Icecats 3, UMass 2 (2OT)

It's on to the finals. With Bobby Butler's goal 90 seconds into the second overtime, the University of New Hampshire hockey team earned a berth in the Hockey East championship game, winners of a 3-2 marathon over the University of Massachusetts.

UNH (26-9-2)    1-1-0-0-1 -- 3
UMA (20-12-5)  1-1-0-0-0 -- 1

GOALIE SAVES
Kevin Regan, UNH  8-10-12-13-1 -- 44
Jon Quick, UMA  10-8-10-10-0 -- 38

Greg Collins put the 'Cats on top 3:29 in, when he stuffed his own rebound. The play started when Bobby Butler carried into the offensive zone with his new linemates (see notes below) and found Thomas Fortney in the slot. Fortney took the puck to the side of the net, then found Collins cutting and the sophomore made good on his second short-range bid.

UNH continued to carry play for most of the period, but the Minutemen drew even with 2 minutes left in the frame thanks to a fluky goal. Alex Berry was in the corner when he fired toward the net, and though the puck was on track to miss everything, and ride harmlessly into the opposite corner, it hit the inside of Brad Flaishans' skate and popped past a helpless Regan.

Sixteen ticks into period No. 2, the Minutemen struck again to take a 2-1 lead. Cory Quirk started the play behind the Wildcat net, then slung a pass out front where Chris Capraro collected, waited out Regan, and popped the puck into the top of the net.

Dick Umile ain't the Hockey East coach of the year for nothin'. After his rejiggered third line produced the Wildcats' first goal, the fourth line got the second. Danny Rossman -- in the lineup only because Hemingway couldn't play -- collected the rubber in the slot when a Shawn Vinz shot died there, then turned and fired a wrister through traffic to knot the score with 6:03 left in the middle stanza.

UMass outshot UNH 13-10 in the initial OT, including several terrific chances, but Regan was up to the task each time -- including on a Will Ortiz breakaway. Twice in four seconds he robbed Matt Anderson, then, with about two minutes left, he got his stick on a Capraro drive from between the circles. Josh Ciocco had the Wildcats' best chance, during a two-on-one with Jacob Micflikier, but Jon Quick got his right pad on the puck and directed it to the corner.

Toward the end of the first extra frame, the Wildcats looked like the more tired club -- UMass is playing at least parts of its fourth line, while UNH is sitting its -- so the break was likely more welcome to the top seeds.

The second OT didn't last long. Again it was UNH's third line -- it's reconfigured third line -- that got the job done, with Collins stripping the puck from Brett Watson near the top of the offensive zone. Butler then fought off Justin Braun for possession, freed his stick and chipped it over Quick for the winner.

• First-line UNH wing Brett Hemingway, who ranks fifth on the team in scoring, was out of the UNH lineup with a stomach virus. He was replaced on the top line by Josh Ciocco, with Bobby Butler moving to the third line and Danny Rossman entering the lineup as a fourth liner. Umile was unsure of Hemingway's status for ThSaturday's game, saying only "he's pretty sick" and that the 'Cats will take a wait-and-see approach.
• The driving outside the Garden was treacherous late this afternoon, not doing any favors to the crowd for this late-afternoon start. As game-time approached, an eyeballing of the 17,565 seats estimates that about an eighth of them are filled.
• The league reported about 3,000 no-shows, after selling almost 16,000 tickets.
• Neither team committed a penalty in the first 20 minutes. UNH's Craig Switzer took the game's first infraction with 12:28 to go in the second, sent off for boarding.
• With Berry's first-period goal, Regan's shutout streak came to an end at 178:37 -- just 83 ticks shy of three full games.
• After stopping 128 of 130 shots so far in the postseason, Regan's save percentage in those three contests is .985.
• A night after he was named an honorable mention for the Hockey East all-star team, Flaishans had a rough night. First he inadvertantly redirected Berry's drive into his own net, then he mishandled a puck near the blue line to give Will "Little Papi" Ortiz an overtime breakaway. Regan, however, bailed him out with a glove save.
• Rossman had played enough this season - appearing in 16 previous games - that he wasn't overwhelmed when Coach Dick Umile came to him yesterday afternoon and told the freshman he'd be skating in the semifinal. "I wasn't nervous or anything," Rossman said. "I knew I could play, and I knew I could go out there and bring some energy. That's the type of guy I am." In fact, all he was hoping to do was bring energy near the end of the second period last night, looking for a big hit or a quick shift to fire up his team. But instead he did better. "I don't think I've been that pumped up in my life," said the Massachusetts native. "I almost couldn't talk."