When Lindsay Bochna punched home the overtime winner Christina Vote had created, Vote raised her stick to her facemask, as one would put their bare hand over their agape mouth.
Feet away from the eventual mob around Vote, graduate captain Tamara Giaquinto and senior goalie Callie Shanahan skated into an enormous hug, tackling each other onto the Walter Brown Arena ice.
Finally, Wednesday night’s Hockey East semifinal was over, and the Boston University women’s hockey team was still alive. In double overtime, after 87 minutes and 12 seconds of do-or-die hockey, No. 13 BU defeated its arch-rival, No. 14 Boston College, 3-2.
The victory sent the second-seeded Terriers to the program’s first league title game since 2016, where they’ll face fifth-seeded Northeastern on Saturday at Toscano Family Ice Forum in Storrs, Conn.
With just under 13 minutes left in the second extra frame, Vote looped around the circle and into the top of the crease, where she left the puck slowly dribbling behind an outstretched Grace Campbell. Bochna, a graduate transfer from Providence, pounced for her eighth goal of the year.
The goal came after BU had dominated the second overtime, with juniors Lilli Welcke and Riley Walsh each hitting the post on Grade-A chances off the rush.
All season, head coach Tara Watchorn has talked about “track meets,” a metaphor she’s used to describe fast-paced, end-to-end games with little sustained time in either offensive zone. For BU, which built so much of its early-season success on controlling possession and establishing territory, avoiding “track meets” has been a constant pressure point.
But in the second semester, the Terriers started to improve — immensely — in “track meet” style games, best exemplified by a 3-2 win over BC on Jan. 31. The Eagles boast a loaded group of forwards that thrive on the rush, but in that victory, the Terriers beat their arch-rivals at their own game.
“I love O-zone time, I’ll tell you that,” Watchorn said on Tuesday. “But it’s hockey, there’s so much unpredictability in our sport.”
With its season on the line at Walter Brown Arena, BU (23-11-2) again found itself in a “track meet” against BC (21-13-2). But once again, the Terriers survived, then made just enough plays to advance.
BU barely had any sustained offensive time in regulation on Wednesday, so instead, it scored all its two equalizing goals in transition moments.
Walsh tied the game early in the third period when she punched home a perfect pass from Welcke. The play started when Welcke’s twin sister, Luisa, prevented the Eagles from exiting their defensive zone.
As for BU’s first equalizing goal, junior Clara Yuhn’s early in the second? That was also created by Vote, who won a race to a loose puck in the offensive zone, then passed to a wide-open Yuhn, who left no doubt from the top of the crease.
The Terriers couldn’t have won without senior goalie Callie Shanahan (38 saves), either. She stood tall all night, and on three separate occasions, she saved a Grade-A chance on the rush for BC sophomore Julia Pellerin, Hockey East’s leading scorer.
Then in the first overtime, after a brutal turnover from freshman defender Keira Healey handed BC a Grade-A chance on an odd-skater rush, Shanahan rescued BU again.
“We have players that can step up and make big-time saves or create big-time opportunities when we need it,” Watchorn said on Tuesday.
*This story will be updated.
Recent Comments