Overtime was not on Manhattanville’s agenda this year.
After the Valiants played a nail biting game one year ago against Bowdoin that Manhattanville pulled out in overtime, this year’s semifinal repeat was barely in question.
Manhattanville came out strong right from the opening faceoff, outshooting Bowdoin in the first period, 19-9, opened up a 3-0 lead through two, en route to a 4-1 victory.
“I think we’re playing the best hockey of the year,” Manhattanville coach Nicole Kirnan said.
“Hats off to them, they came out flying,” Bowdoin coach Michele Amidon said. “We came out slow in the first twenty minutes.”
Despite the large shot disparity in the first period, Manhattanville was only able to beat First Team All-American Emily McKissock once.
That goal was the result of Bowdoin not lining up a player on the left side of the faceoff circle deep in their own zone. Shelly Chessie won the faceoff to her left, but there was no one there except Manhattanville’s Nicole Blais.
She flipped it to the front of the net, where Kristin Sahlem stood unmarked. McKissock didn’t react fast enough, leaving Sahlem to simply redirect the pass into the open net.
Blaise’s pass was more instinctive than actually seeing her teammate in front. “I had faith,” Blaise laughed on whether she knew Sahlem was there.
Bowdoin came out strong at the start of the second period , just missing a goal when Nicole Elliott barely got a piece of it.
“I expected them to be strong,” McKissock said of all the shots she faced in the opening period. “They are big kids. I expected a lot of shots from the point, but not from down low, so that surprised me.”
Manhattanville took a 2-0 lead on a quick rush up the ice. Amy Quorion streaked into the zone down the left side, quickly centered it for Blais who was also rushing into the zone. Blais had the time to perfectly place the shot into the upper corner over McKissock’s shoulder.
Manhattanville virtually put the game away when Amanda Zimecki fired a bullet from the right slot area that McKissock had no chance at. The play got started when Bowdoin had trouble clearing the puck, and Jesse Garner stole it from the Polar Bears. Garner, while down on the ice, pushed it to an open Zimecki.
“Our plan was to get up early by a few goals, and then change up our forecheck,” Kirnan explained her strategy. “The big thing that Bowdoin does is they send one person to breakout right off the faceoff. We had to adjust for this.”
Bowdoin wasn’t ready to call it a night after just two periods. They started to open the ice up, using their speed and passing skills to create opportunities. They came close many times before finally converting midway through the final period.
Britney Carr from down low near the right post, fed Alyson Lizotte with a cross-crease pass. Lizotte one-timed it past Nicole Elliott.
A few minutes later, Shelly Chessie missed an opportunity when she rushed a shot down low with her back to the net.
With the Polar Bears looking like they were going to make a game of it, they suffered back breaking luck. Manhattanville’s Cherie Stewart threw the puck in front of the Bowdoin net. The only player there was defender Kirsti Anderson.
The puck bounced off her skate and looped into the goal by a surprised McKissock who didn’t move, never expecting that sort of redirection.
Bowdoin will now play in the consolation game Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. ET.
Once again, Manhattanville will have the opportunity to play for the national championship tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. ET against the winner of the Wis-River Falls vs. Elmira game. Though the Valiants were not going to look ahead, they made no secret of the fact they would love to play Elmira in a rematch of last year’s title game.
If that happens, Manhattanville once again will be planning on a different agenda.
