Jump to content

1970–71 Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1970–71 Boston University Terriers
men's ice hockey season
National champion
Boston Arena Christmas Tournament, champion
Beanpot, champion
ECAC Hockey, champion
NCAA tournament, champion
Conference1st ECAC Hockey
Home iceBoston Arena
Record
Overall28–2–1
Conference18–1–1
Home13–0–0
Road8–1–1
Neutral7–1
Coaches and captains
Head coachJack Kelley
Assistant coachesBob Crocker
Captain(s)Steve Stirling[1]
Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey seasons
« 1969–70 1971–72 »

The 1970–71 Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey team represented Boston University in college ice hockey. In its 9th year under head coach Jack Kelley the team compiled a 28–2–1 record and reached the NCAA tournament for the seventh time. The Terriers defeated Minnesota 4–2 in the championship game at the Onondaga War Memorial in Syracuse, New York to win the national championship.

Season

[edit]

Early Season

[edit]

After a very good season in 1970, BU set their sights firmly on improving over their third place ECAC finish. Jack Kelley's Terriers opened the season in St. Louis, playing the new varsity team for Saint Louis University. Not surprisingly, the experienced easterners dominated the Billikens, winning both games by a combined score of 17–1. The squad returned home for their next contest three days later, defeating Brown soundly before hitting the road again (through not traveling nearly as far away as their first two games). After dropping New Hampshire BU faced Harvard in their first big test on the season and the two teams fought to a 4–4 draw. The Terriers returned to their home rink to take on two non-conference opponents and thoroughly dispatched both. First was College Division Merrimack followed by a down Minnesota team ten days later. BU Shut out both opponents and glided into their winter break with a 6–0–1 record.

Christmas Tournament

[edit]

At the end of December BU played host in the Boston Arena Christmas Tournament for the 17th and final time. In the first game the Terriers dropped a good Providence team then beat the independent Notre Dame team 7–3 to claim the championship.

After the calendar changed to 1971, BU welcomed Princeton to the Boston Arena with the second-largest shutout victory in program history (14–0). After travelling across town to defeat arch-rival Boston College the Terriers returned home to face Northeastern on their shared rink. The Huskies were no match for Boston University and Kelley's boys posted their fifth shutout of the season.

After brushing off another College Division program, this time in the form of Bowling Green, BU hosted Dartmouth and trounced the Big Green 13–4, their sixth win by at least 8 goals in only 14 games.

First Blemish

[edit]

In late January BU left New England for the first time in almost two months to face defending national champion Cornell. Cornell had not lost at home in over four years and, despite their best efforts, the first-place Terriers were unable to end the Big Red's streak, suffering their first loss of the season 1–5. BU took their frustrations out on Providence to begin another winning streak, defeating four conference opponents in quick succession (including second-place Clarkson)[2] to head into the Beanpot narrowly holding onto the top spot in the ECAC.

BU's first opponent in the Beanpot was a very weak Northeastern team and the match was more or less a repeat of the first meeting between the two with the Terriers winning 12–2. Kelley's team played three games during the two-week break and won all three contests by a 5-goal margin. When the time came for the championship BU was able to hold Harvard to a single goal and won their second consecutive Beanpot.[3]

ECAC Tournament

[edit]

The Terriers finished their regular season with two more wins, finishing with an 18–1–1 ECAC record while possessing the top offense and #2 defense in the 17-team conference. BU played host to Rensselaer in the conference quarterfinals and won the match easily, 11–0. When the tournament shifted to the Boston Garden BU faced Harvard in the semifinal and disaster struck, for the fourth year in a row the Terriers lost in the conference semis, losing 2–4 to their cross-town rivals. Ordinarily that would have meant that BU would not have an opportunity to make the NCAA tournament but because that was only the Terriers' second loss of the season there was a small chance that the selection committee would choose BU as the second eastern seed. To give them a better shot at the tournament the Terriers would have to defeat Cornell in the third place game.

