20 January

1990: Boston University tied Providence, 1-1, before 3,219 stunned fans at Walter Brown Arena on a Saturday afternoon. The Terriers scored the game-winning goal with 29 seconds remaining in overtime and the teams were starting to leave the ice when referee Rich Fowkes disallowed the goal and gave a penalty to Tony Amonte for playing without a helmet, after being told of the offense by linesman Bob Fowkes.

The game was a close affair, with strong two-way checking by both teams that resulted in just 5 shots on net for each team in the first. Midway through the period Providence had 2 shots on goal and BU had only one, a harmless shot from the neutral zone during a powerplay. Matt Merton, the Friars goalie, had to be sharp with six minute to play in the period when he raced to the left faceoff circle to beat Amonte to a loose puck, thereby preventing a clean break-in. With two minutes to play Merton stopped the Terriers’ best chance of the period, a turnaround backhander by Rob Regan.

The second period picked up where the first had ended, although the shot total was higher, 10 for PC and 8 for BU, as the goalies continued to stop everything sent their way, especially BU goalie Scott Cashman, who was superb. During a 10-second span early in the period he flicked out his left skate to stop a Lyle Wildgoose deflection and then smothered Mario Aube’s slapper. Midway through the period he robbed Rick Bennett from 15 feet. Then, late in the period, the Friar’s Mike Boback lifted a rebound of a Rob Gaudreau shot over Cashman, who was down and out, to give PC the lead with 2:41 remaining in the period. Merton’s hardest save came just after the goal, with Bennett in the penalty box for assaulting Cashman, as he held his ground and took an Alexandre Legault shot in the midsection, just before bodies began to pile up in the crease.

In the third period Amonte tied the game at 3:26 when he put the puck in the net on a second-chance try to Merton’s left. The game remained tied for the rest of the third sending it to overtime. Late in overtime the Friar’s had a chance to win it when Gaudreau shot a chest-high, partially screened 20-footer on net that Cashman stopped. Then, with less than a minute left in overtime Amonte and Aube went for the puck behind the Friar net and Aube knocked Amonte’s helmet off. Amonte continued to battle for the puck and won it, passing it back to Kevin O’Sullivan at the point. O’Sullivan drove the puck on net and Joe Sacco tipped it in for what appeared to be the game-winning goal. However lineman Fowkes had seen Amonte playing without his helmet and told referee Fowkes. After a discussion referee Fowkes called a penalty on Amonte and disallowed the goal, forcing BU to kill a Friar’s powerplay for the final 29 seconds to hang onto the tie.