<\/a> Casey Pickett’s power-play goal doubled the lead a couple of minutes later, one had the sense that BU’s 13-game unbeaten streak was in jeopardy.<\/p>\n“Fourteen games is a long time to not lose, so maybe that was up against the odds tonight to keep that going,” Durocher said.<\/p>\n
Other things were working against the Terriers, not the least of which was the play of NU goaltender Chloe Desjardins, who made 38 saves.<\/p>\n
“She was playing hurt right before the break, and it got to the point where we couldn’t play her anymore,” Huskies coach Dave Flint said. “Kelsey O’Sullivan stepped in and did a great job. I had a tough decision to make yesterday after practice on who to play, and Chloe told me she was ready. I trusted her on that, and she had a good practice and we went with her, and it made me look like I know what I’m doing.”<\/p>\n
While Desjardins kept the BU offense at bay, Coyne struck again five minutes into the middle period. Her centering attempt bounced off of a defenseman’s skate and into the Terriers’ net for a 3-0 Northeastern lead.<\/p>\n
“I’ve watched her play for a long time now,” Durocher said. “She’s a fantastic player. She has speed that’s really hard to deal with period. She just is so determined in everything she does.”<\/p>\n
Momentum began to swing at the halfway point of the game when Northeastern had nearly a minute and a half with a two-skater advantage and responded with a rather ragged five-on-three power play. Despite a territorial edge, BU was unable to get on the board until 7:02 of the third period when rookie Jordan Juron cashed in a rebound.<\/p>\n
On this night, that was all the scoring the Terriers’ offense could muster. Durocher tried to generate something by pulling goalie Kerrin Sperry for an extra attacker while on a power play with six minutes to go. His team couldn’t score; neither did Northeastern, but that was only because Coyne skated offside while attempting to corral a pass with the empty net looming.<\/p>\n
With under two minutes to play, Coyne had another chance at an unguarded cage and completed her hat trick.<\/p>\n
“The other thing that probably doesn’t get talked about enough is her unbelievable stamina,” Durocher said. “I never see her look like she’s close to tired out there. Hence, she’s a threat for two shifts in a row sometimes.”<\/p>\n
Rachel Llanes and wings Pickett and Coyne combined for four goals and six assists for the game.<\/p>\n
“That line is one of the best lines in college hockey,” Flint said. “They’re so fast and so dynamic. If you turn the puck over in bad areas against them, they’re going to make you pay for it. That’s what they did tonight.”<\/p>\n
The Huskies advance to face BC in Tuesday’s championship.<\/p>\n
The other semifinal was dominated by goaltenders most of the way. The Eagles’ Corinne Boyles and Harvard’s Emerance Maschmeyer were still perfect through 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
Finally, Mary Parker got a second-chance opportunity with Boyles down and flipped it over her for a lead for Harvard 4:52 into the final frame.<\/p>\n
Crimson coach Katey Stone was very disappointed by her team’s defensive breakdowns that followed. The first came two and a half minutes after taking the lead. BC’s Ashley Motherwell picked off a Harvard clearing attempt and got the puck to Emily Field. She spotted Dana Trivigno alone on the weak side. Trivigno’s shot went over Maschmeyer as she tried to slide across to tie the score.<\/p>\n
Nine minutes later, Taylor Wasylk scored the deciding goal in BC’s 2-1 win.<\/p>\n
“Lexi Bender on the point got the puck, and there was two people on the ground, so I saw an opening and just went to the net,” Wasylk said. “She made an awesome play and hit me. I don’t think I even knew it was coming; it just kind of hit my stick and went in.”<\/p>\n
Harvard tried to rally over the final four minutes, but Boyles stymied them as she did for most of the night. She finished with 40 saves, improving to 17-2-0 on the year.<\/p>\n
“My hat’s off — their goaltender played fantastically in front of BC,” Stone said. “Is that a word? Fantastically?”<\/p>\n
Yes, yes it is. It’s “uncompelling” that isn’t. Luckily, that word is no longer needed given the recent caliber of the Beanpot field.<\/p>\n
“It’s good for us in the long run to go against a tough team like that,” Harvard senior Jillian Dempsey said. “Obviously, not the result we were looking for, but we had to battle. In the end, we’re going to have to get more gritty and grind those games out, and it’s nice to have that kind of experience under out belt, so when we’re in that situation again, we’ll be more prepared and we’ll have this gut feeling of the loss and how we don’t want that again. We’ll find a way next time, and hopefully, get a better result.”<\/p>\n
Stone has been through a lot of these Beanpot semifinals, but more often than not, her team has come out on top. This is the first time ever that the Crimson have lost in the opening round in back-to-back years. Despite the pain of the defeat, she recognizes the positives of the improved competition.<\/p>\n
“It’s great for our game,” Stone said. “Unfortunately, we’re not going to be playing for the championship, but we’re going to be playing for a lot more next Tuesday night.”<\/p>\n
BU and Harvard will try to salvage a win from the Beanpot in the early game on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Northeastern and BC will be playing for the Beanpot trophy. In the case of the Eagles, they’ll try to win that title while simultaneously trying to duel BU for the top spot in Hockey East. King Crowley doesn’t think that Tuesday’s championship game will distract her team from the conference race.<\/p>\n
“Our team looks forward to the Beanpot every year,” she said. “We don’t see it as a distraction at all, but a springboard to the end of the season. I enjoy the energy this time of year brings to our team.”<\/p>\n
The energy is better for everyone — fans, players, coaches — when four strong teams are hitting the ice. So the next time that Harvard players are skating with a Beanpot in triumph, they may relish the moment to a greater extent than Jennifer Botterill and company did 10 years ago.<\/p>\n
“You want to have all four teams playing their best at this time of year,” Stone said. “It means more. Honest to God, it means more.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ll admit it; it wasn’t that long ago that I thought the Beanpot was kind of silly. Silly is the wrong word. Uncompelling? Wait, that’s not even a word. A decade ago, the field was: Harvard, a recent national champion amid a string of success that carried it to the NCAA Championship game in three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Women's Beanpot no longer has only Crimson in clover - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n