Cornell got off to a fast start, scoring less than four minutes into the game but BU was able to tie the match in less than two minutes. The two teams exchanged goals three more times before the first period was over and Cornell led 3–2 after one. The Terriers tied the game early in the second and then Cornell got into penalty trouble. BU score two power play goals in a 5-minute span and took a 5–3 lead before Cornell got their own man-advantage marker with three minutes left in the second. BU reestablished the 2-goal margin 33 seconds later but the Big Red were able to cut close the gap with 14 seconds left in the middle frame. After allowing the fifth goal on 31 shots, Kelley pulled starter Dan Brady in favor of Tim Regan and the later responded by putting up a wall in front of the BU net. Cornell fired a further 13 shots in the third period but Regan turned away everything and BU skated to a 6–5 win and a third-place finish in the ECAC tournament, the team's first win over the Big Red in 45 years.[4]

Unfortunately for BU, Harvard won the ECAC tournament, meaning that the selection committee would be choosing between runner-up Clarkson (28–4–1) and third-place BU (26–2–1). However, with BU having defeated the Golden Knights back on February 5 (the two team's only meeting), and Clarkson having lost to Bowling Green the committee chose to give the Terriers the nod.

NCAA tournament

[edit]

Boston University returned to the national tournament after 4 years on the outside and faced Denver in the semifinal. BU had lost each of their previous four meetings but this year was different and the Terriers managed to triumph over the western powerhouse 4–2. BU reached the championship for the first time and met Minnesota for the second time that season. The Golden Gophers were the first team to reach the title tilt with a losing record (and remain the only squad to do so as of 2019) and had been relying on strong goaltending from Dennis Erickson from the start of postseason play. BU opened the scoring just past the five-minute mark with a power play goal from team captain Steve Stirling and shortly thereafter a slapshot from Bob Brown caught Erickson in an unprotected part of his knee and injured the goaltender.[5] After an extended pause in the game Erickson remained in the game and continued to play well but allowed another goal before the first had ended and a second goal to Stirling on a breakaway in the middle frame. Brady, the BU starter, faced almost as many shots in the game but looked calm in the net, turning aside the 23 shots he faced through two periods.

In the third BU played a much more defensive game and limited Minnesota's chances. The game was beginning to look like another shutout for the terriers until Mike LaGarde was called for holding. While the Terriers managed to kill off the disadvantage the Golden Gophers continued to keep the pressure on and scored 5 seconds after the penalty had expired. With momentum having swung in their direction Minnesota went on the attack but Brady stood tall and kept the put out of the BU net. With just over two minutes remaining BU found themselves on a two-on-one and Ron Anderson was able to give the Terriers a three-goal lead. Dean Blais would score Minnesota's second goal with 16 seconds left in the contest but the game was effectively over and BU won their first national championship.

Dan Brady was named as the Tournament MOP (the first American so honored since Barry Urbanski in 1960) and was named to the All-Tournament Team with Bob Brown, Don Cahoon and Steve Stirling. Both Brown and Stirling were named to the AHCA All-American East Team[6] and were joined by John Danby on the All-ECAC Hockey First Team[7] while Ric Jordan made the Second Team. Brown was also awarded the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year,[8] an obvious choice perhaps with Brown having led all defensemen in scoring.

Standings

[edit]
Conference Overall
GP W L T Pct. GF GA GP W L T GF GA
Boston University 20 18 1 1 .925 139 42 31 28 2 1 210 60
Clarkson 19 16 2 1 .868 76 38 33 28 4 1 151 75
Cornell 20 17 3 0 .850 111 44 27 22 5 0 159 63
Harvard* 21 15 5 1 .738 124 55 27 18 8 1 146 74
Brown 19 13 6 0 .684 70 63 24 13 10 0 77 87
Providence 19 12 7 0 .632 94 70 28 17 11 0 141 106
Pennsylvania 19 11 8 0 .579 90 74 25 14 11 0 129 93
Rensselaer 14 7 5 2 .571 119 81 25 16 7 2 125 95
New Hampshire 20 11 9 0 .550 119 92 29 20 9 0 210 112
Boston College 21 9 12 0 .429 92 112 26 11 15 0 121 141
Army 11 3 7 1 .318 32 48 23 8 14 1 81 80
St. Lawrence 17 5 12 0 .294 57 73 24 10 14 0 105 97
Dartmouth 21 6 15 0 .286 76 106 24 9 15 0 96 114
Yale 20 5 15 0 .250 64 105 24 6 17 1 74 127
Colgate 17 4 13 0 .235 54 111 24 7 17 0 87 156
Northeastern 19 3 16 0 .158 35 122 29 7 22 0 77 175
Princeton 21 1 20 0 .048 54 140 23 1 22 0 56 155
Championship: Harvard
indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion

