History made in Hockey East
Milestones were reached throughout the week in Hockey East.
Merrimack posts program’s first win
After going winless in two nonconference series, Merrimack broke through with its first victory in its debut in league action.
“It’s a pretty sweet victory,” coach Erin Hamlen said.
Backed by 34 saves from Samantha Ridgewell, the Warriors triumphed over New Hampshire, 2-1. Ridgewell was able to hold off the Wildcats while they outshot Merrimack, 15-3, over the opening 20 minutes, allowing her team to seize a lead on Paige Voight’s goal late in the frame. Voight collected a pass from defenseman Meghan Martin, split the defense, and snapped in a short-range wrist shot for the Warriors’ first HEA goal. Martin added another assist early in the final period, clearing a puck away from the slot while on a penalty kill; Jackie Pieper picked it up along the side boards, carried the length of the ice, and backhanded in the program’s first short-handed goal. UNH drew within one on a Jonna Curtis goal, but Ridgewell and the Warriors prevented an equalizer.
“She’s one of the calmest goalies that I’ve ever encountered,” Hamlen said. “The nice thing about that is she settles the team.”
Merrimack was on the other end of a 2-1 score on Sunday versus Maine. Emily Volpe gave the Warriors an early lead, but the Black Bears rallied on the strength of second-period goals from Catherine Tufts and Abbey Cook. Meghann Treacy made 32 saves and Maine’s penalty kill did the job all five times.
Coyne nets 100th goal
A series hosting Mercyhurst that got off to a disastrous start for Northeastern ended with a sweep for the Huskies by scores of 5-4 and 7-3.
The first of two goals for Kendall Coyne on Saturday was the 100th in her Northeastern career. Coyne totaled three goals and seven points on the weekend.
The Lakers got off to a dream start on Friday. Sarah Robello’s second goal of the day put them up 4-0 just over 12 minutes into the contest. A five-on-three power-play goal from Jordan Krause provided a breath of life to the Huskies by the intermission. Coyne scored a highlight-reel, short-handed goal and McKenna Brand took advantage of another power play to close the score to 4-3. Hayley Scamurra struck with a minute to go in the second period to tie it up, and then she won it midway through the final frame.
Mercyhurst got the early jump again on Saturday, taking a first-intermission lead on goals from Emily Janiga and Taylor Accursi. Early in the second period, a Lakers penalty killer provided a prime example of why you can’t skate to the bench for a new stick while the puck is in your zone. By the time she returned, Coyne had capitalized on the two-skater advantage to bury a shot. Paige Savage tied the game four minutes later. J’nai Mahadeo gave Mercyhurst one final lead, but it was obliterated by a five-goal third period for Northeastern, including a Denisa Krížová hat trick.
Both teams entered the weekend searching for a starting goaltender, and the Lakers are still looking. For the Huskies, despite muffing the first shot she faced after coming on in relief on Friday, Brittany Bugalski stopped the next 28 shots to earn that win and backed it up with another on Saturday.
Carpenter blazes beyond 200-point plateau
Senior Alex Carpenter of No. 2 Boston College hit 200 career points on Monday while notching a hat trick in a 7-3 defeat of St. Lawrence. The Eagles also cruised over Maine, 4-0, and New Hampshire, 6-0. Carpenter wound up with four goals and four assists for the week, sits at 207 points at BC, and is tied for the national lead with 17 points. Haley Skarupa, Kristyn Capizzano, and Kenzie Kent all had two-goal games during the week. Katie Burt made 43 saves to earn both shutouts.
Defensive tilts
Offense was in much shorter supply as No. 6 North Dakota and No. 8 Bemidji State played a series on both sides of the Red River. On Friday in Bemidji, it took a shootout goal by UND’s Becca Kohler to prove it really was possible to put a puck in the net and give her team a second WCHA point after the teams played to a 0-0 overtime tie. Shelby Amsley-Benzie needed 23 saves to earn her shutout; Brittni Mowat stopped all 32 official shots for the Beavers.
Moving to Grand Forks on Saturday, Lexie Shaw got the call in net for the hosts. Amy Menke buried a power-play rebound midway through the second stanza to give UND the first lead of the weekend. With under two minutes left in regulation and Mowat off for an extra attacker, Lauren Miller fired a shot through a screen to tie the game, the Beavers’ first goal of the weekend after 123 minutes of offensive futility. With only eight seconds remaining until another shootout, BSU’s Alexis Joyce threw a shot toward the goal that hit a skate and deflected past Shaw for a 2-1 OT win for the Beavers. Kaitlyn Tougas assisted on both goals, and Mowat made 24 saves for the win.
