Terriers Fall To Boston College in Women's Beanpot Championship
February 13, 2007 | Women's Ice Hockey
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Making its first appearance in the Beanpot championship game in 25 years, the Boston University women’s ice hockey team came up short against Boston College, falling 6-1 at Conte Forum on Tuesday night. Sophomore Nicki Wiart scored the lone goal for the Terriers, who fell to 17-10-3 on the year.
The Terriers entered Conte Forum hoping to erase the memory of the 6-0 loss to the Eagles during their last meeting. However, the Eagles jumped out early, blasting three shots in succession at freshman goaltender Melissa Haber and setting the tone of the game.
BU managed to fight back, conjuring up a more sporadic, but consistent offense. However, just after the six-minute mark, BC’s Meghan Fardelmann skated the puck into the Terriers’ zone. Sophomore defenseman Amanda Shaw managed to tie Fardelmann up in the slot, but the BC forward took an angled-backhand shot that Haber lost sight of through traffic, and the Eagles went up, 1-0, at 6:16.
At 8:03, BU freshman Jonnie Bloemers went to the box for boarding, giving the Eagles their first power play of the game. BU’s defense held BC shotless and killed off the penalty.
Freshman Melissa Anderson, who leads the team in points, nearly tied the game for BU in the closing minutes of the opening period. Anderson had open ice in front of her on the way to the BC goal, before two defensemen stalled the rookie, ending the offensive run. The play resulted in a BC interference call at 16:54. Despite two minutes with a player advantage the Terriers remained down a goal at the conclusion of the first period.
As the midway point of the second period approached, BC kept the puck in its offensive zone. During a frenzy behind the net in which BU was unable to clear the puck, BC’s Kelli Stack gained control of the puck in the slot, taking a high shot that hit the crossbar and dropped behind Haber, crossing the goal line and giving BC the 2-0 edge at 9:44.
Fardelmann then registered two-consecutive goals to give her team the 4-0 lead and record her second hat trick of the year. Bloemers picked up her third penalty of the game at 16:25, when she was called for interference. At 17:30, Fardelmann took a shot from high in the slot through traffic. Haber managed to slow down the puck, but it slipped under her glove putting BC up, 3-0. At 19:43, Fardelmann capitalized against the Terriers again, speeding down the left side of the ice and wristing a shot past Haber for the four-goal lead at the conclusion of the second period.
During the third period, the Terriers continued to play hard, looking to break Schaus’ shutout run. Despite their efforts, the Eagles managed a two-on-one, beating Haber on her right side at 8:02 for the 5-0 lead.
At 14:03, BC’s Allie Thunstrom gave BU its third power play of the game with a slashing call. Sophomore co-captain Gina Kearns took a shot just inches from Schaus, but the BC goaltender was prepared, easily making the save. However, Schaus’ shutout streak against BU ended at 16:28 when Wiart shot a puck from the bottom left circle, scoring her 11th goal on the year. The goal ended a 116:28 shutout streak for Schaus against BU.
The Eagles closed out the scoring at 19:18 with a goal from Cristin Stuart. Stack and Fardelmann both recorded assists on the goal.
BU is 0-5-1 against the Eagles when scored on first. The Eagles have now posted back-to-back Beanpot wins and improve their overall record against BU to 5-1-1 and 16-6 in Beanpot matchups, factoring in the years that BU hockey was a club sport.
Haber ended the game with 26 saves, dropping her record to 8-3-2 overall. Fardelmann was named tournament MVP, while Schaus earned the Bertagna award for top goaltender.
The Terriers will return to Hockey East play on Saturday when they travel to Maine for a two-game series against the Black Bears. The games will be the final road contests for BU this season, who close out February with home matchups against New Hampshire and Northeastern.
