Coming off a 4–2 Beanpot loss against Northeastern on Tuesday night, Boston College women’s hockey was in search of a win—quickly.
The Eagles did just that, and more, during Friday afternoon’s shutout win over Vermont in Conte Forum.
After splitting the series with Vermont last season, No. 12 BC (15–7–1, 12–4–1 Hockey East) quickly took the lead in the matchup, ultimately defeating the Catamounts (5–17–2, 4–11–2) 3–0.
While it did take some time for BC to generate offensive success in the first frame, it was seemingly smooth sailing the rest of the way for the Eagles.
“Thought we started a little slow, but we were able to kind of get into our groove a little bit through the second and into the third,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said. “I thought we started playing better. Obviously, you know, lots of penalties there on both sides, which we don’t love to see, but a good hockey game and a good win after a tough night on Tuesday.”
It only took BC about 11 minutes to score its first goal on an Eagles’ power play. It came off a clutch Jade Arnone shot, turned Olivia Maffeo tip.
“I thought [the power play] was pretty good,” Crowley said. “You know, obviously scoring that first one on the power play is great. I think we sometimes try to overthink it a little bit instead of keeping it simple.”
From that moment on, it seemed as if the Eagles had complete control over the outcome of the matchup, as Vermont struggled to put the pieces together.
That only persisted as the game clock sounded at the end of the first period.
While the second frame was a rather silent period for both teams, as neither put any more points on the board, it was defined by aggressiveness on both sides of the puck. Both Vermont and the Eagles tallied six penalties, totaling 12 penalties in the matchup and eight power play opportunities.
When asked about her team’s power play performance, Crowley credited her players’ recent success in scoring goals off power plays.
“We found a few power play goals here in the last couple of games, which is nice to see from our group,” Crowley said. “I think sometimes the power play can try to get a little too cute, but they did have some chances to score. Special teams are important when you get into these big games, and it’s going to be important moving on.”
It wasn’t until 3:49 in the final frame when Alanna Devlin rattled a highlight reel-looking goal past Jane Gervais. Firing the puck far away from the goal, Devlin’s puck hit the upper left-hand corner and fell into the cage, extending BC’s lead to two.
With just eight seconds left, BC’s Julia Pellerin scored short-handed on an empty net after Vermont pulled their goaltender.
Crowley touched on her team’s blocking abilities as a factor toward the win. BC tallied 14 blocks, to Vermont’s six.
“Lately we’ve been trying to get pucks through these other teams,” Crowley said. “The teams in our league do a fairly good job of blocking shots, and we need to find a way to get pucks through. I’m pretty sure it was Jade on that power play that got it through to Liv, and just finding ways to get pucks through is important.”
Crowley attributed her team’s success to one particular player: Grace Campbell.
“You know, she’s been pretty locked in,” Crowley said. “I know she would want Tuesday back a little bit, but she’s been pretty locked in for us. It could have been a two to one game with 25 seconds, or whatever it was left, and then you’re holding your sticks a little tighter, and it’s a little bit different ending. She’s made some saves to keep us in it, and she’s done a really great job for us.”
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