NCAA Hockey Tournament Live Blog: Milner Earns Shutout, Boston College Wins 4-0

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Mar 25, 2012

NCAA Hockey Tournament Live Blog: Milner Earns Shutout, Boston College Wins 4-0

Final Score, Boston College 4, University of Minnesota-Duluth 0: As the Milner chants pour down from the stands — along with some gold and maroon streamers — Boston College celebrates the continuation of its season. BC will now pack its bags for Tampa and the 2012 Frozen Four.

Minnesota-Duluth gave its all against the heavily favored Boston College squadm but it just wasn't enough. 

BC will face another Minnesota team in the next round — the same Minnesota Gophers squad that beat Boston University 7-3 in the opening round of the Frozen Four.

Third Period, 18:30, 4-0 BC: Despite their four-goal lead, BC is still on the attack as forward Bill Arnold misses on his second breakaway attempt of the night.

Minnesota-Duluth is not playing well in the attacking zone tonight. The Bulldogs continue to have odd-man rush after odd-man rush, but they keep failing to get a quality shot through the tough Eagle defense.

Third Period, 15:20, 4-0 BC: Edwin Shea and the rest of the Boston College defensemen are doing everything in their power to keep that goose egg up on the scoreboard, fighting off every Bulldog rush with a little over four minutes left in the road to the Frozen Four.

Third Period, 13:30, 4-0 BC: BC's third line continues to shine as little man Johnny Gaudreau scores his first goal of the night, giving him a goal and an assist along with a +2 rating with 7:30 remaining in the game.

Third Period, 10:00, 3-0 BC: Things are starting to get a little rowdy out there as desperation time creeps in on Minnesota-Duluth. 

J.T. Brown earned himself a roughing penalty after a late hit on BC's Bill Arnold. 

Despite four opporunities for both teams, neither one has been able to net a power play goal.

Third Period, 8:30, 3-0 BC: After another Patrick Wey penalty, the Bulldogs got their fifth power-play opportunity of the game, and just like the other four, they failed to convert. 

Although the opporunities were there, Milner is playing lights out between the pipes and will not let an easy one squeak by him. The Bulldogs are going to need to pick up the intensity if they want to mount a comeback before the night is out.

Third Period, 6:00, 3-0 BC: BC goalie Patrick Milner continues to make save after save, and, with his shutout in the previous game against Air Force, he is quickly making a case for an All-Tournament Team selection.

Third Period, 4:00, 3-0 BC: Boston College defenseman Patch Adams Alber takes a tripping penalty, giving Minnesota-Duluth a two-minute power play.

BC goalie Parker Milner made back-to-back diving saves to keep the Eagles up 3-0 before Patrick Wey took a penalty of his own, giving the Bulldogs a 5-on-3 power play.

Third Period, 1:50, 3-0 BC: After it looked as if Minnesota had stopped a BC rush, junior defenseman Patrick Wey threw a soft wrist shot on net that somehow squeaked by the Bulldogs net-minder. BC leads 3-0 with 18:47 left in the third period.

Second Intermission, 2-0 BC: Minnesota-Duluth failed to capitalize on the power play, and quite frankly, failed to muster a solid shot attempt. 

After two periods, it looks like BC's constant pressure is starting to take a toll on the Bulldog forwards, who appear to be slowing a little bit.

The number of shots seems to be the only even thing between the two teams: Minnesota has 15 shots on goal, while Boston College has 14.

BC will have to be ready to weather the storm early in the third period, as we can expect Minnesota-Duluth to pull out all the stops in an attempt to keep this game and their season alive.

Second Period, 19:00, 2-0 BC: Boston College's mammoth of a defenseman, Isaac MacLeod — listed at 6-foot-5, 210 pounds — took a high-sticking penalty with three minutes remaining in the second period, opening the door for Minnesota-Duluth to attempt to cut this BC lead in half.

Second Period, 16:00, 2-0 BC: If you didn't know BC's Johnny Gaudreau was a freshman, you certainly wouldn't be able to tell by watching this game.

Gaudreau is listed at 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds, making him one of the smallest players in all of college hockey.

Despite his size, Gaudreau has been throwing his body around like he was Zdeno Chara, causing turnovers and disrupting the Bulldogs' breakout nearly every time he touches the ice.

Second Period, 12:00, 2-0 BC: After back-to-back goals by the Eagles, Minnesota-Duluth has picked up the hitting. Wade Bergman delivered a somewhat questionable hit on BC freshman Danny Linell, and directly after that, Minnesota first line left winger Joe Basaraba — drafted in the third round of the 2010 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers — laid a solid body check of his own during a Bulldog forecheck.

