Frozen in time; Whitney lifts Eagles in overtime.

Byline: Dave Nordman

WORCESTER - The last time Joe Whitney scored a goal to win a hockey tournament, he was a junior at Lawrence Academy. But the excitement of beating Cushing Academy for the first time in 10 years doesn't quite compare to the exhilaration of giving Boston College its third straight berth in the Frozen Four.

"That was big, but this was way bigger," the freshman left wing from Reading said after his acrobatic goal with 7:48 left in overtime earned the Eagles a 4-3 victory over Miami (Ohio) University in last night's Northeast Regional championship before a crowd of nearly 6,000 at the DCU Center.

BC (22-11-8) will play North Dakota (28-10-4) in a national semifinal on April 10 in Denver.

It was the third straight season the Eagles stopped Miami (33-8-1) in the NCAA tournament. Freshman John Muse's 34 saves had a lot to do with that.

"We had our chances, but their goaltender came up big, and they had one chance and buried it," said Miami coach Enrico Blasi, whose team outshot BC, 10-4, in OT.

Skating hard toward the left post, Whitney scored while being tripped by Miami's Brian Kaufman after RedHawks goalie Jeff Zatkoff used his right pad to kick aside a booming slap shot by Dan Bertram.

Somehow, Whitney backhanded the rebound by Zatkoff while spinning and crashing hard to the ice, ala Bobby Orr. Of course, that was all part of the plan - at least the skating to the left post part.

"I usually go the middle of the ice, but I knew from practice that Danny always shoots to the far post, so I tried to go there and thankfully I got a stick on it," said Whitney, who has a knack for beating quality goalies in big games.

His shootout goal that beat Cushing Academy, 2-1, in the championship game of the Lawrence Academy tournament in 2005 came against Rich Bachman, now the Colorado College goalie and WCHA Rookie of the Year.

Last night, he beat Katkoff, a CCHA all-star, who made 38 stops, including a spectacular right pad save on Bertram in the final seconds of regulation.

"Fortunately it was on my stick," Whitney said. "It could have happened to anyone. It could have happened to Danny."

It was no coincidence that the winning goal came less than 3 minutes after BC coach Jerry York, at the urging of his assistants, called a timeout.

"I told them not to think about Denver or a chance to go to the Frozen Four," York said. "I said, `Let's try to win a hockey game.' We weren't being the aggressor and our motive all year was to be the aggressor. We were back on our heels."

Nick Petrecki, Ben Smith and Nathan Gerbe had the other BC goals. Jarod Palmer, Nino Musitelli and Ryan Jones scored for Miami.

Whitney, Gerbe, Petrecki, Jones and Miami's Alec Martinez were named to the All-Tournament team along with Air Force goalie Andrew Volkening. Whitney, of course, was the Most Outstanding Player.

You might remember it was Petrecki, another freshman, who scored the OT goal that beat Harvard in the Beanpot.

"I think it's something in the water in the freshmen dorms," Eagles captain Mike Brennan said.

Miami jumped out to a 2-0 lead before BC exploded for three goals in a span of 1:58 during the season period, including two in 14 seconds, the third fastest in regional history.

Petrecki pulled the Eagles to within 2-1 at 16:48, one-timing a centering pass from Whitney over Zatkoff's catching glove.

Gerbe tied it at 17:02. Skating hard to the net - you might notice a trend here - he redirected a pass from Brian Gibbons inside the right post. Smith then put BC ahead, 3-2, at 18:46, settling a 2-on-1 pass from Bertram in his skates before slapping it past Zatkoff's outstretched right pad.

"They had us down, 2-0, and they were controlling the game and we just caught fire in a bottle," York said.

The RedHawks scored 17 seconds into Saturday's semifinal against Air Force. They scored 1:30 in yesterday with Palmer depositing the rebound of a Martinez shot past a fallen Muse.

Miami had the first seven shots, but BC took 21 of the next 25. The RedHawks made the most of their early chances, though. Musitelli scored on Miami's second shot of the second period, redirecting a Kaufman backhanded centering pass through Muse's legs at 8:34.

Jones, Miami's Hobey Baker finalist, scored his only goal of the regional with 10:58 left. It was a big one, though, pulling the Red Hawks even.

"It's scary to think about taking this jersey off for the last time," said Jones, wearing his full uniform to the post-game press conference. "I came back to play with a bunch of guys that I love and I'm glad that I did. I'm proud of what we accomplished and how we elevated the program while we were here. I'm going to miss everything about Miami University."

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (1) Boston College's Joe Whitney, left, scores the winning goal in overtime off Miami goalie Jeff Zatkoff. (2) Boston College's Nick Petrecki and Miami's Ryan Jones tangle in the game's opening minute before being whistled off for matching minor penalties.

PHOTOG: (1) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (2) T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS