It wasn’t until the last few minutes of the third frame of the game between No. 10 Boston College women’s hockey and Holy Cross that the matchup really began.
For much of Friday night’s game, it seemed as if the Eagles were seamlessly going to clinch another road win against Holy Cross after splitting the series with the Crusaders back in October.
But that rapidly changed.
BC (12–6–0, 9–4–0 Hockey East) not only lost its one-goal lead in the final period, but the Crusaders (7–8–1, 3–6–1) handed their nearby Hockey East opponents a 2–1 overtime loss.
What ended as a punch-for-punch battle hardly started as one.
Just 1:23 into the matchup, BC found itself with a power-play opportunity following a call against the Crusaders’ Taylor Cantelon for body-checking. The penalty against the Crusaders was exactly what BC needed.
Sammy Taber delivered for BC just four seconds into the power play off an Abby Newhook assist.
Winding up her stick after receiving Newhook’s pass, Taber skated past her Holy Cross defender and rattled a shot into the lower right-hand corner of the Crusaders’ net and through Abby Hornung’s legs, bringing BC a 1–0 lead.
Less than four minutes later, Holy Cross had its own turn on the power play after a tripping call against BC’s Alanna Devlin.
But BC held the Crusaders scoreless on the advantage.
A little over seven minutes later, Holy Cross had another chance to tie the score after a Cailin Flynn holding call.
Yet again, Holy Cross was unable to convert, as BC’s defense contained every Crusader attack.
Three minutes later, Holy Cross had another power play. As the seconds winded down, though, so did the Crusaders’ chances of scoring against the Eagles. Once the clock sounded at the end of the first frame, the score remained 1–0.
The second frame was relatively silent for both BC and Holy Cross, as neither team put any points on the board in the 20 minutes of play. So was the majority of the third frame, as both defenses served as anchors, preventing any shots on goal.
With just 2:52 left to play in the matchup, the Crusaders finally had their moment after pulling their goalie. After Callaway made a diving save off a Mackenzie King shot, King hammered the puck off the rebound right into the back of BC’s cage—stunning BC’s defense.
With the game knotted 1–1, both teams were unable to score before closing out the third frame, sending BC and Holy Cross into an overtime battle.
It didn’t take long for the Crusaders to take the puck and skate away from the Eagles with the lead.
After winning the faceoff, Alexia Moreau swiftly skated toward BC’s net and fired a shot unassisted, which bounced off Callaway and into BC’s net, as a celebration of white and purple enfolded.
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