In Friday night’s matchup between No. 12 Boston College women’s hockey and the unranked Friars, only one team showed up to play. And it wasn’t the Eagles.
Leading Providence’s charge toward continuing its seven-game winning streak was the Friars’ Reichen Kirchmair, whose hat trick helped unranked Providence (14–8–3, 10–6–2 Hockey East) to a 4–1 win over 12th-ranked BC (16–8–1, 12–5–1) on Friday night.
Despite BC’s rather smooth 4–2 victory over the Friars on Dec. 4, the game took a different turn this time around, leaving the Eagles stunned and their offense lifeless for almost 60 minutes.
Even from the earliest minutes of the game, it was clear that BC was playing a game of catch-up until the Eagles lost their steam in the later part of the second frame.
It didn’t take too long for Providence to put the first points on the board. In fact, it took barely over a minute for the Friars’ offense to put a dent in BC’s defense.
Off a Hannah Johnson feed turned Kirchmair goal, Providence took its ranked, Hockey East rival by storm, shaking the Eagles’ confidence from the very start.
The Eagles’ offense did not completely fall apart yet, though. BC’s first and only goal of the game came a little over seven minutes later when Keri Clougherty knotted the score 1–1 with a power-play goal.
Rapidly receiving the puck off a quick give-and-go between Julia Pellerin and Lauren Glaser, Clougherty fired a shot into the upper left-hand corner of Providence’s net and beyond the reach of Hope Walinski.
For a few moments, BC seemed on track to take the game from the Friars, but that never happened.
An inability to create chances on offense defined the Eagles’ performance, as they failed to generate shots. Defensively, Campbell and co. were unable to make game-saving stops when it mattered most.
Things didn’t totally fall apart for the Eagles until the third frame.
Just 49 seconds into the final period, Audrey Knapp delivered another goal for the Friars, giving Providence a 3–1 lead over the Eagles. When it seemed like it couldn’t get any more dire for the Eagles, it did.
Kirchmair completed her hat trick with her third and final goal 11:26 into the third period, marking her 15th goal of the season and bringing attention to her dominant Hockey East goal-scorer standing.
Even with a 5-on-3 BC advantage later in the frame after two consecutive penalties sent Friars to the penalty box, the Eagles couldn’t scrap anything together and ended the night with a three-goal loss.
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