Clarkson stays perfect
No. 4 Clarkson continued its perfect start at No. 9 Boston University’s expense. The Golden Knights traveled to Boston and swept by scores of 4-2 and 4-1. Sarah Lefort set up goals by Kayla Tutino and Maddie Elia to give the Terriers the early advantage. Emma Keenan answered with her first collegiate goal less than two minutes later, and Loren Gabel tied the score eight seconds before the second intermission. Kelly Mariani needed just 88 seconds out of the break to give Clarkson its first lead of the day, and Cayley Mercer put the game away with the Knights’ fourth straight goal. Shea Tiley made 34 saves to win the opener.
On Saturday, Olivia Howe connected twice to give Clarkson a 2-0 lead. Sammy Davis pulled BU to within one by the end of the middle period, but Geneviève Bannon thwarted a further rally with a pair of goals, the second into an empty net. Tiley saved 22 more shots.
How the rest of the top 10 fared
No. 1 Minnesota and No. 2 Wisconsin traded opponents from the previous weekend, and neither ran into much difficulty.
The Badgers earned a road sweep over St. Cloud State, 5-0 and 2-0. Ann-Renée Desbiens needed only 10 saves to claim a shutout on Friday. Megan Miller was only slightly busier as she turned away 14 shots Saturday, as the Huskies failed to generate any offense for a second straight week. Katie Fitzgerald did her best to provide a better outcome for her team’s home opener, stopping 40 shots the first day and 32 of the 33 she faced on Saturday. Two short-handed goals for Sarah Nurse 21 seconds apart highlighted Friday’s game; only Erika Sowchuck put a puck by Fitzgerald in the second game.
Three times host Ohio State scored in the closing seconds of a period, but outside of that, it was all Minnesota in its 7-2 and 11-2 wins. Sarah Potomak, Dani Cameranesi, and Hannah Brandt all had eight-point weekends, with Brandt netting a hat trick on Saturday and Cameranesi hitting the net twice each day. Caitlin Reilly scored her first two goals as a Gopher, and Claudia Kepler had a goal in each game for the Buckeyes.
Other action
St. Lawrence swept a home-and-home series from Vermont, 4-0 and 3-2. Hannah Miller scored the first and final goals on Thursday in support of Brooke Wolejko’s 17-save shutout. The Catamounts scored first and last on Friday, but the Saints’ three second-period goals proved decisive.
Robert Morris won twice at Rensselaer, 2-0 and 3-1. Jessica Dodds handled all 39 shots to get a shutout in the opener, with Mackenzie Johnston and Ashley Vesci providing tallies. Taylor Schwalbe finally lit the lamp for the Engineers 35 seconds into game two, but Dodds gobbled up the other 34 RPI attempts. Johnston tied the game within a minute, and Amber Rennie and Kirsten Welsh added power-play goals 10 minutes later.
Minnesota-Duluth evened both its WCHA and overall records with a 4-2 and 4-0 sweep of Minnesota State. Katherine McGovern opened the scoring 4:47 into Friday’s action and the Bulldogs led the rest of the way. Lara Stalder, Morgan Morse, and Catherine Daoust hit the net for UMD, as did Amanda Conway and Emily Antony for the Mavericks. Maddie Rooney made 14 saves to get her first shutout, with Maria Lindh and Michela Cava potting a pair apiece.
Penn State swept Union by identical 3-0 scores, with Celine Whitlinger and Hannah Ehresmann each picking up a shutout. Laura Bowman scored in each game, and Victoria Samuelsson and Amy Peterson had three assists in the series.
Colgate defeated Providence, 6-2. Megan Sullivan and Jessie Eldridge had two-goal games for the Raiders.
Connecticut came from behind twice to topple Syracuse, 4-3. Nicole Ferrara and Nicole Renault put the Orange up by two, but Justine Fredette and Madison Badeau tied the game with goals 16 seconds apart. Melissa Piacentini gave Syracuse another lead, but freshman Jordy Zacharias knotted the game at three after 49 seconds. Theresa Knutson scored the game-winner with under three minutes left in regulation. All of the Connecticut goals were the players’ first of the season.
Connecticut came from behind a couple more times to salvage a 3-3 tie with visiting Colgate. Leah Buress and Brittany Berisoff scored in the final 10 minutes for the Huskies, after the Raiders had built a 3-1 lead on power-play goals by Megan Sullivan, Bailey Larson, and Annika Zalewski. Elaine Chuli made 40 saves for the Huskies, who also got a goal from Margaret Zimmer. Shelby Perry had three helpers for Colgate.
Syracuse rebounded with a 4-0 shutout of Providence. Jenn Gilligan needed only 10 saves for the shutout. Jessica Sibley, Morgan Blank, Nicole Ferrara, and Emily Costales netted the goals.
