Congrats to New Hampshire, the first team into the Women’s Frozen Four with a 3-2 overtime win over St. Lawrence.
One story line of this game that stands out is the play of seniors Sabrina Harbec for SLU and Sadie Wright-Ward for UNH. Both were conference players of the year as sophomores, but never quite received the same attention thereafter. Harbec’s brilliant second period goal looked like it might stand for the win, but it was the Durham native Wright-Ward who netted the clincher in the end.
UNH showed some hubris in playing too much offense on the Saints’ power play that led to the 2-1 Saints lead. The Wildcats hadn’t had to face a top five national power play since their win over Harvard in December.
Credit to UNH though for playing from behind for the first time since December and overcoming some clearly frustrating moments leading up to the game-tying goal by Jenn Wakefield from Kacey Bellamy.
Credit to the 1607 fans that supported this quarterfinal, a bit better than last year’s sparse crowd of 1215 for the same matchup.
And credit to the St. Lawrence seniors Harbec, forward Chelsea Grills, defenseman Annie Guay, and goalie Meaghan Guckian, who each had distinguished award-winning careers. Tough luck for them to end with back-to-back overtime defeats — the first time that has happened since UMD in 2005 (excluding the WCHA consolation game that season). UNH’s win ended a brilliant four-year Frozen Four run by St. Lawrence. The Saints deserve plenty of credit for that achievement, and for coming so close in year five.