Second Period, 9:00, 2-0 BC: Minnesota-Duluth goalie Kenny Reiter is doing everything in his power to keep this game withing reach for the Bulldogs, making save after save as the BC forecheck continues to force turnovers in front of the net.

BC defenseman Tommy Cross continues to do a phenominal job clearing the garbage in front of Parker Milner, the Eagles goalie, blocking his second shot of the night.

Second Period, 4:33, 2-0 BC: The Eagles wasted no time doubling their lead — technically, they wasted 33 seconds — as Steve Whitney sent a gorgeous pass from behind the net to linemate Bill Arnold, who buried it. Boston College leads 2-0 with 14 minutes left in the second period.

Second Period, 4:00, 1-0 BC: After spending quite an awful time in the Eagles' own zone, freshman forward Johnny Gaudreau skated the puck coast-to-coast before tossing a wrap-around shot on net that was jammed home by Pat Mullane.

Second Period, 3:00, 0-0: Minnesota-Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin may have read this blog during intermission, because his Bulldog team has made some serious adjustments and is having no trouble at all working the puck around in BC territory.

First Intermission:  The Eagles have failed to convert on two power plays already in this one and only have 24 seconds remaining on their third attempt.

BC clearly looks like the favorite so far in this matchup, as they have spent most of their time in front of the Minnesota net.

Minnesota has had some trouble in the neutral zone for the majority of the first period, although, despite their lack of time in the offensive zone, the Bulldogs have had a few quality scoring chances that had a real chance at finding twine. 

First Period, 19:00, 0-0: Duluth's first defensive pairing of Brady Lamb and Wade Bergamn looked to be working well on the Minnesota penalty kill before Lamb took an extremely aggressive boarding penalty as their penalty kill expired.

BC will have one minute on the power play to try to score the first goal of the game before the end of the first period.

First Period, 15:00, 0-0: BC foward Bill Arnold took a great pass for a breakaway only to be denied by Bulldog goaltender Kenny Reiter.

Arnold's attack led to a flurry of BC shots before Minnesota's second-line center, Travis Oleksuk, got called for hitting from behind. BC power play with 4:30 remaining in the first period.

First Period, 14:00, 0-0: Duluth looked very strong on its one-minute powerplay thanks to some fancy dangling by captain Jack Connolly. 

Things look to be evening out a little bit here in terms of scoring opportunities as we wait for one team to draw first blood.

First Period, 9:25, 0-0:  Minnesota Duluth defenseman Tim Smith took a tough penalty in front of the Bulldog net, but the power play proved to be short-lived as BC got called for too many men halfway through.

First Period, 6:30, 0-0: Minnesota-Duluth is having a tough time with its breakouts early in this one due to the aggressive BC forecheck. Duluth senior defenseman Brady Lamb is doing everything in his power to cleanly get the puck out of his defensive zone.

First Period, 3:00, 0-0: Just a few minutes into the game and Boston College is already showing off its physical play as freshman forward Destry Straight laid a massive check on a Bulldog defenseman that took his helmet clean off.

BC's forecheck is already in full swing, and Minnesota-Duluth is doing all that they can to get the puck out of the zone.

7:55 p.m.: Only 10 minutes to go until puck drop here at the DCU Center. Boston College fans are slowly filling out the stands as many students made the 35-minute road trip from Chestnut Hill.

Both BC and Minnesota-Duluth looked extremely focused in warm-ups, with the pressure building as the winner of this matchup will be on its way to Tampa for the 2012 NCAA Frozen Four. 

Stay tuned as the Boston College Eagles take on the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs and get ready to fight it out on the road to the national championship.

4:30 p.m. ET: The Boston College Eagles are set to take on the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs on Sunday night, as the two teams face off in the Northeast regional final at the DCU Center in Worcester.

The winning team will move on to Tampa and join Union and Ferris St. in the Frozen Four.

The Eagles are led by none other than junior sensation Chris Kreider, who scored both goals in Saturday's semifinal matchup against a strong Air Force team.

Boston College is 9-1 when playing in Worcester, and surprisingly enough, BC has won three national championships when advancing through Worcester (2001, 2008, 2010).

Although the statistics might point to a BC win, the Bulldogs will not just roll over. Led by senior center and Duluth native Jack Connolly, the Bulldogs captain with 60 points in 40 games, BC will look to attack the Eagles right out of the gate.

Be sure to follow NESN.com's live blog of the 2012 Northeast regional final game to see if the BC Eagles can cement their spot in the Frozen Four.

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