If the horn rang as much as the posts did, the Black Bears might have had time to catch up.
In their second meeting of the weekend, Boston College (29-1-1, 19-0-0 Hockey East) and the University of Maine (10-16-3, 9-9-1 Hockey East) struggled to break a scoreless tie. But the Eagles ended the stalemate in considerable fashion, and continued their assault of Black Bear goaltender Meghann Treacy for a 4-1 win.
Despite a scoreless first period, the game was anything but even. BC dominated play from both ends of the ice, but kept the puck in its offensive zone for the majority of the first period. After several unsuccessful runs up the middle of the ice, the Eagles played more established offense, keeping the pucks at the boards and the points where the majority of the night’s shots came from. While BC won the game of possession, they still had nothing to show for it—the Eagles amassed 14 shots in the first frame but couldn’t slide any of them past Treacy.
That changed halfway through the second period, when junior Dana Trivigno brought the puck up the boards, and made a SportsCenter-worthy move to get past the lone Maine defender. Instead of taking her own shot, she dropped the puck off to her linemate, Kate Leary, who drilled the puck into the net.
The next goal came from a point-hungry Alex Carpenter, who tallied a second goal for the Eagles just two minutes after Leary’s goal opened the scoring door. She added another in the third period. “They were pretty good plays from my linemates,” Carpenter said. “I got the easy part of just sliding them in.”
Carpenter is noted by her coaches as a team player and someone who gives credit where credit is due. She would probably agree that BC’s defense was a vital part of the win.
With eight blocked shots by the end of the night, the Eagle defenders were keen on giving backup goaltenders Taylor Blake and Gabriella Switaj an easy night to mind the net. The two goaltenders faced just 13 shots between them, with the Black Bears’ Brooke Stacey scoring Maine’s only goal at 18:23 in the second period to make the game 3-1.
The Black Bears found more success at killing penalties than at scoring goals. Faced with five power plays and 10 combined minutes of 5-on-4 play, the Eagles could not score on the advantage.
“I feel like [the power play] has been struggling a bit,” BC coach Katie King Crowley said. “We get into the mentality of setting up a powerplay instead of attacking.” The Eagles firmly established a position in the offensive zone during power plays instead of outnumbering their opponents on the rush. They passed with ease and accuracy, but when it came time for a shot, the Maine defense was all too prepared.
“It has to get better,” Crowley said. “We’re gonna have a lot of opportunities down the road and we’re going to need to take advantage of them.”
BC also had some time to work on its penalty killing, after a pair of penalties from Trivigno gave Maine the chance to tighten the score. Trivigno was visibly upset following her first penalty, throwing her stick to the ground as she sat on the bench for two minutes.
“They play hard,” Trivigno said. “Ssometimes it’s a little rough and you get a little frustrated. I have to do better to work on that, but hopefully next time I’ll be better.”
BC’s third period discipline notably improved since the end of January, but the real improvement came in the team’s view of Tuesday’s Beanpot Championship loss.
“We’re okay with having a loss on our record,” Crowley said. “You learn from a loss like that, and you have to know that every point in a game matters.”
The Eagles scored 10 goals and recorded a staggering 91 shots against the Black Bears over two days. Nearly 100 shots in two games is an incredible feat for any team, but for the Eagles, it’s just another reason why they’re number one.
Featured Image by Arthur Bailin / Heights Editor