Schedule

[edit]
Date Opponent# Rank# Site Result Record
Regular Season
November 27 at Saint Louis* St. Louis ArenaSt. Louis, Missouri W 8–0  1–0
November 29 at Saint Louis* St. Louis ArenaSt. Louis, Missouri W 9–1  2–0
December 2 vs. Brown Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 5–1  3–0 (1–0)
December 5 at New Hampshire Snively ArenaDurham, New Hampshire W 6–1  4–0 (2–0)
December 9 at Harvard Donald C. Watson RinkBoston, Massachusetts T 4–4 OT 4–0–1 (2–0–1)
December 12 vs. Merrimack* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 8–0  5–0–1 (2–0–1)
December 22 at Minnesota Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 6–0  6–0–1 (2–0–1)
Boston Arena Christmas Tournament
December 28 vs. Providence Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts (Boston Arena Christmas Tournament) W 4–1  7–0–1 (3–0–1)
December 29 vs. Notre Dame* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts (Boston Arena Christmas Tournament) W 7–3  8–0–1 (3–0–1)
January 4 vs. Princeton Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 14–0  9–0–1 (4–0–1)
January 9 at Boston College McHugh ForumChestnut Hill, Massachusetts W 8–3  10–0–1 (5–0–1)
January 13 vs. Northeastern Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 9–0  11–0–1 (6–0–1)
January 16 vs. Bowling Green* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 6–1  12–0–1 (6–0–1)
January 20 vs. Dartmouth Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 13–4  13–0–1 (7–0–1)
January 23 at Cornell Lynah RinkIthaca, New York L 1–5  13–1–1 (7–1–1)
January 27 at Providence Rhode Island AuditoriumProvidence, Rhode Island W 7–1  14–1–1 (8–1–1)
January 30 vs. St. Lawrence Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 6–3  15–1–1 (9–1–1)
February 3 at Yale Ingalls RinkNew Haven, Connecticut W 5–1  16–1–1 (10–1–1)
February 5 vs. Clarkson Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 4–1  17–1–1 (11–1–1)
Beanpot
February 8 vs. Northeastern Boston GardenBoston, Massachusetts (Beanpot Semifinal) W 12–2  18–1–1 (12–1–1)
February 13 vs. New Hampshire Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 8–3  19–1–1 (13–1–1)
February 16 vs. Boston College Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 9–4  20–1–1 (14–1–1)
February 19 at Rensselaer Houston Field HouseTroy, New York W 7–2  21–1–1 (15–1–1)
February 22 vs. Harvard Boston GardenBoston, Massachusetts (Beanpot championship) W 4–1  22–1–1 (16–1–1)
February 27 vs. Providence Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts W 6–3  23–1–1 (17–1–1)
March 5 at Colgate Starr RinkHamilton, New York W 7–2  24–1–1 (18–1–1)
ECAC Hockey Tournament
March 9 vs. Rensselaer* Boston ArenaBoston, Massachusetts (ECAC Quarterfinal) W 11–0  25–1–1 (18–1–1)
March 13 vs. Harvard* Boston GardenBoston, Massachusetts (ECAC Semifinal) L 2–4  25–2–1 (18–1–1)
March 14 vs. Cornell* Boston GardenBoston, Massachusetts (ECAC Third Place Game) W 6–5  26–2–1 (18–1–1)
NCAA tournament
March 19 vs. Denver* Onondaga War MemorialSyracuse, New York (National Semifinal) W 4–2  27–2–1 (18–1–1)
March 21 vs. Minnesota* Onondaga War MemorialSyracuse, New York (National championship) W 4–2  28–2–1 (18–1–1)
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from USCHO.com Poll.
Source:

[1]

