Hockey East Notes

BU freshmen lend helping hands
Despite recent wounds, Sperry and Poulin play part in win
By Al Daniel

Boston University head coach Brian Durocher made a fleeting revelation when he reviewed his team’s 4-2 NCAA quarterfinal win over Mercyhurst College at Walter Brown Arena Saturday.

“Kerrin Sperry wore a cast all week,” the skipper said of his reliable rookie goaltender. “Today, she took it off and made probably seven or eight great glove saves and I don’t think she felt any pain.”

One week removed from being decisively outdueled by Northeastern’s more seasoned Swiss Save-ior, Florence Schelling, Sperry was one young Terrier who patently benefited from another week of practice, and perhaps another day away from game action provided by BU’s denied admission into the Hockey East championship.

Save for two goals by the NCAA’s all-time leading scorcher, Meghan Agosta, Sperry repelled 30 Mercyhurst bids, including 14 out of 15 in the opening frame and 11 of 12 in the third period.

Given that the Lakers attempted a grand total of 73 shots, as opposed to the 47 tries issued by the Terriers, Sperry was pampered with her Saturday workload. Her praetorian guards telepathically directed 12 biscuits wide and blocked a bruising 29.

As it happened, Sperry’s classmate, Marie-Philip Poulin, tied senior captain Holly Lorms with four blocked shots on the day. Maybe not the most advisable move from a medical perspective, considering Poulin has only recently hurdled past the worst of a much more publicized hand ailment sustained in a Feb. 5 visit to New Hampshire that kept her out of game action until last week’s conference dance. But it personified big-game hockey, to which Poulin is no stranger, having singlehandedly beat Team USA, 2-0, in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic title tilt.

In the other end, the New England Eight’s runaway Rookie of the Year was only a factor for one period. Poulin doled out four of her five attempted shots, and all three of her shots on net, in the middle frame, including a go-ahead goal at 8:16 that granted BU a 2-1 lead through intermission.

Moments later, Poulin picked off Agosta at her own blue line, saw her bid go high above the crossbar when she reached Laker property, then retreated back to her own end as Mercyhurst broke out.

As the counterattack settled, she subject herself to the bite of a shot by opposing blueliner Cassea Schols, which rendered her temporarily rattled. Play rolled along and two more unanswered shots, off the blades of Jesse Scanzano and Samantha Watt, were blocked by Terriers’ Catherine Ward and Jill Cardella, respectively.

Ultimately, BU cleared, and top gun Jenn Wakefield sent a shot wide of the Mercyhurst cage before there was finally another whistle, the first in nearly three-and-a-half minutes of action.

None other than Poulin took the ensuing draw in neutral ice, and she won it at Agosta’s expense.

“You go back to the way that the Poulins, and the Kohanchuks, Catherine Wards that are giving up their bodies and blocking shots. It just permeates all through the team and on the ice,” said Durocher.

“We had to get out of that shift because she was having trouble getting off the ice and definitely was stung, but I don’t think she missed a shift.

“I knew she was coming back. But after she scored that goal when she came over the blue line and ripped a slap shot that almost caught the top corner, I’m figuring she’s just about back right now.”

Eagles soar early, ground Gophers
Ashley Motherwell scored on the game’s first shot and sparked a four-goal-on-eight-shot salvo for Boston College en route to a 4-1 victory over Minnesota at Conte Forum Saturday.

The game was merely two minutes and 45 seconds old by the time Melissa Bizzari connected on BC’s second shot of the day, prompting Gophers head coach Brad Frost to exhaust his timeout.

After Kelli Stack augmented the lead to 3-0 at 8:16 of the opening frame, the Gophers went on an 11-5 romp in the shooting gallery. But goaltender Molly Schaus repelled everything, including six stabs during a single penalty kill, while Stack tacked on another tally with 13:50 gone in the game.

BC senior defender Katelyn Kurth, who assisted on Motherwell’s icebreaker, was in action for all four goals, giving her an impressive plus-4 rating on the day. Meanwhile, Stack and Motherwell’s left winger, Danielle Welch, amassed two assists.

Not unlike the other game on Commonwealth Avenue, the hosts controlled the shooting gallery in the second period while letting their guests discharge a substantial majority of biscuits in both the first and third. But while the Gophers converted one of their four bids in the middle frame (Sarah Erickson at 11:45), Schaus turned in another pristine 14-save performance in the third to confirm the second Frozen Four ticket of her career.

Quick feeds: The BC and BU triumphs not only snap the WHEA’s three-year absence from the Frozen Four, but also marks the first time the nine-year-old circuit has sent multiple ambassadors to the final frontier…Bizzari was credited with the third game-winning goal of her rookie year while Cardella scored her fourth clincher of the year and the fifth of her stay with the Terriers…Cardella was also credited with an assist on Poulin’s goal…The only two Patty Kazmaier finalists who are still active, Stack and Wisconsin’s Meghan Duggan, will clash on the ice in one of this Friday’s semifinals. The specific face-off times for the BC-Wisconsin and BU-Cornell tilts have not yet been disclosed, but one will be at 5 p.m., the other at 8.

Al Daniel is the Hockey East correspondent to Beyond The Dashers