Colin Wilson wasn’t shy with his answer. If he had a vote for the Hobey Baker Award, he’d look out for No. 1.

Colin Wilson scored the game-winning goal as part of his huge night for the Terriers.

But after putting up two goals and an assist and centering the most dominant line of the night, no one should really blame him.

“If I had a Hobey vote between us three, I’d have to go with myself, being a little bit selfish here,” said Wilson, who is a finalist along with Boston University teammate Matt Gilroy and Northeastern goalie Brad Thiessen for the award that will be announced Friday night. “Nothing against those guys, but I think it’d be a little bit fun going up there.”

Wilson, who was the seventh pick in last year’s NHL draft and has scouts believing he should have been taken higher, had one of his best games of his career during BU’s 5-4 win against Vermont on Thursday in Washington, D.C. While Wilson is expected to bolt for the NHL after his sophomore season - perhaps as early as Sunday - he is putting a stamp on one of the finest careers in BU history, even if it ends prematurely.

“At times, he’s been like a man playing with boys,” BU coach Jack Parker said. “He showed that again tonight.”

Wilson scored the first goal of the game, redirecting a shot between his legs with his back to the net, and he celebrated by leaping into the boards a la Alex Ovechkin in the Hart Trophy winner’s home rink.

“I just black out sometimes when I score,” said Wilson, who has 17 goals and 38 assists this season. “I get too excited, and I just go and jump into the boards. I like doing that. it’s the only similarity that I have to Ovechkin is jumping into the glass.”

Wilson assisted Jason Lawrence’s goal about six minutes later by making a play to keep the puck in the Vermont zone. He worked the puck to Chris Higgins (one goal, three assists), who fed Lawrence (one goal, one assist) and let the team’s leading goal scorer do the rest to put BU ahead, 2-0. It wasn’t the only time Wilson helped pace the Terriers’ best line, which combined for nine points during the game. Over and over, Wilson has made his linemates’ job easier, as both Lawrence and Higgins have put up career totals this season.

“He brings the total package,” Lawrence said of Wilson. “He’s a hell of a hockey player.

“He’s right up there [among the best I've played with]. I’ve played with some talented guys like Phil Kessel, [Nathan] Gerbe, but Willy is right at the top of the list. He can play.”

Now, the Terriers have a chance to win their fifth national championship and their first since 1995, and Wilson will go down as the team’s best player. With that title, Wilson will truly cement his legacy.

“Along with having my name put down, I think I’m going to be part of a big team,” said Wilson, whose Terriers can set a single-season school record with a 35th victory Saturday. “We’re going to be seen as one of the best BU teams in history, and that’s an even better feeling.”

- Jeff Howe

UVM PENALTY-KILL STREAK ENDS

As Vinny Saponari celebrated BU’s third goal — a power-play marker that tied the game at 3-3 late in the second period — ESPN’s cameras caught Vermont defenseman Patrick Cullity in the penalty box.

While nobody wants to visit the penalty box, Cullity couldn’t feel too worried when he sat down for what he expected would be two full minutes of solace. Vermont had killed all 12 of their opponents’ previous power plays in the NCAA playoffs.

Denied: Boston University goalie Kieran Millan stopes Vermont forward Brian Roloff on a breakaway attempt as BU defenseman Matt Gilroy gives chase.

Cullity’s head was bowed as he waited to be set free after Saponari broke that streak. The yellow letters on his green hockey sweater’s nameplate looked a little bit like the word “GUILTY” as Cullity contemplated the loneliest 93 seconds he spent in his last game of the season.

“It’s a pretty empty feeling,” he said afterward in a quiet and crowded Catamount locker room. “It was a pretty questionable call, but there’s nothing you can do. We lose as a team, but it’s obviously tougher when you’re in the box and can’t do anything about it.”

His interference penalty, and the ensuing power-play goal, provided just one of the many momentum swings in a game that was an entertaining capper for the tournament’s first day.

“If the puck bounces one way, that team’s going to get the momentum,” Cullity said. “It was a ping-pong match back and forth and we came out on the bottom. It’s been a battle all year (with BU) and it’s always been a fast-moving game with a lot of hits and usually high-scoring.”

As the most experienced member of the Vermont blueline crew, Cullity thought about freshman teammate Drew MacKenzie, who experienced the highs and lows of the game in a five-minute span, scoring the go-ahead goal for his team and then having the puck glance off his stick and into the Vermont net on BU’s game-winner.

“Things happen,” Cullity said. “It was a great shot by him on the goal, but things like that happen in the course of a game that you have no control over.”

