SEMIFINAL #2: Boston University 5, Harvard 3

• Box score • Boston University game story • Harvard game story For the 12th time in as many years, Boston University will be in the final of the Beanpot Tournament. On Monday evening in front of 17,565 at TD Banknorth Garden, the Terriers withstood a late Harvard rally and used a three-point night from freshman Jason Lawrence to post a 5-3 victory in the Beanpot's opening round. BU will face Boston College, a 5-2 winner over Northeastern, in the tournament's championship game for the fifth time in seven seasons. The Comm. Ave. rivals will face off for the fourth time this season on Monday, Feb. 13, to determine the champion of the 54th Beanpot. BU has won nine of the last 11 titles with the Eagles staking claim to the other two championships during the stretch (2001, 2004). BU held the lead throughout the contest and took a 4-1 advantage into the final period. However, the Crimson scored twice in the third and threatened to knot the contest in the final minute of regulation before the Terriers finished off the victory on an empty-netter with 6.7 ticks left on the clock. Junior goaltender John Curry made 38 saves, including 23 in the final period. Harvard outshot the Terriers, 41-26, and got a 21-save performance from John Daigneau. ''I give John Curry a lot of credit for being what we expect him to be: a guy that can win a game for us when we're not playing at the top of our game," said Boston University head coach Jack Parker. The Terriers made the most of their first scoring opportunity, as sophomore Bryan Ewing sent home a point-blank opportunity just 1:23 into the contest. After a wrap-around attempt in transition by junior Kenny Roche was denied, BU kept the puck in its zone and set up its offense. Junior Kevin Schaeffer shuffled the puck over to Roche, who set up Ewing's shot, which was rifled over the right shoulder of Daigneau. Curry stopped 25 of Harvard's first 26 shots on the evening, including a great opportunity for an early Crimson equalizer. Junior Kevin Du sent the puck towards an open Alex Meintel just outside the crease, but Meintel's offer was stuffed by Curry to keep it a 1-0 affair. Freshman Chris Higgins pushed BU's lead to 2-0 on a highlight-reel goal with 9:52 left in the opening frame on assists from fellow rookie linemates Brandon Yip and Lawrence. After receiving an outlet pass from Lawrence, Yip got the puck to Higgins just before getting hit on the near-side boards at half-ice. Higgins dashed toward the goal from the blue line and pushed the puck towards the net before jumping past Harvard's Kevin MacDonald. The freshman kept his balance long enough to recover the puck and bury a backhand shot past a sprawling Daigneau as he slid past the net. The Crimson cut its deficit in half just over two minutes after the Terriers' second strike, as sophomore Paul Dufault skated towards the net from the left before pushing home a shot between Curry's legs that snuck inside the far pipe. Classmate Jon Pelle was credited with an assist on the tally. Senior co-captain Brad Zancanaro lit up the scoreboard with the Terriers' third goal of the night via their first power-play opportunity of the middle period. A cross-ice pass from David Van der Gulik set up a wide-open look for Zancanaro, who slapped the puck past Daigneau from the left side to reestablish a two-goal cushion at 3-1. Lawrence also earned an assist on the goal, which came at the 15:32 mark. A two-man advantage produced another BU goal just under four minutes later. After Harvard's Ryan Maki was whistled for goaltender interference, he was joined the penalty box 44 seconds later by Jack Christian, who got called for holding. Lawrence deflected a one-timer from Schaeffer that was set up by senior Dan Spang with 1:34 left before the second intermission. The goal was reviewed by the officiating crew due to a possible crease violation, but the goal was upheld after looking at the video. BU gave Harvard a two-man opportunity of its own in the early stages of the third period, but the Terriers' penalty-killing unit was up the task. However, after the penalties expired, the Crimson notched its second goal of the contest off a faceoff. A hard-fought faceoff win by sophomore Tyler Magura led to a long shot from the right side by senior Tom Walsh. Curry turned away the offer, but a long rebound to the opposite side found its way to Meintel, who angled a perfect shot past Curry with 13:21 left in regulation. Clinging to the two-goal advantage, the Terriers looked to have the game in check as the minutes ticked away in the final period. Harvard, however, used another faceoff in the BU zone to make it one-goal contest with 2:21 left in the third. Sophomore Dave Watters was the beneficiary of a clean faceoff win by Dufault, as the sophomore immediately collected the puck and fired it past Curry to get the Crimson right back into the game. Harvard pulled Daigneau in favor of an extra attacker for the final 1:39 and created a wild series of chances in front of the BU goal with around 45 seconds left to play, but Curry passed the 40-save mark for the game and avoided a game-tying goal. The Terriers rushed the puck out of their zone before Spang slid a pass to Van der Gulik, who knocked in the empty-netter to seal the win. The Terriers improved to 16-8-2 with the win, while the Crimson dropped to 12-9-2.