Was that Boston College and Boston University women’s hockey on display Sunday at Walter Brown Arena? Or was that the Patriots and Colts?
During their quarterfinal clash, arranged in a format akin to the NFL wild card, the Green Line rivals bore a tendency to trade the puck and the momentum in football-like intervals. And both parties accepted their share of a physical beating. BC’s skaters blocked 19 of the 69 attempted shots discharged by Terrier twigs while BU stood in front of 13 of the Eagles’ 33 stabs.
Perhaps the quintessential woman warrior, though, was BU sophomore Jenelle Kohanchuk. Only 26 days prior, she had been ruled disabled for 4-8 weeks with a dislocated thumb. Yet she suited up to help fill a void on the fourth line and set the tone for an eventual 3-1 triumph.
Kohanchuk, who had not seen action since January 22 or appeared on a scoresheet since December 4, led the Terriers with three of their 13 shots on net in the first period. Her first stab, discharged in the seventh minute at the start of a power play, turned into a rebound for Jillian Kirchner to bat home, spawning a 1-0 lead at 6:16.
“She’s probably at 65 or 70 percent,” head coach Brian Durocher said of his leading scorer from last year who likely would have repeated that feat had she not missed 11 games.
“But obviously, it’s another bullet in the gun, so to say,” she skipper continued. “She’s somebody with an awful lot of talent and it gives us a little bit more to work with.”
The Eagles, bolstered through a series of storms by a tireless stopper in Kiera Kingston (28 saves), would not get their first legitimate look at Melissa Haber (17 saves) until about the 15th minute. But once they thawed out, they made enough of a buzz to keep the matchup worth the price of admission (maybe even worth forgoing the coincidental men’s Olympic title tilt).
At one point, BU led the shooting gallery, 11-2, and in the way of attempted stabs, 24-5. But within the final six minutes of the first, BC charged up a 6-2 edge under the SOG heading.
More critically, long-inconsistent sophomore linemates Mary Restuccia and Danielle Welch flaunted a little productive chemistry reminiscent of their rookie year. Welch, who would match defender Blake Bolden for a team-leading three shots on the day, inserted an equalizer with 4:14 to spare in the opening frame.
Just like in the first, BU ultimately ran up a 13-8 edge in the second period shooting gallery. But by the second intermission, the Terriers’ edge in stamina –despite their having only 16 skaters in use like their rivals- was at its clearest in the 50-25 difference in attempted shots.
In the first half of the middle frame, BC spilled a could-be/would-be momentum swinger when they went through 2:49 worth of uninterrupted power play time. They attempted four shots in that span, landing three right on Haber’s property, but nothing doing. By the time Jonnie Bloemers was released, ending a 49-second 5-on-3 segment, BU had a smooth PK ride until senior Melissa Anderson could return from her cross-checking sentence.
“That might have been the turning point in the game,” said Durocher. “We got four or five clears, Melissa Haber made one or two real good saves. That probably put us in a nice situation, because this team has come in here a couple of times and I think gotten away with 2-1 wins or gone into the third real tight and given us trouble.”
Afterwards, an imbalance in ice shavings between the defensive zones grew exponentially evident. Ditto the sand content between the two halves of the Eagles’ 2009-10 hourglass.
After a brief phase of slightly more end-to-end action, Lauren Cherewyk renewed the Terriers’ lead, 2-1, during a 4-on-4 set at 17:34.
“That second goal had eyes,” said Durocher. “That’s your 40-foot wrister that doesn’t go in all the time, but Lauren’s got a quick release and I think it caught them just a little bit by surprise.”
Thirty ticks later, a tripping call against BU blueliner Sarah Appleton granted the Eagles another invaluable power play. But two failed shots later, they let that opportunity –their last of the day- wilt prematurely when Restuccia went off for hooking to set up a carry-over, 32-second 4-on-4 segment.
BU would unload 17 unanswered attempts in nine minutes to commence the third. Ironically, moments after BC defender Dru Burns finally bucked that trend, the Terriers turned around nimbly to apply the dagger.
Anderson, who had blocked Burns’ shot, collaborated with Cherewyk on the return rush to set up Jill Cardella with 9:37 to spare. Cherewyk and Cardella would both finish with a 1-1-2 transcript and a plus-2 rating.
“I thought our kids played a really good technical game,” said Durocher. “Maybe late in the first, we just kind of were running around a little bit or we weren’t picking people up and it got them a goal.
“But we had to fight and we had to come up with some big plays. Lauren’s shot had eyes, and then Melissa and Jill Cardella made a real nice play to kind of give us the one that gave us some breathing room.”
With the separation working against them, the Eagles appeared to at least take one final swig of desperation-flavored Gatorade, thrusting out seven of the game’s final eight attempts. But Haber, who only needed to address two of those shots herself, and her teammates slowed the drive down to their liking, summoning seven whistles within the last 10 minutes and exercising their timeout when 5:18 remained.
“Boston College is a fantastic opponent,” Durocher concluded. “And any time it’s single elimination, the regular season is thrown out the window. I figured it was going to be a 2-1 game or a 3-2 game, and it was pretty close to that.”
No comments:
Post a Comment