ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jack Hughes and Cole Eiserman scored second-period goals, and Boston University beat Penn State 3-1 on Thursday night to advance to its first Frozen Four final in 10 years.
Freshman Mikhail Yegorov stopped 32 shots, and Jack Harvey scored an empty-netter with a minute left for BU (24-12-2), which lost in the semifinals in each of the past two years.
The Terriers are five-time champions who lost to Providence in 2015 and are seeking their first title since beating Miami (Ohio) in 2009.
On Saturday night, Boston University will face Frozen Four first-timers, top-seeded Western Michigan.
The Broncos have won nine straight and advanced with a 3-2 2OT win over defending champion Denver in the first semifinal.
Nicholas DeGraves scored 2:15 into the third for Penn State (22-14-4). The Nittany Lions – another Frozen Four first-timer—were making just their fourth NCAA tournament appearance since being established in 2011-12.
Arsenii Sergeev made 31 saves in a showdown between two Russian-born goalies.
Hughes opened the scoring 1:35 by sweeping in a loose puck after Sergeev could not find it sitting in the crease after he stopped Matt Copponi’s initial shot.
Eiserman scored nine minutes later by converting a 2-on-1 break. Cole Hutson drove deep down the left side and swung around to feed a pass back through the crease to Eiserman, who one-timed it into the open side.
Yegorov preserved the win with several key stops. He got his blocker up to turn aside Dane Dowlak’s shot off a breakaway with seven minutes left in the second period.
And the 19-year-old briefly peeked behind him after smothering Jarod Crespo’s hard shot from the right circle with 4:19 left in the third.
Yegorov improved to 11-5-1 since joining BU in January after opening the season in the USHL. In June, New Jersey selected him in the second round of the NHL draft.
Terriers coach and two-time Stanley Cup winner Jay Pandolfo has reached the Frozen Four a combined seven times, four as a player and in each of his three seasons behind the BU bench.
He was a member of the 1995 championship team coached by U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Jack Parker.
– John Wawrow of The Associaed Press contributed to this article.
