The Boston College women’s hockey team headed to Vermont this past weekend in hopes of keeping its 23-game undefeated streak alive. Ultimately, the team earned its sixth shutout of the season after a strong fight against the Catamounts. Due to the incredible play by UVM’s goalie Madison Litchfield, the No. 1 Eagles could only pull off a 2-0 win.
The pace of the game started off slow, with the first shot fired four minutes into the game. But then BC turned on its engines and went full throttle. With the aggressive nature of the Eagles and a man advantage when UVM’s Casey Leveillee was sent to the penalty box for hooking, scoring seemed inevitable.
Even with an extra player on the ice, however, the Eagles could not capitalize. They continually jammed the crease but could not find a gap behind Litchfield. With eight minutes left, Dana Trivigno was called for body checking, giving Vermont an advantage.
Even one player down, BC pressed offensively. This caused the Catamounts to spend most of their time on the defensive end during their own power play. With five minutes left in the first period, UVM got its first shot off on goal. BC already had 12.
The Eagles went on a spree and continually fired one-timers. Litchfield showed her superhuman powers and stopped every attempt. BC dominated the first half with 17 shots on goal versus UVM’s one. Thanks to Litchfield, the game remained scoreless.
BC came out of the first intermission hot. The team’s puck work was strong and it ripped shots, one after the other. Litchfield tried to put up a fight, but finally with 7:49 left in the period she let one through. After a broken play, junior Meghan Grieves found an opening with an assist from Haley Skarupa and Danielle Doherty.
This sparked life in the Catamounts and within two minutes they got off seven shots. Freshman Katie Burt effortlessly denied them each time and allowed her team to remain up one goal heading into the third.
Litchfield had an unbelievable save and clear down the ice to start off the final period, keeping her team in the game. Doherty was called for checking but a minute into her penalty, UVM’s Amanda Pelkey was called for interference. The Eagles fired off seven shots during their power play but none of them got past Litchfield.
Halfway through the third period, BC had 50 shots on goal compared to UVM’s 10 and only had one goal for its efforts. The Eagles continued to fight but Litchfield fought even harder. With two minutes to play, the Catamounts turned up the pressure. They had plenty of chances on goal but could not capitalize.
UVM decided to pull its goalie in order to put an extra player on the ice. Even with added pressure, BC broke away. Freshman Kenzie Kent scored an empty net goal with an assist from junior Alex Carpenter to put the game in the bag. Litchfield gave her team every opportunity to break BC’s win streak, but the Eagles outshot the Catamount 51-13 to remain undefeated.
Featured Image by Arthur Bailin / Heights Editor
