University of New Hampshire Athletics
University of New Hampshire
10-23-3
Northeastern University
14-16-5
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Northeastern | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Women's Hockey Loses Heartbreaker at Northeastern, 4-3, to End Season
3/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
BOSTON – Kayla Mork (Victoria, Minn.) netted an extra-attacker goal with 2:48 remaining to lift the University of New Hampshire women's ice hockey team within a goal, but Northeastern University fended off the Wildcats' comeback bid with a 4-3 victory Sunday afternoon to win the best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series, 2-1.
Sixth-seeded UNH, which prevailed 2-1 on Friday, ends the season at 10-23-3. Third-seeded NU, which won 3-2 Saturday, improved to 14-16-5 and advances to the semifinals.
Ali Praus (Long Lake, Minn.) and Amy Boucher (Edmonton, Alberta) scored the Wildcats' other goals. Goaltender Ashley Wilkes (North Pole, Alaska) made 22 saves, including 12 in the second period.
Kendall Coyne scored three goals while both Heather Mottau and Denisa Krizova tallied three assists. Chloe Desjardins made nine of her 19 saves in the third period.
The Wildcats nearly took the lead 15 seconds into the game when Nicoline Jensen (Rodovre, Denmark) ripped a shot from the slot that ricocheted off the left post.
NU went on the first power play of the game when New Hampshire was whistled for interference at 1:19 and the Huskies capitalized on that skater advantage. Coyne's shot from the high slot went into the upper-right corner at 2:15 for the 1-0 lead.
One minute later, Northeastern generated a 2-on-1 rush in which Taytum Clairmont skated from the right circle to the top of the crease but Wilkes was in position for the pad save.
A flurry of action in the eighth minute began when Jonna Curtis (Elk River, Minn.) snapped a wrister from the slot that Desjardins knocked down with her glove and Mork batted the rebound wide left. At the other end of the ice, Hayley Masters intercepted a pass in the high slot and blasted a shot wide right. The Wildcats advanced the puck up-ice and Boucher's shot from the slot sailed wide left.
UNH tied the score, 1-1, at 10:45 when Praus' shot from the right faceoff circle fluttered into the upper-left corner of the net. Brooke Avery (Loudon, N.H.) was credited with an assist.
The teams entered the first intermission tied at 1 with Northeastern holding an 8-6 shot advantage.
In the third minute of the second stanza, Coyne's initial shot from the left faceoff dot was stopped by Wilkes. Coyne corralled the rebound off the end boards behind the net and her wraparound at the right post was also stopped by Wilkes. NU sustained possession and Jordan Krause's screened shot from the right point was steered aside by Wilkes.
The 'Cats converted a 3-on-1 rush into a 2-1 lead at 5:22. Hannah Armstrong (Keswick, Ontario) chipped the puck off the boards past a pair of Huskies into the neutral zone and raced onto the puck to lead the break down the left wing. Armstrong entered the left circle and slipped a pass across the slot to Boucher, whose one-timer trickled past Desjardins. Amy Schlagel (Blaine, Minn.), who had advanced the puck to Armstrong, also earned an assist.
NU responded with a goal 93 seconds later to forge a 2-2 tie at 6:53 when Jordan Krause's shot from the left point sailed through traffic inside the far post.
With the Huskies on the power play in the 12th minute, they executed a backdoor pass to McKenna Brand at the left doorstep, but Wilkes extended her right leg pad to keep the score deadlocked.
Two minutes later, Boucher eluded a defender in the right circle and fired a shot just wide of the upper-right corner of the cage.
NU produced a 13-6 shot advantage in the second period for a 21-12 edge through 40 minutes, but the teams entered the second intermission tied 2-2.
New Hampshire generated a dangerous scoring chance in the second minute of the final frame when Sara Carlson (Hutchinson, Minn.) blasted a slap shot through traffic from the left point that was stopped by Desjardins, who also turned aside Mork on the rebound at the left post.
Midway through the third, Schlagel's slap-pass to the low slot was one-timed hard, but wide left of the cage, by Curtis. Moments later, Carlson went coast-to-coast but was stoned at the right doorstep by the NU goalie.
The Wildcats continued to pressure and, in the 12th minute, Schlagel's slapper from the right point was saved by Desjardins. The rebound went to the slot and Heather Kashman (Edmonton, Alberta) sent the puck wide left.
NU went on the power play at 12:15 but the 'Cats had a shorthanded bid when Armstrong led a 2-on-1 rush into the left circle. She saucered a centering pass to Vilgrain, whose wrister was blocked away by Desjardins.
The Huskies regained the lead, 3-2, when Coyne scored her second power-play goal of the game on a shot from the right circle at 13:17. She completed her hat trick at 15:04 on a breakaway down the slot in which she pulled the puck to the left post and lifted a shot into the net for a 4-2 lead.
The Wildcats called time out and pulled Wilkes in favor of an extra skater with 3:48 remaining. One minute later, Mork scored off a rebound at the left doorstep to lift the 'Cats within 4-3. Jensen, whose initial shot from the slot was stopped by Desjardins, was credited with an assist.
UNH entered the attack zone with two minutes on the clock and sustained possession for 40 seconds but did not record a shot before NU cleared the puck to the neutral zone. Willkes once again skated to the bench for an extra attacker with 58 seconds to play but the 'Cats had to regroup in the neutral zone five seconds later.
New Hampshire reentered the zone with 33 seconds left, but the Huskies once again sent the puck to the neutral zone 10 seconds later. UNH quickly reentered and Carlson's slap shot from the left point sailed wide of the far post with seven seconds remaining and the puck was tied up on the boards the rest of the way to end the game.
The end of the game and season also marks the end of UNH careers for Armstrong, Mork, Brenna Boulanger (Dover, N.H.), Caroline Broderick (Marblehead, Mass.), Marie-Eve Jean (Gatineau, Quebec) and Jess Ryan (Cloquet, Minn.).
