UConn men’s hockey upsets top seed Northeastern, advances to Hockey East championship game

UConn goalie Darion Hanson, seen here during a January game, made 24 saves in a Hockey East semifinal win over Northeastern on Friday.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media file photoThe UConn men’s hockey team made the program’s first trip to TD Garden in Boston for Hockey East Championship weekend a memorable one on Friday.
With the score tied at 1 after the first period, Roman Kinal scored in the second period and Ryan Tverberg and Marc Gatcomb added goals in the third to lead No. 4 seed UConn to a 4-1 upset over No. 1 Northeastern in the Hockey East semi-finals.
Darion Hanson had 24 saves for UConn. Devon Levi had 33 saves for the Northeastern.
UConn (20-15) will face either No. 2 seed Massachusetts or No. 3 seed UMass Lowell in the 37th Hockey East Championship game on Saturday at 7 pm
Vladislov Firstov gave UConn a 1-0 lead at 11:39 of the first period. Aidan McDonough answered for Northeastern (25-12-1) with a power-play goal at 14:13 of the first period to tie the game at 1.
Kinal broke the tie for UConn with a goal at 13:47 of the second period. Tverberg scored at 4:32 of the third period and Gatcomb added an insurance goal at 17:2 for the 4-1 final.