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Sunday, March 24
 
Maine escapes wild third period

Associated Press

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WORCESTER, Mass. -- When the game was over and Maine had clinched its first Frozen Four berth of the Tim Whitehead era, captain Peter Metcalf took one more trip around the ice to make sure no one forgot why the Black Bears were two wins away from another NCAA championship.

Colin Shields
Colin Shields and Maine last won the NCAA title under Shawn Walsh in 1999.

Instead of a trophy, the Maine senior skated with jersey No. 01, which hung in the goal during warmups and behind the bench during the game to honor former coach Shawn Walsh, who died of cancer in September.

"He's still a huge inspiration to us," goaltender Matt Yeats said Sunday after stopping 31 shots to help Maine beat Boston University 4-3 and set up a semifinal matchup with New Hampshire. "Coach Whitehead has done a great job, but we're really playing for (Walsh). He's the guy who got us here, and he's definitely on our minds."

Walsh took over a losing program in 1984 and won two national championships, the latter in 1999. He died at the age of 46 on Sept. 24 -- the day before the team started practice, and 15 months after he was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma.

Whitehead said Metcalf had been determined "to make this a season Shawn would be proud of." And in that, the Black Bears have already succeeded.

Lucas Lawson scored a pair of tiebreaking goals in the third period, and Colin Shields added a key insurance goal as Maine (25-10-7) made the national semifinals for the third time in four years. It will play New Hampshire (30-6-3), which beat Cornell 4-3 later Sunday.

Michigan (27-10-5) will play Minnesota (30-8-4) in the other semifinal on April 4, in St. Paul, Minn.

In the early game, David Klema scored twice and Sean Fields made 30 saves for BU (25-10-3), which has not beaten Maine in four tries this March.

"Unfortunately for us," Terriers coach Jack Parker said, "it was a typical Maine-BU game: real close and Maine won."

Just 40 seconds after Klema tied it 2-all, Fields left a rebound in front of the net and Lawson took advantage of the out-of-position goalie to backhand it into the empty net.

Shields scored on a breakaway, outracing the defender to the puck with 4:23 left to make it 4-2. Klema made it 4-3 with 3:02 left when he knocked in a rebound, but the Terriers couldn't get another goal despite putting sustained pressure on Yeats after pulling their goalie in the final minute.






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