Women’s Hockey: Terriers fall to Providence 2-1 in OT on Senior Day
By Patrick Donnelly
BOSTON — The Boston University Terriers closed their regular season with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Providence College Friars on Senior Day at Walter Brown Arena on Saturday.
Junior forward Isabelle Hardy scored at 3:36 of overtime for the Friars, banking the rebound in through McGuigan’s legs from the side of the net after junior defender Lauren DeBlois’ shot hit the crossbar.
DeBlois had two assists for Providence (15-13-6, 12-12-3 HE), and freshman defender Lily Hendrikson scored. Graduate goaltender Sandra Abstreiter made 30 saves.
“Credit to the goaltender for PC, and, obviously, double credit them to finish it at the end,” BU head coach Brian Durocher said.
Graduate defender Ellie Larson, playing as a forward, scored for BU (12-14-6, 11-9-5 HE), and senior captain Kaleigh Donnelly had an assist. McGuigan (11 saves) and senior goaltender Kate Stuart (10) combined for 21 saves.
“It was another one of those pretty solid performances, where we got better and better as the game went on, yet we didn’t have anything to show for it, relative to points,” Durocher said. “That’s frustrating. It’s kind of been the Achilles heel most of the year, where we play pretty good, but the goalscoring doesn’t come easy. Hopefully ,we’re saving that for the next three games, and we’ll get a little run here and see if we can take it to a championship.
“I liked the way the kids played, the way they kept coming, and we just again couldn’t get to the end. … We had our chances, and I liked the way we played, but disappointing. We wanted to send the seniors out with a win, and get one more on the winning side for the whole club.”
Hendrikson made it 1-0 for PC at 11:41 of the first on the power play with a slap shot from the high slot after DeBlois worked the puck free in front.
Larson tied it on a partial break at 8:49 of the second, collecting Donnelly’s stretch pass before skating in and scoring five hole with a backhand finish.
“Ellie going in there, and making a cute move to slide it through the legs just in the middle of the move, it was a real nice job by her,” Durocher said,
BU outshot the Friars 14-6 in the third.
Providence senior captain Caroline Peterson thought she scored to win it as time expired in regulation with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle, but it was ruled that time ran out before the puck went in.
“We’ve been through these reviews that are always tough,” Durocher said. “It certainly looked to me in live time like that buzzer was buzzing. And I think if the buzzer is sounding, [the clock has] been to zero already. And I guess that was the case, which was great. We got to play a little bit more hockey.”
In overtime, Peterson awarded a penalty shot after a Terrier defender covered the puck in the crease during a net-front scramble, and McGuigan came up with a left pad save on her bid moments before Hardy’s game-winner.
“Great, great stuff, to have a penalty shot in that situation, it’s a huge stop for [McGuigan], and she had a couple other ones that were big stops along the way,” Durocher said.
With the loss, BU finishes sixth in Hockey East for the regular season, while Providence stands in seventh place. The Terriers will visit third-place UConn in the conference quarterfinals next weekend, and the Friars will host last place Holy Cross in the play-in round this week.
Prior to the game, BU honored their graduating class: Donnelly, McGuigan, Larson, Stuart, senior forward Emma Wuthrich, senior forward Courtney Correia, senior defender Alex Allen and senior forward Mackenna Parker.
“They’re people, who have been here for four years, and their Beanpot championship [as freshmen in 2019] was fantastic for them and for the whole program,” Durocher said. “They did it as a group. You know, Kaleigh Donnelly wore the ‘C’ right from the beginning of the year, but back in the summer, we had a lot of gatherings and meetings that everybody had sort of a role. Everybody was going to help out. And they did from top to bottom, whether it’s community service, team gatherings, or warm up and cool down.
“Everybody had a piece of the action and, we expected particularly from [Correia] and [Parker] to be on the ice leaders, just by example, and Alex Allen on the backside. They worked all the way through.”
The Terriers will travel to Storrs, Conn., next Saturday for a 3 p.m. showdown with the Huskies in the Hockey East Quarterfinals.
Featured Image: Nicole McGuigan (31) makes a save on Isabelle Hardy (21) in overtime of a 2-1 loss to Providence College on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. Photo by Patrick Donnelly.