1971: Exactly five years to the day of their 3-3 double overtime tie, undefeated but once tied Boston University met undefeated Cornell in the championship game of the Syracuse Invitational Tournament. The two eastern heavyweights battled it out in front of 5,234 fans in the War Memorial Auditorium and when it was over the Rig Red emerged victorious, 3-2, despite being outplayed and outskated.
Dave Westner opened the scoring when he scored unassisted on a 30-footer from the edge of the right faceoff circle that beat Terrier goalie Dan Brady. BU continued to pressure in the second and it finally paid off when Guy Burrows, assisted by John Danby, scored a powerplay goal at 9:26 to tie the game. Then just over three minutes later Pete Thornton scored to put the Terriers up 2-1.
It took Cornell only 1:06 to tie the game in the third period as Dave Westner took a pass from Larry Fullan at the blueline, skated to the right faceoff circle and let fly another 30-footer past Brady and into the upper left corner of the net. Big Red goalie Dave Elenbaas denied the Terriers the rest of the way and with just 2:06 remaining thoughts of the 1966 were game likely in the minds of the fans. Cornell made sure there would be no repeat when BU turned the puck over at their own blueline and Bill Hanson took a pass and, with a marvelous display of stick handling dash in, feinted and then scored the winning goal. Elenbaas finished with 30 saves in a winning effort, denying four Terrier powerplays, including a 5-on-3, while Brady had only 11 in a losing one.
After the game Terrier Coach Jack Kelley said, “We’ll see Cornell again before the season is over.” As BU hosted Cornell in a scheduled game later that season it was not a prediction, but the two teams did meet up for the ECAC and NCAA titles in March. In a reversal of the 1966 season, Cornell was the #1 seed for the ECAC Tournament and BU defeated them, 4-1, in the ECAC championship game. A week later in the NCAA championship game the Terriers shutout the Big Red, 4-0.
The All-Tournament team was composed of forwards John Danby (BU), Dave Westner (Cornell) and Doug Peltier (Minnesota), defensemen Ric Jordan (BU) and Ron Simpson (Cornell) and goalie Dave Elenbaas (Cornell). Dave Westner was also named the tournament MVP.
1975: Boston University won the 600th game in the program's history. The Terriers defeated Pennsylvania, 4-2, in the Great Lakes Invitational consolation game at the Olympia in Detroit, MI. Terry Meagher, Mike Fidler, Rick Meagher and Bill Buckton all scored for the Terriers in the victory.
1 comment:
Every day seems to have at least a couple big BU wins. Impressive, where do you get all this day by day information anyway?
We're looking for more hockey bloggers at www.collegefanz.com, the largest college sports site on the net. I think a passionate fan of a major college hockey program would do well there, and attract a major readership.
Our blogs are free and easy, and if you'd like to keep your current blog here, all you'd have to do is post articles on our site then link back to your current Terrier blog for more stories and articles. That way, you gain an increased audience for your writing and the BU ice program.
Take a look around the site and let me know what you think at mgleeson@collegefanz.com. I personally would love for some more hockey discussion, so I can't wait to hear from you.
Mike
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