With its regular season drawing to a close and its momentum from the Beanpot victory over Northeastern in hand, the Boston College women’s hockey team traveled to Orono, Maine this past weekend to play the University of Maine Black Bears.
Maine did not have much worthy of bragging about on paper, but its opening attack in Saturday’s game was enough to put some shots on net within the first three minutes of play.
In net for the Eagles was junior goaltender Megan Miller, while sophomore Meghann Treacy was defending the Black Bears’ goal. Miller finished the first period with nine saves while Treacy tallied 10.
Maine was able to acquire a power play in the seventh minute, but the Eagles were able to hold off the attack, and BC finished the period with more face-off wins along with the lead.
At the end of the first period, the score was BC, 0, Maine, 0.
Early in the second period, a face-off won by the Eagles led to an assist by senior forward Taylor Wasylk, giving junior forward Kate Leary her seventh goal on the season. Leary scored at 2:55.
The intensity began to rise shortly after the goal, as Maine’s freshman forward, Karissa Kirkup, got called for tripping. This led to a BC powerplay, but then freshman forward Kristyn Capizzano was charged for interference, making it a 4-on-4.
It wasn’t long until the Eagles were able to find a rhythm, and in the 12th minute, Haley McLean added one more to the scoreboard, making it a two-goal lead. This was McLean’s fourth goal this year. McLean scored at 12:23.
Wasylk was able to tack on another assist as sophomore forward Haley Skarupa got her 17th goal of the season in the 15th minute.
Maine was able to produce a counter attack and add a goal of its own on the board before the period ended as senior forward Kayla Kalunzy released a shot past Eagles’ goaltender Megan Miller to shorten the lead back at two. At the end of the second period the score was BC, 3, Maine, 1.
With some slight momentum from the late-second period goal, the Black Bears were hoping to create something shy of a miracle for a home win.
High attacking pressure from Maine created multiple scoring chances in the opening five minutes of the third period, but Miller came up with close saves for the Eagles to preserve the lead.
The nail in the coffin came when Maine pulled its goalie for the extra attacker, as junior forward Emily Field scored the empty netter for BC, confirming the road win and putting the Eagles back on track. Field scored at 19:26, and the final score was BC, 4, Maine, 1.
Miller finished the game with 18 saves and the win, while Treacy suffered the loss while posting 20 saves.
The following afternoon, the Eagles and the Brown Bears met once again, BC with a chance to clinch the Hockey East regular season title. This time, it took until the third period for either team to light up the scoreboard, but in the end the Eagles would emerge victorious.
Both goaltenders put up strong efforts in the first two periods, with Corinne Boyles stopping all seven of Maine’s shots in the first period and the Bears’ six attempts in the second. On the other end of the ice, Treacy stopped 14 in the first and seven in the second to keep the game knotted at zero through two periods of play.
In the third period, though, Skarupa came through for BC, netting three goals in under 10 minutes of play. Her first came just 4:13 into the period off of an assist from Andie Anastos. Danielle Doherty put a point of her own on the board just over three minutes later, then Skarupa made it 3-0 Eagles eight -and-a-half minutes into the third.
Maine came up with a response two minutes later as Brittney Huenke finally slipped a shot past Boyles, but the Eagles sealed it with another goal from Skarupa, who recorded her second hat trick of the season, with just over six minutes remaining in the game, bringing the final tally to 4-1 in favor of the Eagles for the second time in the weekend.
With the win, the Eagles clinched the regular season title.
