BOSTON — Invariably in competitive hockey, momentum becomes important.
Momentum becomes exacerbated and obvious in tournament hockey, where often it is do or die for teams.
Momentum was the name of the game Tuesday night when No. 5 Northeastern faced Boston University in the second Beanpot semifinal. A couple of Northeastern penalties resulted in BU scoring the first goal of the game. Intermission adjustments resulted in a dominant second period for the Huskies, but penalties again almost put the game back into the laps of the Terriers.
The fickle swaying of momentum, ultimately, swayed the most for Northeastern, who defeated BU 3-2 at Walter Brown Arena. The win sent Northeastern to its fourth Beanpot final in five years, where they will take on No. 1 Boston College on Tuesday, Feb. 9.
“Whoever paid for a ticket tonight got their money’s worth,” BU coach Brian Durocher said. “Saw a lot of talented players, competitive players, and great hockey. I feel bad for our seniors who gave it a great run and did their best to get to the championship game.”
A senior opened the scoring for the Terriers. Prior to the halfway point in the first period, Northeastern took two penalties. While a BU penalty was interspersed between the two, the end result was momentum garnered for the Terriers. This momentum carried past the halfway point in the first period where Rebecca Russo rifled a shot past Brittany Bugalski’s blocker to give the Terriers the 1-0 lead. It was a culmination of a dominant first period up to that point of the Terriers.
The Huskies began to push back following the Russo goal, but ultimately, did not find enough of consequence by the end of the period.
The second was a different story.
“We were flat-footed in the first, and our [defense wasn’t] getting up the ice,” Northeastern coach Dave Flint said. “One thing we talked about before the game was preventing turnovers in the neutral zone and we were turning the puck over in the neutral zone. BU is very good in transition, also on our forecheck, we we’re getting caught three low, giving up odd-man rushes, our [defense was] making bad pinches, so we had to clean all that stuff up.”
The end result for Flint’s intermission adjustments was a very different second period. From the onset the Huskies dominated offensive play, shifting the momentum back the Huskies’ way. The end result was good fortune. Off a faceoff, Kendall Coyne stepped up and fired a wrist shot from the top of the face off circle and beat O’Neil to tie the game.
The Coyne goal only furthered the momentum for the Huskies, who continued to play an aggressive offensive game because of it. The aggressiveness paid dividends again for the Huskies towards the latter half of the period.
Lauren Kelly, from the faceoff circle next to the one that Coyne scored from, shot a puck through traffic and past O’Neil to give the Huskies the lead, which held into intermission.
The third period continued the Huskies momentum, namely in the form of Coyne, who scored from next to O’Neil’s crease, and the Huskies had a 3-1 lead.
Then momentum, the fickle fiend, turned its back on Northeastern.
It started, oddly enough, with coincidental minors assessed to Tori Hickel and Sammy Davis following a skirmish along the boards. Maddie Elia took another penalty to give the Huskies a four-on-three that they were not able to convert on.
Towards the latter half of the Northeastern power play, Shelby Herrington was assessed a hooking penalty. Less than a minute later, Denisa Křížová was assessed a body checking penalty.
The momentum shift was inevitable.
The Terriers began an onslaught on Bugalski. In the process, Heather Mottau lost her stick, effectively making the advantage a six-on-two with O’Neil pulled for an extra attacker. Alexis Crossley wristed a shot past Bugalski to pull the Terriers within one.
Yet, momentum teasing the Terrier faithful at its hallowed home arena, wouldn’t be enough. The Terriers could not garner enough momentum and fell short in the end.
The Terriers will face Harvard next Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 in the Beanpot consolation. The Huskies will face the Eagles in the championship game, fresh off an 8-0 thrashing of the Crimson.
But for those who subscribe to the world of cyclical chance, Northeastern has one thing going for it. The last time the Beanpot final was at Walter Brown Arena, the Huskies walked off the ice victorious in 2011.
