The same Boston University hockey team that couldn't manage to defeat Providence College a week earlier rose like the Phoenix and captured the ECAC hockey tournament by downing UNH, 8-6, before 14,597 people at Boston Garden on Saturday night.

Only the night before, the Terries tabled the odds-on favorites to win the tourney, Clarkson, by scoring three goals within the last three minutes of the game. And whoever said lightning couldn't strike twice was lying.

It took the snake-bitten Wildcats only 0:28 to score as Bob Gould beat goalie Jim Craig, who was brilliant as he stopped 40 of the 46 shots he faced. But their lead was orief as the Terriers' Gary Fay tied it up less than a minute later.

B.U., which has the advantage of playing home games both in its own Walter Brown Rink and in the Boston Garden, made it 2-1 on Bill O'Neill's goal at 8:54 of the period.

UNH struck back, however, to reclaim the lead on three goals within just four minutes. Ralph Cox, Frank Roy and Barry Edgar all lit the lamp to give the Wildcats a temporary 4-2 lead.

But only 0:24 after Edgar's tally, the Terries' high-scoring freshman, Dave Silk, cut the UNH lead to one goal with assists on that goal going to B.U. co-captain Rick Meagher and Matt Marden.

For Meagher, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, it was his third assist on the night which saw him get two more before the game ended. And B.U.'s fourth consecutive ECAC title was Meagher's fourth as well.

Just 1:14 into the second period, Meagher and Marden teamed up again as Marden scored the goal to tie the game at 4-4. The Terries then shot back into the lead on Mike Eruzione's tally about two minutes later.

Hold That Train

But UNH was not ready to pack it in just yet. A Joe Rando score at 5:48 and Cox's second goal of the night, both assisted by Bob Miller, returned to lead to the Wildcats for the third and last time that evening.

The second period ended 6-6 after Marden pushed the puck past the beleagured Wildcat goalie, Mark Evans, substituting for Dan Magnarelli, who fell victim to nine Cornell goals the night before.

How fitting it was that the Terrier winner came on a power-play goal at 4:09 of the third period as UNH's Rod Langway sat in the penalty box for cross-checking. And as the final buzzer sounded at North Station, no one could question that once again, the Terriers were the best when it counted the most.