Two minutes remained in the contest.
Boston College was in a three-goal deficit, and the Eagles were looking to get anything started on offense.
BC sophomore Cailin Flynn skated into the slot and fired off a shot that BU junior goaltender Callie Shanahan deflected. The loose puck sat to Shanahan’s left with sophomore Kate Ham driving in.
Shanahan understood the stakes, and she was ready to do anything to preserve them. The junior netminder threw her entire body on the puck, clearing it away.
“Amazing, timely saves,” BU head coach Tara Watchorn said postgame. “Not an easy thing to do when you’re in single-digit shots saved going into the third period.”
When the horn sounded at Conte Forum on Saturday afternoon, the Terriers’ bench cleared, rushing to congratulate its goaltender on her first shutout of the season.
“For me, it just means a lot,” Shanahan said. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They did a great job today.”
Behind Shanahan’s 19-save shutout, Boston University women’s hockey (12-14-3, 10-11-1 Hockey East) snapped its four-game losing streak with a win over No. 15 Boston College (14-9-6, 13-5-4 HEA) in convincing 3-0 fashion.
“You appreciate the wins more and more,” Watchorn said. “I’m just so proud of how we got it. That was dominant play. That’s the kind of game that we want to play.”
BU looked rejuvenated at puck drop Saturday afternoon, despite the 3-0 loss the night prior. The Terriers just needed anything to push momentum toward a team enduring its worst slump of the season.
The Terriers got just that in the waning minutes of the first period. After graduate student defender Nadia Mattivi was sent to the penalty box at 17:25 for cross-checking, the NCAA’s fourth-best penalty kill was put to the test.
Eagles’ goaltender Grace Campbell played a cleared puck behind the net, looking to pass it off to freshman defenseman Molly Jordan. However, the sophomore netminder held onto the puck for a second too long as BU’s Liv Haag picked her pocket and scored an easy short-handed goal, marking the junior forward’s first career goal.
“They’re just taking a lot of pride in [the penalty kill],” Watchorn said. “Once you build that confidence and trust in each other and how to play aggressively together, then you get excited to go out there.”
One glaring weakness for the Terriers all season has been their powerplay. Coming into today, BU had failed to convert on their last 18 man-advantages dating back to January 19 against Vermont. BU added two more failed conversions in the first period.
However, when BC’s Sidney Fess was called for hooking at 10:49 of the middle frame, the Terriers finally capitalized — or at least they thought.
Less than 15 seconds into the powerplay, Mattivi sent a puck through traffic that bounced off of Campbell’s mitt and into the net for a 2-0 lead — the death of a frustrating statistic. However, BC challenged for goaltender interference and successfully wiped the goal off the board.
“I was told that you can’t visually impair the goalie after going through the crease. So, I guess, we’ll go from there,” Watchorn said.
The Terriers did simply just go from there, not allowing the adversity affect a dominant performance.
Right after exiting the penalty box for tripping, junior forward Christina Vote took the puck from Mattivi in the defensive third, slicing through the Eagles’ defense with ease for a coast-to-coast goal and a 2-0 lead at 4:06 of the third period.
The Terriers then earned vindication three minutes later when the Eagles was called for their fourth penalty of the contest. Senior forward Lacey Martin, the team-leader in goals, tacked on another to BU’s total with a snipe from above the right circle. Mattivi also earned her second assist of the game and her 13th of the season.
“It’s a great feeling,” Watchorn said about the power-play goal. “We were getting some good looks, and I’m just happy we got that monkey off our back.”
The Terriers’ 3-0 lead was too much to handle for a BC team that was never able to get the offense started. BU will take the momentum from that win into its next game against the University of Maine next Friday at Walter Brown for a 6 p.m. puck drop.
“That was one of the best defensive games we played all year,” Shanahan said. “BU-BC is always huge, Battle of Comm. Ave, so especially beating BC, this is a huge boost for us.”
This was a pleasure to watch! From Shanahan out, and from Watchorn down, everyone was prepared and committed. A dominant performance, with no let-up, from start to finish. PSD
This team, this coach has got my attention.
after watching them on tv twice, i think they need to get faster going forward, but it is TW’s first year so hopefully that will come in upcoming recruiting classes