PHOTO BY JOHN QUAKENBOS
Boston College’s Katie Burt and Haley Skarupa hug after the Eagles’ win.
By JOSHUA KUMMINS
CHESTNUT HILL — It has been a season of historic proportions for the Boston College women’s hockey team.
The Eagles pulled off another impressive feat in their NCAA Tournament quarterfinal matchup Saturday afternoon, posting their fifth win of the season over crosstown rival Northeastern to advance to their fourth Frozen Four in the last five seasons.
The Eagles scored twice in the first period and never looked back in a 5-1 win. Lynn native Katie Burt made 21 saves to backstop BC to its 39th triumph in as many games this season.
“I thought our team played great today. It’s really difficult to play a team five times in a year, and I can’t say enough about how our team performed under those circumstances,” BC head coach Katie Crowley. “After a few jitters (at the start of the game), we really started playing the way we normally play.”
The Eagles will open their sixth all-time Frozen Four with a semifinal matchup against Clarkson on Friday (4 p.m.) at Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, N.H. Clarkson ― which will join BC, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in the Granite State ― opened the national tournament with a 1-0 win over ECAC champion Quinnipiac Saturday.
BC scored twice and put 15 shots on goal on NU rookie Brittany Bugalski in the first period, although the Huskies pushed back with greater strength than Boston University did in last Sunday’s Hockey East title clash.
“I’d much rather play in a game like that where I’m seeing shots in the first period and getting acclimated and comfortable,” said Burt, the Eagles’ sophomore goaltender. “I felt good after I saw a few shots, and it was great for us to score in the first that quickly. You get to kind of take a step back in and feel comfortable.”
Senior Alex Carpenter lifted the Eagles just 50 seconds into the game, taking a shot that looked to be covered before slipping between the legs of Bugalski, who was playing at the top of her crease.
NU finished the first period with 10 shots, but fell into a two-goal deficit at the 16:54 mark as BC sophomore Tori Sullivan picked up a rebound from Haley Skarupa’s shot below the left wing circle.
Skarupa cracked the scoreboard herself 12:51 into the second period as she popped home a hard shot from above the right wing faceoff dot, the 33rd goal of her senior season.
Women’s Hockey East Player of the Year Kendall Coyne provided the Eagles with their stiffest offensive challenge all season long. Burt stood up to the test with less than two and a half minutes left in the second frame, placing a blocker on her open wrister from the right side.
“You definitely try not to worry about individual players, but she’s one that you kind of have to look out for,” Keller said of her team’s game plan against Coyne, who leads the Huskies’ top line with sophomore Denisa Křížová and junior Hayley Scamurra. “We talked about staying with her, always having an eye out for her, and just skating with her.”
Sullivan scored her second goal of the game on another rebound effort 1:54 into the final frame before the Eagles were given two more power-play opportunities that were ultimately unsuccessful.
Carpenter clinched the victory in a shorthanded situation at the 17:46 mark, icing home an empty-net goal from low on the left side. The goal was the 43rd of the season for Carpenter, the daughter of former St. John’s Prep great and NHL star Bobby Carpenter.
Coyne broke the shutout bid with her national-best 50th goal at 18:20, taking a feed from Scamurra for a shot that was whipped over Burt’s shoulder from the bottom of the left circle.
The Eagles’ balanced squad drew lofty praise from NU head coach Dave Flint, whose Huskies finished their best season in program history with a 28-9-1 record.
“I haven’t seen an NCAA team as good as they are,” Flint said. “They’ve got so many weapons and so many ways to beat you. … They come at you, they come at you hard, and they’re relentless. You make mistakes, they make you pay.”
Joshua Kummins can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.
