HYANNIS — Boston University got a hat trick from senior captain Marie-Philip Poulin today in a 6-1 win over Northeastern and will face the Boston College Eagles for the Women’s Hockey East collegiate championship title today at 1:30 pm. The game will be played at the Hyannis Youth & Community Center.
Poulin added an assist to help the No. 7 Boston University women’s ice hockey team (24-8-3) advance to the Hockey East title game against the top-ranked Eagles (33-1-1).
Boston University’s Marie-Philip Poulin notched a hat trick last night against Northeastern in the Hockey East women’s semifinal at the Hyannis Youth & Community Center. Her Terriers will face Boston College today in Hyannis at 1:30 pm.
Photo by Eric Canha/Courtesy of Hockey East
The championship game will be shown live on NESNplus. The two teams met in last year’s title game, with BU scoring twice in the third period to come from behind and defeat the Eagles, 3-2.
The Terriers moved on to their fourth straight Hockey East championship contest thanks in large part to a three-goal second period. Senior Shannon Doyle and junior Sarah Lefort each had two assists while sophomores Maddie Elia and Natalie Flynn also lit the lamp. Flynn’s marker was her first collegiate goal.
Sophomore Victoria Hanson made 15 saves to improve to 3-0 in the 2015 postseason. Seniors Sarah Bayersdorfer and Shannon Stoneburgh each collected an assist, as did juniors Lillian Ribeirinha-Braga and Kayla Tutino.
Poulin put the Terriers on the board with 4:55 remaining in the first period. Tutino skated from half-wall into right circle before sliding a pass to a wide-open Poulin, who calmly deposited the puck into an open net. The score remained 1-0 until the 5:08 mark of the second stanza when Poulin skated into the slot and uncorked a wicked wrister past Chloe Desjardins (33 saves).
A frantic final minute of the second period gave BU all the momentum entering thefinal 20 minutes. With 57 seconds left, Sutherland won an offensive-zone draw straight back to Doyle at the right point. She fired a shot that got by everyone in front and into the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season.
Elia then made it a 4-0 game with less than 12 seconds to play in the period. Leslie won a battle along the half-wall and dished the puck back to Stoneburgh. The senior defenseman whistled a shot towards goal and Elia was in perfect position to redirect it past Desjardins.
Poulin completed her hat trick and gave the Terriers a 5-0 lead at the 7:52 mark of the third period before Taytum Clairmont got a goal back for the Huskies less than two minutes later. Flynn then completed the scoring with her first collegiate goal at the 14:18 juncture. Poulin gained the blue line and dished the puck to Bayersdorfer, who quickly fed Flynn on the right wing. The sophomore forward sent a shot right under the crossbar to regain a five-goal cushion.
The Terriers and Eagles skated to a 2-2 tie at Walter Brown Arena in the last meeting between the Comm. Ave rivals. In addition to the victory in last year’s championship game, BU also beat BC in a 2012 semifinal game in Hyannis.
In the day’s earlier WHEA semifinal in Hyannis, Hayley Skarupa scored a goal and added an assist and Katie Burt made 19 saves as No. 1 Boston College downed No. 5 UConn, 3-1. With the victory, the Eagles move on to the sixth Hockey East championship game in program history, claiming one previous title in 2011.
Junior defenseman Kaliya Johnson scored a goal for the Eagles in yesterday’s WHEA semifinal opener at the Hyannis Youth & Community Center.
Photo by Eric Canha/Courtesy of Hockey East
At the other end of the ice, UConn goaltender Elaine Chuli kicked out 51 shots, the second-highest total in a semifinal game in league history, but the Huskies were unable to generate enough offense to keep the Eagles at bay. Chuli’s 51 stops propelled her into fourth place on the career postseason saves list with 186 saves in nine games played.
Boston College head coach Katie Crowley and UConn head coach Chris MacKenzie, both finalists for Hockey East Coach of the Year, watched a tightly contested first period that saw scoring chances for each team. Despite 17 shots from the Eagles and seven from the Huskies, the goaltending prowess of Chuli and Burt prevented any shots from crossing the goal line.
BC defenseman Kaliya Johnson managed to beat Chuli halfway through the second stanza, firing a hard wrist shot past the junior netminder at 11:19 for an unassisted marker. Johnson trapped an attempted UConn clear at the right point and rifled a shot under Chuli’s left pad.
Skarupa extended the Eagles’ lead at 1:21 of the final frame, collecting a rebound to stake a two-goal lead. Tori Ann Milano put a shot on net from the blueline before Alex Carpenter picked up the rebound and found a wide-open Skarupa for the score. Kayla Campero halved the UConn deficit at 6:20. Emily Snodgrass picked off a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone and entered the attacking zone. Snodgrass cut across the ice, leaving a drop pass for Campero to fire over Burt’s blocker.
Carpenter sealed the win for the Boston College with an empty-net goal at 19:41. Skarupa took aim from the redline, bouncing the puck off the left post and into the corner. Carpenter won a footrace to the puck, curling up along the wall before sending the puck into the goalmouth.
Boston College awaits the winner of No. 2 Boston University and No. 3 Northeastern. The two victors will then meet to determine the WHEA tournament champion tomorrow (March 8) at 1:30 p.m. in Hyannis. The game can be seen live on NESNplus and later in the evening on tape delay on NESN.
— Story and photos courtesy of Hockey East
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