Following a great series against the ranked Penn State Nittany Lions, the UConn Huskies made their return to Hockey East play with a series against Boston College this weekend.
The Huskies started the weekend on the road, visiting the Eagles in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
UConn started the scoring in the first period. senior Jada Habisch notched her first goal of the season, assisted by Riley Grimley and Ainsley Svetek. The puck bounced off the pads of Eagles goalkeeper Grace Campbell, allowing Habisch to take the puck out and set up a shot to give the Huskies a 1-0 advantage just five minutes in. Habisch was the team’s leading scorer a season ago when she scored 13 goals, and UConn is hoping for a similar output from her again this season.
Just a few minutes later, UConn doubled their lead with a chip-in score. Freshman Ashley Allard, positioned in front of the net, deflected a high pass from Emma Eryou that landed perfectly in the top right corner. It was Allard’s first goal of her college career, and it put the Huskies up two just under 10 minutes into the game.
A goal by Boston College’s Katie Pyne put the Eagles on the board and the first period ended 2-1.
While things had been looking in favor of the Huskies during the first period, penalties came back to haunt them.
The first was a too many players on the ice team assessed penalty in the second period. Boston College’s Gaby Roy scored on the power play, leaving the Eagles and Huskies tied at two.
In the third period, Grimley got called for tripping, and Julia Pellerin made the Huskies pay. With time winding down on the power play, Pellerin took the puck from center ice and came down the side, setting herself up with a shot and firing the go-ahead score. This left the Huskies with just over 10 minutes to find the equalizer. Luckily enough, they did.
On the fifth and final power play opportunity for the Huskies, they finally found the back of the net. Christina Walker took a cross-ice pass and fired it into the empty corner of the net, tying the game at three with around seven minutes to go.
Neither team was able score in the last few minutes, ultimately sending the game into overtime.
Boston College secured the victory on a goal by Abby Newhook. Boston College went on a two-on-one break with Newhook and Pellerin on the attack, but Newhook took the shot herself, smacking it into the top right corner of the net to send the Eagles fans home happy.
Boston College’s ability to take advantage of power play opportunities kept them in this game and eventually led them to a win. The Eagles converted three power plays into two goals, while the Huskies scored once in five chances. Despite having two fewer chances, the Eagles put up seven shots during the power play to UConn’s five. Both of Boston College’s power play goals also were scored in the final 10 seconds of the penalty time assessed.
Following that high scoring affair came a different game on Saturday. With the Huskies hosting their home opener, Boston College would yet again prove resilient.
Much like the first game, UConn took the lead early in the first period. Freshman Livvy Dewar took a pass from Kathryn Stockdale in front of the goal, skating by two defenders to sweep the puck underneath Campbell for her first college score.
In the second consecutive game against UConn, Boston College found themselves down early and needed to battle back.
Unlike the first game where the Eagles were able to capitalize on UConn penalties, Boston College actually scored on a UConn power play. Pellerin found herself on a breakaway against UConn goalie Tia Chan and tied the game up with a shorthanded goal.
Pyne got her second goal of the weekend later in the second period, and that was all the Eagles needed to secure the weekend sweep.
The overtime loss in game one still gives UConn a point in the Hockey East standings, but they still fall to 0-2 in conference play to start the year.
UConn has the chance next weekend to turn it around against New Hampshire, another Hockey East opponent. Both games will be played at the Toscano Family Ice Forum here in Storrs. Friday night’s game has a start time of 6 p.m. while Saturday’s game is scheduled for 3 p.m. Both games will be available to watch on ESPN+.