplay early in the game, we were moving the puck well, but we didn't score. We just stayed with it. That goal was big. I got a great pass and I was lucky to tip past the goalie."

The late goal momentum seemed to carry into the second period as BC ripped off early goals by Jimmy Hayes and Joe Whitney just 1:02 apart to open up a 3-0 game.

The rapid fire goals chased Miami starting goalie Connor Knapp after stopping six shots in 23:05 of work. Cody Reichard came in cold, but stopped all nine shots he faced in the period to keep the RedHawks in the game.

After buckling down in the end of the second, the RedHawks came out rejuvenated in the third period.

Blueliner Joe Hartman floated a goal through traffic at 5:19 to get Miami on the board.

The Eagles continued what they were doing all night though, beating the RedHawks to the puck and it paid off again. This time with three straight markers.

"It was a total domination from Boston College," remarked Miami head coach Enrico Blasi. "I think the matchup was pretty good, if we did what we needed to do. These were two teams playing with contrasting styles. Tonight, it was BC's night."

Cam Atkinson, Patch Alber and Paul Carey all scored in under a two-minute span to erase any hope the RedHawks and their fans have had and made it a 6-1 game.

Smith added another later marker for BC as the Eagles improved to 14-0-0 this season when scoring more than five goals.

Muse finished with 17 saves as the Eagles won their eighth game in a row.

Reichard finished the night stopping 17 of 21 shots for Miami.

The Eagles will now move on and face the WCHA powerhouse Wisconsin Badgers in Saturday's NCAA Championship game.