The Boston University women’s hockey team lost for the first time in five consecutive meetings with Northeastern University in the Hockey East playoffs, as it was unable to advance to the championship after a close 2-1 loss at Walter Brown Arena.
“Everybody got their money’s worth with the two Hockey East semifinal games to say the least,” said BU head coach Brian Durocher, referencing Boston College’s thrilling victory over the University of Vermont in double overtime. “Both great hockey games. Ours was a little bit shorter than the other one, but no shortage of sweat equity, concern, compete, fight, determination from both sides.”
While the first period ended scoreless, the Terriers’ (19-12-6, 12-8-4 Hockey East) defense was able to keep the Huskies (22-11-3, 14-8-2 Hockey East) off the scoreboard after blocking nine shots and senior goaltender Victoria Hanson making 14 saves.
Durocher said he thought that the defense competed well, but it was far from flawless.
“Northeastern put pressure on and they got opportunities, but we were answering the bell with our compet[ing],” Durocher said. “[Hanson] was answering the bell with not giving up very many rebounds and that allowed us to give up [a lot of shots] so they worked hard that way.”
This back-and-forth ensued into the next frame. Northeastern had a solid chance to change up the game halfway through the period, but Hanson continued her strong performance and BU was able to kill their third penalty of the night.
However, things changed as Hanson was pulled for an extra-attacker. Junior forward Victoria Bach was able to score her 23rd goal of the season and the first of the game after a nice feed from senior forward Maddie Elia.
This marked Elia’s fifth assist over playoffs. The Lewiston, New York native was also able to end her collegiate career with an eleven-game point streak of five goals and nine assists.
Despite being outshot 16-7 by the end of the period, the Terriers kept pressure on the Huskies, who were unable to find the back of the net.
Both Durocher and Northeastern head coach Dave Flint credited Hanson for keeping the one goal lead. The Stoughton native went on to have 33 saves and was recently named to the First Team Hockey East All-Stars along with Bach.
“She really was spot on, played with great force and distinguished herself,” said Durocher. “If you’re gonna go out, you hate to go out with a loss but you play a great game and give [your team] every chance to win.”
With four minutes remaining and a championship in sight, Northeastern was able to keep itself in the game. Forward Halle Silva was able to shoot the puck behind Hanson after a pass from defenseman Matti Hartman to cut the Terriers’ lead.
The Huskies, with the extra momentum, delivered the final blow after a BU penalty with a minute and 21 seconds remaining in the contest.
Though the Terriers had been able to effectively kill off five penalties, they were unable to kill the one that mattered most. Freshman Codie Cross was able to get the puck over Hanson after swift passes from forwards McKenna Brand and Denisa Krizova to close the game.
“I give them a lot of credit and I send my thanks to everybody on our team for their effort and determination,” Durocher said. “For the seniors it was a great run that maybe felt a little short of where it wanted to be.”
