Wildcats Upended by Northeastern in Game One, 3-2

Friday, February 23

Boston, MA

2 PM

University of New Hampshire

14-14-7

Northeastern University

16-16-3

New Hampshire

Northeastern

Ava Boutilier (Photo by Joey Walker)

Photo by: Joey Walker

2/23/2018 4:41:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

Box Score

The Wildcats got the first tally but the Huskies retaliated with three first-period goals.

BOSTON – Carlee Toews (Grand Prairie, Alberta) and Taylor Wenczkowski (Rochester, N.H.) each scored a goal and Ava Boutilier (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) made 35 saves to become the program's all-time single-season saves leader, but the University of New Hampshire women's hockey team was edged 3-2 by Northeastern University in Game 1 of their Best-of-3 Hockey East Association quarterfinal series Friday afternoon at Matthews Arena.

GAME INFORMATION:
Date: Feb. 23, 2018
Location: Matthews Arena – Boston, Mass.
Attendance: 194
Score: UNH 2 (14-14-7, 9-10-5 WHEA) Northeastern 3 (16-16-3, 11-11-2 WHEA)

Goals:
UNH (2) – Carlee Toews, Taylor Wenczkowski
NU (3) – Denisa Krizova, Lauren Kelly, Skylar Fontaine

Assists:
UNH (2) – Jenna Rheault, Maddie Truax
NU (6) – McKenna Brand, Tori Sullivn, Denisa Krizova, Maddie Hartman (2), Kasidy Anderson

Goaltenders:
Ava Boutilier – 14-11-10 – 35 (3 GA) {58:45} (L, 12-12-7)
Aerin Frankel – 10-8-5 – 23 (2 GA) {60:00} (W, 7-7-2)

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Period
•The Wildcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 8:23 of the first period when Toews scored her fourth goal of the season. Jenna Rheault (Deering, N.H.) fed Toews on an outlet feed along the right-wing boards. Toews, who had Devan Taylor (North Billerica, Mass.) on her left for a 2-on-1 break, forehanded a wobbly puck past the stick side of Aerin Frankel.

•Northeastern retaliated 53 seconds later on the 11^th goal of the season for Denisa Krizova, which knotted the score, 1-1, at 9:30. McKenna Brand skated laterally through the slot and dropped a touch pass to Krizova, who wristed the puck from the slot over the glove hand of Boutilier (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island). Tori Sullivan had the secondary assist.

•The Huskies moved in front, 2-1, at 11:31 of the first period courtesy of Lauren Kelly's 12^th goal of the season. Kelly backhanded home a loose puck that was dangling along the goal line moments after Krizova's initial bid hit the post and slid laterally behind Boutilier to the glove-side post. Krizova had the primary assist, and Maddie Hartman tacked on a secondary helper.

•Northeastern made it three straight first-period tallies at 19:29 when defenseman Skylar Fontaine raced into the zone along the left-wing boards, angled toward the net and roofed her fifth goal of the season short side for a 3-1 Huskies' lead. Kasidy Anderson picked up the assist.

Second Period
•UNH sliced the deficit to 3-2 at 12:14 of the second period when Maddie Truax (Gardner, Mass.) banked a rink-wide pass off the left-wing boards to a charging Wenczkowski, who cut to her forehand side into the NU zone and blasted a shot past Frankel for her ninth goal of the season.

•Boutlier's final save of the second period was her 25th of the game and 842nd of the season, which eclipsed UNH's previous single-season saves record (841) established by Jen Huggon in 2001.

•Neither team scored in the third period.

WHAT'S NEXT
•Game 2 of the HEA quarterfinal series is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 24 (2 p.m.) at Matthews Arena. If necessary, Game 3 would be Sunday, Feb. 25 at 2 p.m., also at Matthews Arena.

For more information on the UNH women's hockey team, visit www.unhwildcats.com.

PENALTIES
UNH: 4-8 NU: 4-8

POWER PLAYS
UNH: 0-4 NU: 1-4

NEW HAMPSHIRE LEADERS:
Points (1): Four players
Goals (1): Carlee Toews, Taylor Wenczkowski
Assists (1): Jenna Rheault, Maddie Truax
Shots (5): Taylor Wenczkowski
Blocked Shots (5): Meghara McManus
Faceoffs (3): Kate Haslett, Ellie Sasaki

NORTHEASTERN LEADERS:
Points (2): Denisa Krizova
Goals (1): Three players
Assists (2): Maddie Hartman
Shots (7): McKenna Brand
Blocked Shots (1): 7 players
Faceoffs (10): Maddie Hartman