Terriers and Dutchmen fit to be tied, 3-3

Box Score 

by Ryan Fay

BOSTON – Boston University's Evan Rodrigues scored a power-play goal late in the third period to force an eventual 3-3 tie with Union in non-conference action Saturday at Agganis Arena.

The Dutchmen moved to 10-7-2 on the season while the top-ranked Terriers brought their record to 11-3-3.

An interference penalty on Union's Noah Henry gave Boston University their seventh power-play chance of the night at 15:01 of the third. The Terriers didn't convert on any of their first six opportunities, but found pay dirt on their seventh and evened the score at 3-3. Rodrigues took a cross-ice pass from Danny O'Regan and blasted a shot from the right circle past Union goalie Alex Sakellaropoulos at 15:44.

Just over a minute earlier, Mike Vecchione snapped a 2-2 tie and gave Union a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal following a series of nifty passes with Daniel Ciampini and Spencer Foo.

Sakellaropoulos, who started over Colin Stevens for the third time in the last four games, finished with 33 saves, including one in overtime to preserve the tie.

A.J Greer gave Boston University a 1-0 lead at 5:47 of the opening period, but Foo responded for Union 38 seconds later after one-timing a feed from Matt Wilkins past Terriers goalie Matt O'Connor.

The Dutchmen grabbed a 2-1 lead at 8:51 of the first. Ciampini scored a short-handed goal, his team-high 12th of the season, after beating O'Connor on a breakaway triggered by a Brandon Fortunato turnover at the other end. The Terriers evened it up just under five minutes later after Nikolas Olsson's shot from the point was redirected in front and got past Sakellaropoulos.

The Terriers played without star freshman forward Jack Eichel, who was given the night off after competing for the United States in the World Junior Championship. The U.S. was eliminated after a 3-2 loss to Russia on Friday.

The Dutchmen resume ECAC Hockey play next weekend, traveling to Princeton on Friday and 14th-ranked Quinnipiac on Saturday.

End notes: The game was the first-ever between the two schools, who will play again next season at Messa Rink... Union head coach Rick Bennett was a teammate of Terriers head coach David Quinn on the 1991-92 Binghamton Rangers... Dutchmen assistant coach Jason Tapp was a goalie for the Terriers from 1998-2002.

Follow @UnionHockeyBlog