B.U., B.C. Win in ECACs; Providence Upsets Cornell

It was all overtime and upsets in ECAC hockey quarter-final action last night, and when the Zambonis clear the ice, B.U. will meet Providence, and B.C. will tangle with Brown in the semi-finals.

For UNH, it was an "almost" game, as the eighth-ranked Wildcats took the number-one Terriers to 7:21 of overtime before B.U.'s Bob Boileau broke a 5-5 deadlock on a pass from Bill LeBlond to give the Terriers a 6-5 triumph and raise their record to 26-1.

B.U. took the ice for the third period with score tied at 2 apiece but UNH's Bruce Chowder put his team up at 0:21 on a power play goal. Bill O'Neill, who came into the contest with only two goals on the year, doubled his output with two tallies less than two minutes apart to put B.U. on top, 5-3.

The Wildcats finished the third-period scoring with two unanswered markers to send the game into overtime. The Terriers then pulled it through to victory on Boileau's tally.

Up in Troy, N.Y., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was leading 6-5 until B.C. co-captain Rob Riley slipped a rebound past RPI's netminder at 14:35 of the third, prolonging that tilt. Fourth-ranked RPI couldn't get it back as the Eagles' Paul Hammer got the game-winner at 0:44 of the extra stanza.

Providence pulled off the upset of the night at Cornell's Lynah Rank, as they beat the highly-favored Big Red, 8-5. The Friars' Steve O'Neil sparked the come-from-behind win with three goals and two assists, including the tying and winning scores.

The evening's other surprise came as Clarkson came up on the short end of a 6-2 upset defeat on its home ice in Potsdam, N.Y. at the hands of Brown. Bruin goalie Mike Laycock excelled with 32 saves and enjoyed good offensive support, as six teammates each notched a score.

Last night's winners take to the ice in Boston Friday night for the ECAC Division I semi-finals. It looks like B.U. against B.C. in an all-Boston final--but then, it looked like Cornell and Clarkson over Providence and Brown.