It may be a small sign, but a significant one nonetheless, of how far women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s college hockey has come.<\/p>\n
That two teams who are far behind the sport\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s elite, namely Maine and Vermont, can hook up to produce a dandy of a hockey game.<\/p>\n
Over the ages, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen some doozies, from the five-overtime Providence College\/New Hampshire marathon to just about any clash any two of the three-headed WCHA hydra that is Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Minne-Duluth. But you tend to expect that from the top teams in the country.<\/p>\n
So the 3-2 shootout between two Hockey East also-rans (okay, the WHEA\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcs two cellar dwellers), captured by Vermont and staged in (of all places) Lewiston, Maine, showed itself to be a pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153From a fans\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 perspective, I think it was a pretty fun game to watch,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Maine coach Dan Lichterman, whose team was on the short end of the score. “There were a lot of scoring chances. For both sides. Then it goes to the shootout, which one of the reasons as coaches we wanted that was for the fans. It was a good game. I think both these teams are getting better.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
As hockey exhibitions go, this one had just about everything. Both sides authored impressive scoring plays, scintillating saves, and a riveting shootout that went two rounds beyond the specified three. All this from a pair of teams that had combined for just one WHEA win in 10 tries.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been in one of these (shootouts) yet,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Catamounts defenseman Teddy Fortin, who hails from Brunswick, Maine, about an hour away from Lewiston. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was a little nervous when he (Bothwell) called my name. But we pulled it off.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The ending was a 180 turn from the beginning, which saw Maine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Taryn Peacock lash in two goals in a shade under three minutes. The second of those tallies was an eye-popper, and came when she rerouted Amy Stech\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pass from the left wall under the cross bar, past Vermont goalie Kristen Olychuck.<\/p>\n
That was followed by a rousing response by the Catamounts, who exploited a string of Maine infractions to the tune of two goals. Peggy Wakeham\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stuffer with 7:13 gone in the third knotted the affair, 2-2.<\/p>\n
Both teams were in unfamiliar territory. The Black Bears had rarely squandered any two-goal leads, primarily because they haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had many. And for goal challenged Vermont, trailing by two at any point has usually proved fatal.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A year ago, if we got two goals down, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get down in the dumps,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Fortin, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and it was hard for us to get out of that hole. This year, we have locker room intensity. Everyone brought themselves up. We started working our butts off for the entire game. It was a good feeling to come from behind.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
By contrast, Lichterman said that his team had only itself to blame for coughing up what was a winnable game.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We stuck to our game plan for about 10 minutes and then we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t play a simple game,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We tried to be a fancy team instead of a station-to-station team. We had a chance to put them away early, but we turned the puck over too many times. We didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t play smart.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Even so, the Black Bears did enough things right to feel good about themselves.
\nNear the top of the list was one outrageous save pulled off by goalie Genevieve Turgeon to rob Vermont\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Kyleigh Palmer that would have given the Cats a third period lead.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Vermont coach Tim Bothwell felt that pulling out a win, no matter who the opponent is, is one more brick in the road to respectability.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very significant,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For us, we have to build one little step at a time. For us, this was our fourth road win this year. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never won four games on the road before. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little step for us to take, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re very happy about that. We know we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve still got a ways to go, but we like the direction we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re headed in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The contest was held at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee, a loud and venerable old barn that houses the Lewiston Maineiacs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.<\/p>\n
Situated about two hours south of Maine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campus in Orono, the game was played here on a stormy Tuesday night before a crowd of about 300 that sounded far larger. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of Maine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s effort to broaden the appeal of its women’s hockey program to other corners of the state.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think having this event in Lewiston was a great showcase for women’s college hockey,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Lichterman, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and how good the players are. Hopefully, this won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be the only women’s college hockey game they see.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Maine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s teams — primarily football, basketball, and men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hockey — usually play a few games each year in Portland, the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest city. The idea to bring women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s puck to Lewiston grew out of a youth clinic that featured Lichterman and some of the Black Bears.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the things we wanted to do in bringing the game here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bring it to the fans instead of making them come to Orono or Burlington. I think on the whole, it was a good day for college hockey. I just wish it was a different outcome for the Black Bears.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It may be a small sign, but a significant one nonetheless, of how far women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s college hockey has come. That two teams who are far behind the sport\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s elite, namely Maine and Vermont, can hook up to produce a dandy of a hockey game. Over the ages, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen some doozies, from the five-overtime Providence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n