Women’s Hockey: Minnesota’s Abbey Murphy Blasts Terriers with Hat-Trick, Leads Gophers to a Series Sweep

Featured image by Gwyneth Moe

By Ethan Pott

Boston University Women’s Ice Hockey (0-2-0, 0-0-0 HEA) dropped the second half of a two-game set against the Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA) on Saturday afternoon thanks to a hat trick by graduate right winger and co-captain Abbey Murphy.

“When they tied it up, we struggled to answer,” Head Coach Tara Watchorn said. “We’re going to figure that out in terms of how that got to us.”

Murphy tallied her first goal in the seventh minute of play, deflecting a puck initially stopped by Terrier graduate goaltender Michelle Pasiechnyk into a wide-open net with Pasiechnyk on the edge of the crease.

Minutes later, BU punched back as senior left winger and assistant captain Sydney Healey, the Terriers’ leading goalscorer last season, slipped the puck past Minnesota freshman goalie Layla Hemp for her first goal of the year.

The Gophers went on the power play as Terrier senior right winger Riley Walsh was called for interference. BU’s penalty kill unit stood strong, allowing only one shot from Murphy and breaking through the pressure late in the power play, generating a blocked shot by senior left winger Luisa Welcke.

The game went to 4-on-4 play going into the second as Murphy was called for hooking and BU freshman center Anežka Cabelová for holding. The period began with a series of back-and-forth punches as the Terriers came out swinging, the Gophers intercepted the puck in BU’s defensive zone, and momentum bounced from end to end in the first few minutes.

BU senior right winger Clara Yuhn was aggressive in the midgame, rocketing five shots in the period, but Hemp got in front of each. Gopher senior left winger Josefin Bouveng had a wide-open look at the Terriers’ net after winning a faceoff beyond the Terriers’ blueline, but Pasiechnyk was ready and defied the attacking Swede with her stick.

With BU on the power play due to a penalty assessed to Gopher freshman defender Sydney Bailey, Murphy slid hard into the boards and collapsed to the ice. After a trainer came out to tend to the Minnesota captain, the Dog Pound applauded as she got up and her teammates helped her to the bench.

BU kept possession after failing to convert their advantage and was promptly rewarded as Cabelová, assisted by Healey and Yuhn, managed to sneak the puck through Hemp for her first collegiate goal, putting the Terriers up 2-1.

Though a recovered Murphy returned to the ice and fired her sixth and seventh shots of the game, the second period ended much as the first had. BU carried a one-goal lead into the game’s final stretch.

Minnesota opened the third looking reenergized and applied pressure on BU. Murphy got the best of Pasiechnyk once again to tie the game at 2-2.

Unable to keep up with the Gopher barrage, the Terriers folded under pressure as senior defender and co-captain Nelli Laitinen and freshman left winger Tereza Plosova both scored in a span of 30 seconds, sending the Minnesota bench into a frenzy and BU into a timeout.

“[We need to] be able to frame all those experiences and not panic too much,” Watchorn said.

The Terriers got chances to restabilize as Gopher junior left winger Ava Lindsay was sent to the penalty box on a tripping minor and Bouveng was called several minutes later for roughing.

The Gophers’ penalty kill unit looked like a brick wall for all four total minutes of their disadvantage. BU went scoreless.

Minnesota took control of the puck with Pasiechnyk pulled from the game, and it was none other than Murphy who sunk the empty-net dagger, completing her third collegiate hat-trick. Murphy has scored nine goals in the first four games of the season.

Watchorn declined to comment on Murphy’s performance.

“It’s early in the season,” Healey said. “That’s a good hockey team we’re playing against.”

“[We need] feedback coming in all directions, peer to peer,” Watchorn said. “Continuing to learn from this weekend, we’ll look at a lot of film.”

The Terriers will hunt for their first win of the season away at Colgate University on Friday, Oct. 10.