Yip's goal tips the scales for BU

The celebratory pileup, appropriately, took place along the TD Banknorth Garden boards where a Blue Cross Blue Shield ad is displayed.

After Brandon Yip's overtime goal propelled Boston University to a 2-1 win over Boston College and gave the Terriers their first Hockey East tournament championship since 1997, the Terriers barreled into the boards with enough joy-driven momentum to seemingly require medical attention for their group party.

Sticks littered the ice. Gloves flew skyward and rained down on their heads. And the Hockey East trophy arrived on the ice, handed over to BU coach Jack Parker and cocaptains David Van der Gulik and Brad Zancanaro, and passed to each Terrier.

That trophy, which belonged to BC last year, nearly returned to Chestnut Hill in overtime, a stretch of play the Eagles dominated. BC, which had 20 shots through regulation, sent 10 on the BU net in overtime, foiled time and again by Terriers goalie John Curry (29 saves). At the other end of the ice, BU's all-freshman line kicked off the winning rush -- Jason Lawrence broke out of the defensive zone along the left wall, fed the puck to center Chris Higgins, who spotted Yip near the far post -- that ended with a crestfallen Cory Schneider (37 stops) lying flat on the ice with both the rubber and the bunny-hopping Terriers behind him.

''Hats off to them," said BC coach Jerry York, whose club gained an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. ''They played hard."

The off-white Hockey East championship hats, however, didn't come off many BU heads for a long time following the game.

''When we scored, I've never felt anything like that," Curry said. ''That's the most unbelievable feeling I've ever felt."

Yes, the Terriers won the Beanpot last year and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. But they didn't win the regular-season title. They were stormed in the Hockey East semifinals by New Hampshire. And they were steamrolled by a powerful North Dakota club in the East Regional in Worcester, a team that dismantled BC the following night.

This season, however, BU has hit all its checkpoints it established in September. Win yet another Beanpot. Claim the regular-season crown. Capture a championship in March.

''Last year we had a great regular season," Parker said. ''We won the Beanpot, we got to the semifinals, we lost to UNH. We got to the NCAAs and lost. That's not what we're all about. We want to see if we can win something big at the end of the year. That's been our M.O. for a long period of time. Recently, we haven't done that."

BU put together a similar run in 1997, winning a Beanpot, regular-season title, and league championship. That year, the regionals were in Worcester and the Frozen Four was in Milwaukee -- just like they are this season. And at this stage, the Terriers have ''Mission: Milwaukee" as their latest rallying cry as they enter the NCAAs.

''We have a lot of business to take care of," said Zancanaro, whose club will most likely be a No. 1 seed at the DCU Center next weekend. ''We'll enjoy this tonight but be back at it tomorrow and the rest of the week. I don't think anyone on this team feels that we're done."

For the second straight night, the Terriers fell behind in the first period. BC defenseman Mike Brennan dangled through the BU defense and lifted a shot over Curry at 3:24. But BU tied the game in the second period, thanks to its fourth line, which also helped set up a goal in the Terriers' 9-2 thumping of UNH Friday. Fourth-line forwards Brian McGuirk and John McCarthy, doing the dirty work behind the BC net along the boards, emerged with the puck. McGuirk sent a pass out front to McCarthy, who settled the rubber on his stick and flung a shot past Schneider at 14:30 to knot the game at 1-1.

BC blew BU's doors off in overtime, outshooting the Terriers by a 10-3 margin. Benn Ferriero ripped an uncontested shot from the slot that Curry snuffed with his right pad. Defenseman Brett Motherwell cranked a slapper that ticked off Curry's left shoulder. Forward Dan Bertram, standing in front of the net, took a pass from Ferriero and poked a shot that Curry stopped. Bertram then poked his stick again and tapped the puck into the net, but referee Tim Benedetto had already whistled the play dead at 6:34 of the extra frame.

The jumpy BU club settled down after a timeout at 8:12 of overtime, relieving the pressure and giving the Terriers enough composure to jump-start the winning flurry. Parker revealed that he had laid into Yip and Lawrence before the game, instructing the freshmen to stop playing cute hockey and do the simple things that lead to goals.

Clearly, his talk worked.

''We're really rolling right now," said BU defenseman Dan Spang. ''But we've got to keep it going. It's not over yet."