That’s a lesson the Catamounts learned on Thursday, both inside and outside the box.

— Jess Myers

THE CATAMOUNT WAY

As a final empty-net bid to ice Boston University’s place in Saturday’s national championship game slid towards the Vermont goal, a Catamount victory may have been beyond Vermont’s reach in the eyes of onlookers who had the luxury of seeing the clock wind down. But in the heat of a moment, the clock was the last thing on blueliner Dan Lawson’s mind.

Lawson dove head first to stop the puck from sliding into the net, knocking it away in a moment that any coach would be proud of. He simply played until the final horn went off.

“To be honest, I didn’t know how much time was left on the clock and I didn’t know if that puck was going in the net or not,” Lawson said. “But it didn’t matter — there’s a never-say-die attitude on the team and I was hoping that maybe a dive and a breakout pass could somehow get us to the national championship.”

While it might be a moment of individual pride for a player who might have become an example for youth coaches everywhere, Lawson attributes his focus to a resilient culture that pervades the entire Vermont program.

“(Winning the game) was all that was on my mind and it’s all that’s on everyone’s mind,” Lawson said. “Anyone who was the last man back would have done the same thing, that’s the kind of attitude that you have when you’re a Vermont hockey player.”

Lawson and his teammates got a refresher course on the Vermont hockey tradition when a few dozen players came back to meet with the team and share their stories and well wishes.

“It was just the coolest experience, being able to see the kind of guys that I represent and what it means to wear this jersey,” Lawson said. “(NHLers Patrick Sharp and Martin St. Louis) are the top of the alumni chain, but everybody has gone on to have successful lives and I think that once you’re a part of this team, you’re successful in every endeavor that you encounter.”

Having come so close to the national championship game, Lawson hopes that other teams will see and recognize the work ethic and character that has helped the current team and helped alumni in all different fields to post-collegiate success.

“A lot of other teams and other programs may not have enough respect for us,” Lawson said. “And I think that’s something that we took from day one — that we have to earn their respect. People underestimate work ethic and leadership and team makeup. Too many times are talking about how many draft picks, and you know that doesn’t matter. That matters in the NHL but that doesn’t matter in college hockey.”

— James V. Dowd

SEEN AND HEARD AT VERIZON

• Amid reports of Fenway Park hosting the NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 1, 2010 - a game that will feature the Boston Bruins and an unnamed opponent - BU coach Jack Parker said his team has a “70-30 chance” of participating in the festivities with a game against Boston College.

“There’s obviously a bigger attraction to have the Bruins play the Montreal Canadiens than to have BU play BC, but they might want to have a college hockey game there, too, when they put the rink down,” Parker told Inside College Hockey. “There is talk about that, but nothing is solidified.”

• The biggest movers at the concession stands at the Verizon Center were the Bemidji State souvenirs. All things Beaver were sold out by time the second semifinal game got underway. Said a lovely concessioneer: “Bemidji had not been here before, so everybody was buying anything with Bemidji. It was like when (the Verizon Center) hosted the (NCAA) basketball tournament and all the souvenirs from Baylor went quickly.” The second-most popular school souvenirs represented the Vermont Catamounts.

Frozen Four jackets were selling for $64 and $59, respectively, and a hooded sweatshirt went for $45. T-shirts with Frozen logos, brackets, and each of the schools were selling for $25. There were also baseball-style caps for $22, woolen hats for $20, pennants for $10, Frozen Four pucks for $7 and magnets for $6.

• Vermont fans traveled well to the nation’s capital. The Catamounts took up more than one quarter of the bottom bowl. There was even a whole row of Vermont fans dressed up in Catamount jerseys and green hockey helmets. The popular item among the young women were green and gold beads.

• The very recognizable voices of ESPN’s Gary Thorne and Barry Melrose echoed out of most television screens located all around the Verizon Center, but if you were in the concourse levels, the play-by-play call was that of Sean Grande from the Westwood One/NCAA network. By the way, does any hockey scream “Score!” better than Thorne?

• Parker didn’t go to the Boston University locker room during the second intermission. Rather, co-captain Matt Gilroy held court in the room with a speech. Jason Lawrence said Parker not going into the locker room during games “happens once in awhile.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The Terriers have conquered every challenge in front of them all year and now have one more night to earn the ultimate prize. A national championship game against Miami. Bolstered by a star performance from the top line and a gutty comeback in the third period, BU can add its fifth championship of the season with a win over the RedHawks.