Boston College Earns No. 1 Seed in 2012 NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament

The Boston College Eagles, winners of national hockey championships in 1949, 2001, 2008 and 2010, will have a chance to add a fifth national title to the trophy case in the next few weeks as they head into the 2012 NCAA Tournament as the top overall seed.

BC bested Maine by a 4-1 count in Saturday's Hockey East Association championship game at TD Garden in Boston as Johnny Gaudreau tallied two goals and set up another, while Parker Milner made 41 saves. The Eagles advanced to the championship contest after sweeping Massachusetts in two games last weekend and topping Providence, 4-2, on Friday night.

BC (29-10-1), which had earlier sewn up its 12th Hockey East regular-season title, won its third straight conference tournament, a first in Hockey East history, and is also on a 15-game winning streak overall.

Gaudreau, a freshman from New Jersey, is second on the Eagles so far this season with 19 goals and 21 assists for 40 points. Junior forward Chris Kreider, a first-round draft choice of the New York Rangers in 2009, currently leads BC with 42 points (including 21 goals) and could sign with the Blueshirts after the Eagles' 2011-12 season ends.

Junior defenseman Brian Dumoulin, a second-round choice of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2009 and an All-America selection last year, is pacing all BC blueliners with seven goals and 27 points. Senior forward Barry Almeida has tallied a team-best 22 goals, while junior forward Pat Mullane has collected a team-high 27 assists.

Milner, in his first year as BC's starting goaltender, has overcome some early struggles from this season and has gone 25-5-0 overall with a 1.82 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage. He also has  a shutout on the season.

The Eagles are fifth in the nation with an average of 3.52 goals scored per game, and are also fifth nationally allowing 2.17 goals per outing. The BC power play has gone 37-of-172 (21.5 percent), good for 13th in Division I, while its penalty-killing ranks third overall at 154-of-176 (87.5 percent).

BC will now face Atlantic Hockey champion Air Force in the first round of the NCAA Northeast Regional in Worcester, Mass. on March 24, with the winner of that contest slated to meet the winner of the Maine vs. Minnesota-Duluth the following day to decide the regional champion.

Worcester has been good to BC Hockey recently. Two years ago, the Eagles edged Alaska Fairbanks and outlasted Yale at the DCU Center before going on to win the 2010 national title in Detroit by besting Miami (Ohio) and Wisconsin. Back in 2008, BC got past both Minnesota and Miami (Ohio) in Worcester before claiming the national crown in Denver with wins over North Dakota and Notre Dame.

The four NCAA Regional winners advance to the 2012 Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla., from April 5th to April 7th. The other top seeds in this year's tournament include Michigan, Union and North Dakota.