With snow showers in the Chestnut Hill forecast, Boston College women’s hockey netminder Abigail Levy looked as if she had been out in the snow herself Tuesday night.
Levy faced 32 shots against Providence, often making sprawling dives to get in front of rebounds, and by the end of the night, her jersey was covered in frost.
BC (13–11, 11–8 Hockey East) scored three third-period goals to cruise past the Friars (8–10–5, 5–9–2) by a final score of 4–2. Four different Eagles scored, with goals coming from Gaby Roy, Abby Newhook, Hannah Bilka, and senior captain Kelly Browne, who passed 100 career points this weekend against Holy Cross.
Browne capped the game on a shot from just outside the crease, stuffing it in the upper deck behind Providence goaltender Sandra Abstreiter. The puck fell to Browne after Abstreiter stopped an initial attempt from Bilka, and Browne sent it home for BC’s fourth goal.
“I thought we played well for three full periods,” head coach Katie Crowley said in her postgame press conference. “Our forecheck was great. I thought we had them hemmed in there for most of that period, with the exception of the power play. So I’m really just happy with the full-team game and how we played.”
Providence sported a 0.159 power-play conversion percentage entering the matchup, and both of its goals on Tuesday came on the man advantage, first to open the scoring in the opening frame, and next to level scoring at 2–2 in the third.
After Maddie Crowley-Cahill went to the penalty box for an interference call, Providence quickly took possession, crashing into the offensive zone. With Caroline Peterson screening in front, Bailey Burton fired a rocket past Levy into the far-right corner of the net to tie it up at two with just over 10 minutes to play in the final frame.
Crowley-Cahill, who is tied for first in Hockey East in overall penalty minutes with 32, drew a penalty against Providence just a minute and a half later. The referees called Peterson for roughing, and the Eagles returned to the power play.
Back on the man advantage, the Eagles played aggressively and hounded for rebounds. Bilka settled a puck in the high crease and poked it home after a redirected shot by Alexie Guay to take a 3–2 lead.
“It was just kind of lucky and I was in front [at the] right place, right time, and put it in,” Bilka, who tallied three points in the win, said.
Beyond Bilka’s goal, BC found a number of opportunities off puck retrieval all night.
“Puck retrieval is something we always kind of talk about,” Crowley said. “I thought that was particularly good tonight, especially on rebounds that went wide that ended up behind their net, I thought we were the first one’s to the puck a lot and I think that helps us obviously keep that possession in zone.”
Featured Image by Caroline Cannon / For The Heights