Roster and scoring statistics

[edit]
No. Name Year Position Hometown S/P/C Games Goals Assists Pts PIM
9 Steve Stirling Senior C Clarkson, ON Ontario 31 27 43 70 20
12 John Danby Junior C Port Credit, ON Ontario 31 28 36 64 10
2 Bob Brown Sophomore D Scarborough, ON Ontario 31 17 43 60 38
7 Ric Jordan Sophomore D Mississauga, ON Ontario 30 12 38 50 55
21 Don Cahoon Junior W Marblehead, MA Massachusetts 31 24 20 44 20
19 Ron Anderson Sophomore W Moncton, NB New Brunswick 31 20 21 41 17
11 Wayne Gowing Senior W Kitchener, ON Ontario 31 16 24 40 6
17 Bob Gryp Junior W Merlin, ON Ontario 30 20 19 39 51
18 Steve Dolloff Sophomore C Melrose, MA Massachusetts 31 15 22 37 8
16 Guy Burrowes Junior W Niagara Falls, ON Ontario 31 9 23 32 18
8 Paul Giandomenico Junior W Walpole, MA Massachusetts 30 9 15 24 8
20 Bob Murray Junior D Quincy, MA Massachusetts 31 3 13 16 54
27 Mike LaGarde Junior D Roxboro, PQ Quebec 26 2 13 15 38
25 Peter Thornton Sophomore W Scarborough, ON Ontario 15 5 7 12 10
4 Peter Yetten Senior D Waltham, MA Massachusetts 27 0 9 9 16
23 Larry Abbott Sophomore D Melrose, MA Massachusetts 20 1 3 4 4
5 Bill Flynn Sophomore W Stoneham, MA Massachusetts 18 0 3 3 4
10 Ray Cornoyea Sophomore W Chippawa, ON Ontario 14 2 0 2 0
14 Olivier Prechac Sophomore W Versailles, Fr France 5 0 2 2 2
24 Dave Warner Sophomore D Niagara Falls, ON Ontario 1 0 0 0 0
3 Bill Fenwick Junior D Komoka, ON Ontario 0 - - - -
15 Bruce Hatton Senior W Sudbury, MA Massachusetts 0 - - - -
1 Stefan Brueckner Junior G Buena Park, CA California 1 0 0 0 0
1 Tim Regan Junior G Providence, RI Rhode Island 14 0 0 0 0
30 Dan Brady Junior G Canton, NY New York (state) 18 0 0 0 0
Total

[9]

Goaltending statistics

[edit]
No. Name Games Minutes Wins Losses Ties Goals Against Saves Shut Outs SV % GAA
1 Stefan Brueckner 1 60 1 12 0 .923 1.00
1 Tim Regan 14 780 23 299 .929 1.77
30 Dan Brady 18 1060 36 396 .917 2.04
Total 31 28 2 1 60 707 6 .922 1.92

(E2) Boston University vs. (W2) Minnesota

[edit]
March 20[10] Boston University 4 – 2 Minnesota Onondaga War Memorial


Scoring summary
Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score
1st BU Steve Stirling - PP Danby and Brown 5:32 1–0 BU
BU Bob Gryp Gowing 10:10 2–0 BU
2nd BU Steve Stirling - GW unassisted 29:13 3–0 BU
3rd MIN Doug Peltier Sarner and McIntosh 53:07 3–1 BU
BU Ron Anderson Dolloff and Brown 57:45 4–1 BU
MIN Dean Blais McIntosh 59:44 4–2 BU
Penalty summary
Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM
1st MIN Frank Sanders Charging 5:01 2:00
BU Bob Murray Holding 14:18 2:00
2nd BU Mike LaGarde High–Sticking 29:32 2:00
BU Ron Anderson Elbowing 37:18 2:00
MIN Wally Olds Interference 39:44 2:00
3rd BU Mike LaGarde Holding 51:04 2:00
BU Bob Murray Hooking 58:09 2:00
MIN Doug Peltier Offensive Check 58:09 2:00
MIN Dean Blais Cross–Checking 59:49 2:00

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Year-By-Year Results" (PDF). Boston University Terriers. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  2. ^ "Clarkson Hockey 2018-19 Media Guide". Clarkson Golden Knights. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  3. ^ Beanpot official site http://www.beanpothockey.com
  4. ^ "March 13, 1971" (PDF). The Big Red What. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  5. ^ "1971 NCAA Hockey Championship". YouTube. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  6. ^ "Men's Ice Hockey Award Winners" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  7. ^ "ECAC All-Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  8. ^ "Gostisbehere, Bodie, Carr earn spots on ECAC Hockey All-League Teams". Union Athletics. March 21, 2013. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  9. ^ "Boston University Terriers 1970-71 Skater Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  10. ^ "Boston University Championship Teams" (PDF). Boston University Terriers. Retrieved February 26, 2017.