Box Score

Postgame Press Conference (Greg Cronin, Steve Silva and Chris Rawlings)

2010-11 Men's Hockey Digital Meida Guide

The sixth-seeded Huskies marched into Agganis Arena on Thursday night in the first game of the 2011 Hockey East quarterfinals and upended third-seeded Boston University, 4-2, and put themselves in position to advance to the TD Garden for the second time in three years.

With Thursday's triumph, Northeastern won back-to-back games at Agganis Arena for the first time in program history.

Senior Steve Silva keyed the Huskies offense with a pair of goals and an assist while sophomore netminder Chris Rawlings turned aside 37-of-39 shots to pick up his 11th win of the year. Rookie Braden Pimm and veteran Wade MacLeod joined Silva as the Huskies' goal scorers.

Boston University grabbed the first power play of the contest after a Jamie Oleksiak interference call at 4:14 of the first. Following a quick clear from sophomore Steve Quailer, the Terriers registered a barrage of shots early on, but Rawlings stood his ground and kept BU off the board.

Ryan Ruikka returned the favor to Northeastern with a hooking call at 7:03 and yielded the Huskies first strike of the game with a power play tally at 8:16. Northeastern's cycle moved seamlessly through the zone and sophomore Garrett Vermeersch earned some room and let it rip from the left circle. MIllan made the first stop but the puck squirted out and Silva roofed the rebound for his fourth power-play goal of the season.

The Terriers responded immediately by taking advantage of a pile in front of Rawlings moments later at 8:57. After BU won the draw, a scrum descended upon the Huskies' crease and David Warsofsky was able to needle the puck through traffic from the far post off of Justin Courtnall's skate to knot the game, 1-1.

Northeastern attacked late in the first to regain the lead heading into the second, capitalizing off an icing call with a MacLeod marker at 18:05. Silva won a clean draw out to his left where MacLeod gathered the puck, took two strides, and hammered the puck at Millan. The rubber caught a piece of BU's goalie, but the momentum of the puck was too hot and carried across the goal line to make it a 2-1 affair.

Anthony Bitetto gave BU the extra skater immediately to start the second with a trip 33 seconds in, but Northeastern killed it off and turned it into a 3-1 lead. The puck squirted out to the neutral zone and Pimm outskated everyone, took control and tore down the left side of the ice. Pimm skated out to his left and then brought it back in and stuffed it underneath Millan's pad at 3:47.

Midway through the second, rookie Luke Eibler cleared the puck out of NU's zone out to Cody Ferriero on the wall. Ferriero redirected the puck to Silva in-stride and the senior took off with two Terriers in pursuit. Silva stopped a few feet within BU's blue line and duped Millan with an off-speed wristshot over Millan's blocker to claim a 4-1 advantage at 9:42 of the second stanza.

Randy Guzior and Justin Daniels both took penalties towards the end of the second, but NU's penalty-killing unit continued to contain the Terriers' power play to close out the frame.

The Terriers struck on their next power play as Ruikka took advantage of a Drew Ellement interference call (2:36) to draw Boston University within two, 4-2. As the seconds melted off of Ellement's infraction, Ruikka maneuvered the puck through traffic on the near post off of a Sahir Gill blast at 4:22.

After a Ben Rosen tripping call came and went, Vermeersch and Quailer followed each other to the box at 9:53 and 11:17, respectively, bestowing the Terriers with 37 seconds with a 5-on-3 advantage. Two close calls nearly made it a one-goal game, but Rob Dongara pitchforked BU's last effort out of Northeastern's zone to come away unscathed.

With time winding down, Pimm was assessed a charging call at 17:11 and Millan was pulled simultaneously to put BU on the two-man advantage with an unguarded net. Rawlings stood his ground and kept the Terriers out of the net to secure the 4-2 victory.

The Huskies are now just one win away to advancing to the TD Garden for the semifinal round of the 2011 Hockey East playoffs. Northeastern returns to Agganis Arena for the second game of the Hockey East quarterfinal tomorrow night, Friday, March 11 at 7 p.m.

Game Notes
• Northeastern's game one victory snaps a 10-game losing streak in the first game of the Hockey East quarterfinals (whenever the Huskies partake in a three-game series in the conference postseason)

• Steve Silva netted a pair of goals for the third time in his career, the last time coming against Brown on Nov. 30, 2007. He also matched a career-best with three points for just the second time in his career. Silva has also scored a goal in his last three outings, marking a new career-high.

• Wade MacLeod is one point away from tying Leo Dupere (64-68-132) as the 23rd-most prolific point scorer in Northeastern history.

• Steve Silva, Garrett Vermeersch, Braden Pimm, Cody Ferriero, Luke Eibler and Brodie Reid all registered their first postseason points as Huskies on Thursday night.

• In the history of the Hockey East playoffs, the No. 6 seed (Northeastern) is now 18-34, all-time, in the #3 vs. #6 match-up.

• The last time Northeastern won two in a row at Boston University was spread out between two seasons, winning on Feb. 28, 2004 (6-3) and Feb. 26, 2005 (2-1). The last time the Huskies won two in a row in the same season at BU occurred on Jan. 17, 1999 (3-1) and Feb. 27, 1999 (4-3).