For just the second time in 11 years, the Hockey East semifinals won’t feature Boston College.
The No. 7 Vermont Catamounts (22-14-4) made sure of that Sunday night, earning a stunning 1-0 upset win over the third-seeded Eagles (21-13-3) in a decisive Game 3 of their quarterfinal series.
BC scored a convincing 4-2 win in the series opener Friday night, but Vermont battled to a 3-1 victory Saturday night to force Sunday’s winner-take-all contest. It’s just the third time in school history and first time since 2010 the Catamounts have advanced to the Hockey East semifinals.
Freshman forward Jarrid Privitera provided the heroics for Vermont, beating BC goaltender Thatcher Demko on a breakaway less than three minutes into the third period for the game’s lone goal.
Catamounts netminder Brody Hoffman held up his end of the bargain, tallying 36 saves to earn his first shutout of the season and stopping a barrage of Eagles shots as time wound down to preserve the upset win.
BC’s early exit represents the second straight year the Eagles haven’t reached the semis after they were upset by Notre Dame in 2014. Prior to that year, they had made it to semifinal round in nine straight seasons dating back to 2005.
Vermont will head to TD Garden on Friday to square off against fourth-seeded UMass Lowell in the semifinals, while top-seeded Boston University will battle eighth-seeded New Hampshire in the other matchup. Those games are slated for 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Quarterfinal Results
UMass Lowell 6, Notre Dame 4 (UML wins series 2-1)
New Hampshire 2, Providence 1 (OT) (UNH wins series 2-1)
Semifinal Matchups
No. 1 Boston University vs. No. 8 New Hampshire
No. 4 UMass Lowell vs. No. 7 Vermont
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@bcheights
