Nieto's OT Goal Caps Wild Game

Matt Nieto scored with less than five
seconds left in overtime to give
BU the win.
(Photo by Matt Dresens)

With 3.8 seconds left in overtime, Matt Nieto finished a two on none rush with Evan Rodrigues to put the Terriers past Maine and picked up two huge points in the process. Before the thrilling OT ending there was more rather exciting hockey played at Alfond Arena

Miane jumped out to a 1-0 lead on their fourth power play goal of the weekend. Freshman Ryan Lomberg, who was charged with goalie interference that negated what would have been the Maine game winner last night, got a little revenge as he scored with 3:50 left in the first. Joey Diamond and Jake Rutt picked up the assists on the goal.

Maine would take the 1-0 lead into the dressing room after the first, only to see BU score the next four goals. Halfway through period two, Danny O'Regan potted his first of two power play goals. Ahit Oksanen continued his strong play, picking up an assist with Ryan Santana notching the other helper.

Less than five minutes later, Cason Hohmann scored a goal that will definitely be on the season highlight-reel. Wade Megan made spectacular indirect pass off the boards along the bench. The puck bounced off the wall to Hohmann at the blue line and he was pretty much in alone from there. One Maine defender added pressure late, so Hohmann leaned into him to protected the puck. In the process Hohmann made Martin Ouellette leave the post, opening room on the short side. Hohmann took out his pitching wedge and chipped a shot top-self over Ouellette's shoulder for his eight of the year.

With 51 seconds left in the stanza, Matt Grzelcyk riffled a shot through Ouellette and into the back of the net. It was Grzelcyk's third marker of the year and first against a team other than Boston College. Hohmann picked up the lone assist on the play, his 20th.

1:03 into the third, O'Regan netted his second, again on the power play. Out of a large scrum in the slot, Oksanen controlled a loose puck and was able to hit O'Regan with pass by the side of the cage. Danny was all alone and beat Ouellette who had zero chance. At this point the game looked all but over, as BU has traditionally done a very good job of closing games out in the third period this year. Not to be.

Three minutes after the O'Regan goal, Joey Diamond cut the BU lead to 4-2. Devin Shore fired a shot from the top of the near circle and the puck deflected off Ben Hutton's blade right onto Diamond's stick. Joey had one of those "look what I found" moments and wasted no time firing it into the net. It was his 12th on the season.

Minutes later Maine made things very tense, as Shore scored an incredibly flukey shorthanded goal with more than half the period to play. Conor Riley fired a one on four shot at the net and the rebound popped up in the air. Riley, from behind the  goal line,  batted the puck out of the air off Sean Maguire's back and into the crease. That's were Shore was standing and had all 6x4 of the net and putted home his 3rd of the year. Riley's somewhat lucky assist was his first apple of the year.

With the goalie pulled and time running out at the Alfond, Steven Swavely redirected Jake Rutt's shot from the point past Maguire at 19:21 of the third period to tie things 4-4. The Maine comeback was a result of two things. One, BU backed off the gas after O'Regan made it 4-1 and secondly, Maine played much harder as the crowd got back on their feet.

Maine, like much of the third period, controlled the play in overtime. Maguire held his ground and with less than five seconds left, BU somehow had a 2 on 0 from the redline in on Ouellette. O'Regan hit Evan Rodrigues with an indirect pass off the glass from in the BU zone at center ice. From there, Rodrigues skated all the way to the dot before making a slight move to get Ouellette to bight. Then he dished over to Nieto, who was crashing hard to the far post. Nieto hit the back of the net with 3.8 seconds left in overtime, causing me to jump off my basement couch in excitement. Finally there was something to get excited about with this team.

Nieto had this to say about the goal "It was middle of the net. Nothing but net. The goalie was no where to be found."

BU now will look ahead to a critical home and home series with the Lowell River Hawks starting on Friday.