16 January

1988: Three days after upsetting Wisconsin, Boston University defeated North Dakota, 4-2, at Walter Brown Arena. Mike Kelfer led the Terriers to victory over the defending NCAA champions with a pair of goals, giving BU its first win against the Sioux in seven meetings.

BU opened the scoring when Ian Wood’s 20-foot knuckler handcuffed Sioux goalie Scott Brower at 4:59 of the first period. The Terriers were unable to score on a powerplay in the middle of the period and just after the penalty ended North Dakota took off on a two-on-one break and Grant Paranica banged in the rebound past Terrier goalie Peter Fish to knot the game up. BU regained the lead on a powerplay goal at 16:57 when Kelfer’s 25-footer glanced off Brower’s glove and trickled into the net.

In the second period, with North Dakota on the powerplay, Paranica tied the game again when he rammed Steve Johnson’s pass into the net from in front of Fish. Late in the period the Sioux received back-to-back penalties and BU took advantage. With 10 seconds left in the second penalty, and 46 seconds left in the period, Dave Tomlinson redirected Matt Pesklewis’ 20-foot shot past Brower. Kelfer was also credited with an assist for the 100th point of his Terrier career.

North Dakota’s Gary Valk was called for crosschecking at 19:59 of the second and when he slammed his stick against the boards he was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. BU started the third with 3:59 of powerplay time but Brower kept the puck out of the net, stopping Kelfer twice. The Sioux counter-attacked after the powerplay expired and Fish stopped a Lee Davidson backhander five minutes into the period when he slid across the crease for the save. Fish stoned Davidson again when he knocked down a 40-foot shot with his glove and smothered the rebound with North Dakota on a 4-on-3. Just after killing the penalty Mike Lappin tipped a loose puck out of the BU zone to Mike Sullivan. Sullivan made a centering pass to Kelfer as the pair crossed the UND blueline on a 2-on-1 break, and Kelfer tucked the puck past Brower at 8:45 to give BU a 4-2 lead.

That was it for the scoring, but with 12 seconds remaining in the game tempers flared and several scuffles broke out, as did a fight between Terrier Steve Shaunessy and Sioux Brent Bobyck. When order was restored referee Frank Cole assessed 7 penalties for 27 minutes to BU and 5 penalties for 23 minutes to North Dakota. For the game BU received 43 minutes in penalties and North Dakota received 61 minutes. After the game UND Coach Gino Gasparini said the game was the worst officiated he had ever seen and that the refs got to them.