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Published Friday March 24, 2006 BU second-period flurry douses Mavs BY CHAD PURCELL
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

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The UNO hockey team's first appearance in the NCAA tournament will be remembered most for a dramatic and dizzying second-period meltdown.

Mick Lawrence, of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, checks Boston University's Jason Lawrence, right, during the first period of Friday's NCAA Northeast Regional semifinal in Worcester, Mass.

And that 20-minute tailspin certainly will go down as a stretch the Mavericks wish they could forget.

Chris Higgins netted three goals in a span of 5:31 in the second, and Bryan Ewing finished with two scores to lead top-ranked Boston University to a 9-2 blowout Friday in the opening game of the Northeast regional. Higgins' hat trick was the quickest in the history of regional play and the fourth fastest ever for a player in the NCAA tournament.

Dan Spang, Kenny Roche, Ryan Weston and Brian McGuirk also turned in goals for the Terriers, who stretched their NCAA-best winning streak to seven. BU, the tournament's overall No. 3 team and the top seed in Worcester, has only lost once now in its last 22 games.

"That was not the way we wanted our initial venture into the NCAA tournament to turn out, but it is what it is," said UNO coach Mike Kemp. "My hat is off to BU. They did an excellent job in every phase of the game. Obviously, they're a No. 1 seed for a very good reason."

	Boston University goalie John Curry blocks a shot as Tom Morrow, center, keeps Nebraska-Omaha's Dan Charleston, No. 33, from a rebound.

Fourth-seeded and 15th-ranked UNO, which finishes 2005-06 with a 20-15-6 record, was trying to become the first team since Ferris State in 2003 to record a win in its NCAA debut.

The Mavs played with a 1-0 lead for most of the first period, but BU's balance eventually overwhelmed UNO. The Terriers' top line didn't score Friday, but Boston U. got two or more goals from each of its second, third and fourth units.

"All four lines, plus the defense, are playing well," said Higgins, a freshman center who skates on BU's third line and scored his sixth, seventh and eighth goals of the season. "The fourth line chipping in is great."

Still, it was the Mavs who got off to the great start.

UNO took a 1-0 lead 3:32 into the game while on the power play. Kaleb Betts blasted a shot from the point, and Bill Thomas knocked the rebound past BU goalie John Curry.

UNO's Jerad Kaufmann, meanwhile, made several spectacular stops in the first to keep the Mavs ahead.

But BU netted a power play goal of its own 90 seconds before the first intermission when Ewing raced in front of the Mavs' net and directed in a centering pass from Sean Sullivan.

"I thought the first period we played them pretty well - and they were playing very well," BU coach Jack Parker said. "Both teams had great opportunities. They get up 1-0, and we get a pretty power-play goal to tie the game, and that gave us a real boost."

The 26-9-4 Terriers then terrorized Kaufmann in the second, tying an NCAA regional record by netting six goals in a single period. That also was the biggest outsburst allowed in a 20-minute span by the Mavs in program history.

Higgins and Spang scored at 4:53 and 7:52 of the second, then UNO rookie Tomas Klempa ripped a surprise wristshot past BU goalie John Curry to cut the Terriers' lead to 3-2 at the 8:06 mark.

But Higgins, Roche and Higgins again pumped in three goals from 8:38 to 10:24.

"We get it back to 3-2, all of a sudden they come right off that goal and score again," Kemp said.

"It took away any momentum from the goal that got us back in the game. It snowballs - 5-2, 6-2 - and we sagged dramatically at that point."

Boston U. outshot the Mavs 16-6 in the second period, and almost all of those chances came right on the doorstep of Kaufmann's net. Kemp said the Mavs seemed to have no answer for the Terriers' aggressive forecheck and physical play down low.

And Kaufmann - the freshman walk-on who came on so strong in the second half of the season - didn't have enough answers during BU's barrage.

"They were peppering," said Kaufmann, who made 28 saves. "They knew what they wanted to do in the second period, and they got it done."

Ewing put away a power-play goal for BU three minutes before the end of the second, then Weston and McGuirk, who both skate on the Terriers' fourth line, added two more man-advantage goals in the third.

The loss was the most lopsided of the season for the Mavs. The most goals they had given up in a game previously in 2005-06 was seven, which happened twice in early-season losses to Bowling Green State and Michigan.

"After the first, we really were not playing with the desperation we needed in a 1-1 game," said Thomas, who moved his school-record single-season goal total to 27. "We were turning the puck over a lot, and that led to the six-goal venture. It was a landslide after that."

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