It took less than two minutes for No. 10 Connecticut to score in the Hockey East Semifinal game featuring Boston College women’s hockey and the Huskies.
Under two minutes into the contest, Jada Habisch, who leads the Huskies in goals with 17 this season, skated up the ice with BC defenders trailing her. Habisch received a long pass from Ava Rinker and took it toward the goal with authority, finishing at the goal by slicing the puck past the legs of Grace Campbell.
Her goal gave the Huskies (24–7–5, 19–4–4 Hockey East) a 1–0 lead over the Eagles (15–14–7, 13–9–5)—a lead the Huskies would ultimately cling on to in their 2–1 overtime win on Wednesday night.
The Eagles took until the final period to respond to Habisch’s goal. Less than thirty seconds into the frame, the Eagles found themselves on their first and only man-up opportunity of the game following a holding penalty on Kyla Josifovic.
With just 1:10 into the period, Sammy Taber fired a shot from the top of the circle, looking to take advantage of the power play. Her shot did not find the net, as the puck was deflected.
But Gaby Roy was in the right place at the right time. She corralled the deflected puck and stuffed it past Connecticut goaltender Tia Chan, ending Chan’s perfect performance and tying the game up 1–1. The goal—BC’s only one of the game—marked Roy’s 13th of the season.
Despite BC penalties setting Connecticut up for four power play opportunities, the Huskies were unable to score again in regulation.
Stopping the Huskies’ multiple power play opportunities was Grace Campbell—tallying 28 saves in the first three periods of play. BC’s offense was unable to supplement Campbell’s play, however, and the Eagles were unable to get another goal before the buzzer sounded.
With the score still gridlocked at 1–1, the game headed to overtime.
Just over six minutes into overtime, Katie Pyne was called for hooking and Connecticut began its fifth power play of the game. The Huskies were unable to convert against the Eagles’ 82 percent penalty kill, which ranks fifth in Hockey East.
The Eagles still managed to exit the power play unscathed, but the Huskies found another way to score less than a minute later.
Skating from the right side of the ice over nine minutes into overtime, Kathryn Stockdale seemed to be moving towards the goal in slow motion. As she cut across the goal, three BC defenders lurked near her, seemingly ready to poke the puck away.
But Stockdale’s slow skate toward the front of the net quickly turned into disaster for BC. Sliding the puck past defenders and right by Campbell, Stockdale gave Connecticut a 2–1 win in sudden death overtime.
A sea of navy and white flooded the ice as Connecticut successfully crushed the Eagles’ hopes for their first Hockey East Tournament win since 2017.
