Women's Hockey Wins at Agganis Arena

by Danielle Medina

The Boston University Women’s Ice Hockey team put on quite a show at Agganis Arena this Saturday, defeating Providence 5-3. All three periods were filled with numerous goals and penalties that made for a riveting game. It was the team’s only home game of the season at Agganis, as they improved to 5-3-5 overall and 3-2-1-1 in Hockey East, and dropped the visiting Providence Friars to 3-5-5 overall and 2-2-3-2 in Hockey East.

With 11:18 left in the first period, Providence defenseman Christie Jensen took a penalty for body checking. While on the power play, sophomore forward Jillian Kohanchuk (’12) scored the first goal of the game off a rebound from junior forward Jillian Kirchner’s (’11) initial shot. Three minutes later senior forward Melissa Anderson (’13) scored a goal after some quick passing between sophomore defenseman Tara Watchorn (’12) and freshman forward Jill Cardella (’13) opened up the ice for her to chip it over Friars goalie Genevieve Lacasse’s shoulder.

Boston University scored three more goals in the second period. Anderson scored the first of three and her second of the night when she deflected a shot from the point by sophomore defenseman Carly Warren (’12) off the shaft of her stick and in.

“I think that Melissa Anderson once again has been on a real nice run,” head coach Brian Durocher said of Anderson’s play, “Today she got two real nice tip ins.”

Kirchner scored the second goal for BU with Jensen back in the box for body checking. Kirchner scored from a rebound off of Kohanchuk’s shot to make it a 4-1 game. Then, Watchorn was below the end line when she found senior forward Laurel Koller (’10) open at the top of the crease in the middle of four black Friars jerseys for the last goal for the Terriers, and was the only even-strength goal scored by the Terriers.

Forward Jean O’Neill scored the lone goal for Providence in the second period after a quick pass through the slot found her open at the far post for a power play tally.

Providence staged a comeback bid in the third as Ashley Cottrell scored on a 5-on-3 with Anderson and Cherewyk in the box and a delayed penalty on Lorms. Anderson’s penalty (obstruction hooking) came off with the goal, but the Friars had another 1:16 of 5-on-3 as Lorms then went into the box for interference. Fortunately the Terriers penalty killers and goalie Melissa Haber (32 saves) stood strong and killed off both penalties.

Six minutes later though on another Providence power play, Alyse Ruff attempted a wrap-around which was stopped by Haber, but O’Neill dug the rebound out and slipped it across to the other post which Ruff then buried to make it a two-score game with five minutes left. BU’s penalty kill had to come out for one more session as Watchorn got called for grasping the facemask, but the Terriers weathered the storm and held on for the 5-3 victory.

The teams accounted for a combined 18 penalties on the afternoon, with BU taking ten penalties, six of which were in the third period, and Providence taking eight penalties during the game.

“You want to finish the game with style,” Durocher said of the penalties taken in the third period, “and to come up with four or five or six penalties, that’s definitely too many.”