Women’s Hockey: For the first time since 2016, the Terriers are headed to the Hockey East Championship game

Featured image by Holly Gustavsen

By Devora Slonim

It was a tale of double overtime. 

For the first time since 2016, the Boston University Terriers (23-11-2, 18-7-2 HE) punched their ticket to the Hockey East Championship game. 

Lindsay Bochna’s sudden-death game-winning goal in the fifth period secured the 3-2 victory over their green-line rivals, the Boston College Eagles (21-13-2, 16-9-2 HE).

“Well earned by those guys,” Head Coach Tara Watchorn said of her team. “They played a great game and stuck with it. I’m so impressed by them. There was never a doubt. They ran the show all night, stuck to the game plan, and were rewarded for it.” 

The Eagles opened the game on the front foot. Heavy sustained pressure and offensive chances marked the starting few minutes, and the Terriers were on their heels early, finding themselves in the penalty box in the process. 

After an unsuccessful BC powerplay, Alex Law danced her way into the offensive zone, weaving around defenders on a breakaway opportunity and drew a slashing call of her own. 

Captain Tamara Giaquinto, BU’s leading scorer on the power play, had the best chance of the game thus far on the man advantage but narrowly missed the net by mere inches. 

The Eagles found themselves on the board first as Lauren Glaser capitalized on a turnover at the blue line, beating goaltender Callie Shanahan with the open net. 

BU maintained solid puck possession in response but had trouble solving BC’s defense. 

The Terriers continued their push in the form of a Luisa Welcke breakaway, but netminder Grace Campbell stretched her pad out, hugging the left post and keeping the game stalemated at 1-0. 

Three minutes into the second period, Clara Yuhn found the puck on her stick, roofing it up and over Campbell for the equalizer. 

Shortly after, Lilli Welcke put the puck top shelf past Campbell, but the call was deemed offsides, and the goal was reversed. 

The reversed call sparked momentum for the Eagles. BU struggled to clear the puck out of their zone, and Shanahan bailed them out with numerous high-danger saves to keep the score tied at one apiece. 

“She’s been playing amazing,” Bochna said of Shanahan. “So proud of her. She keeps us in so many games, and has kept us in so many games this year. So grateful for her when she’s in between the pipes.”

Both teams were plagued by sloppiness for the rest of the period, but it was BC who regained their lead.  

The Terriers were caught out of position, and Katie Pyne found a wide-open net, giving the Eagles a 2-1 advantage heading into the final period.

Once more, BU were on their heels in the opening minutes of the third. 

However, they found their footing just over six minutes in. The Welcke-Welcke-Walsh line capitalized, as Riley Walsh collected the puck in the slot, poking the puck into the net. 

Tempers flared as the clock ticked down late in the third as both teams were pushing hard for the game-winning goal, and a big blocker save by Shanahan on a breakaway chance for the Eagles kept the score locked at 2-2 with just over two minutes left in regulation. 

For the second straight game in the playoffs, BU headed to overtime.

“[It was] a combination of urgency and maturity at the same time,” Watchorn said about keeping momentum going in overtime. “I think that that was the message, especially in overtime… so it’s just like we’ve been talking about all year, but just, when to attack, when to take that look, and then when do we shoot for rebounds and generate our zone time.”

Two minutes in, Julia Shaunessy headed to the box for cross-checking, but the No. 2 nationally ranked penalty kill (.901%) went to work, fighting off the entirety of the BC man advantage. 

In quick succession, the Eagles went to the box with a too many women on the ice penalty called. 

The Terriers maintained the zone for almost the entirety of the power play, raising their shot count to 30, but were unable to capitalize in the process. 

Cross-ice 2 v. 1 breakaways for both teams happened back-to-back, but neither team was able to beat their respective goaltenders. 

Campbell remained a brick wall, saving numerous high-danger shots from BU, forcing a second overtime. 

Tired legs entered the ice in the fifth period of the game. 

Bochna credited the energy of the team as the difference maker tonight. 

“Energy. Energy from the bench, energy from the coaches. Just keep, like, the vibes light, you know, not too much pressure,” Bochna said. “[We] just try and keep it happy and fun in that moment, because, I don’t know, when the energy is high, you have a good chance that it’s going to go your way.” 

Two incredible opportunities for the Welcke sisters almost saw the back of the net, but Campbell and the assist of the post blocked both chances. 

BU kept firing a parade of shots on the BC netminder, and finally, Bochna poked the puck in off a scramble in front, capitalizing on Christina Vote’s hard drive to the net. 

“She’s a gamer…,” Watchorn said of Bochna. “The way that she is between the whistles, and how dialed and competitive she is, but then light in between on the other side of it, and how she can debrief and laugh with her teammates, and she’s modeled that all year.” 

The Terriers now look forward as they prepare to face their cross-town rivals, the Northeastern University Huskies, in the Hockey East Championship. 

“They know what to do at this point… we got another crack at them, and I can’t wait,” Watchorn said of the Championship game. 

BU will face the Huskies on Saturday, March 8, at 12 p.m. at the Toscano Ice Forum in Storrs, CT. Streaming will be available on ESPN+.  

Share this: