The No. 14 UConn women’s ice hockey team fell to the Providence Friars twice over the weekend, losing important ground in the race for first place in the Hockey East conference. Although the Huskies (19-11-2, 17-6-2) battled hard against the Friars (19-10-3, 15-8-2) in the two games, their efforts came up empty. As a result, Providence swept the series.
The first game, which took place in Storrs, Conn. on Valentine’s Day, began scoreless as the teams traded a nearly even number of shots in the first period. Both UConn and Providence had their chances, however the Huskies gained a power play opportunity almost six minutes into the period. Unfortunately for the Huskies, that advantage only produced one shot on goal for UConn, that being an effort by defender Ava Rinker that was saved by Friars goalie Hope Walinski.
The second period provided a breakthrough moment for Connecticut. Four minutes in, UConn’s Ashley Allard won the faceoff and passed the puck to Jada Habisch. Habisch, a graduate student, slotted it home for her 12th goal of the season and sixth in five games. After gaining the 1-0 lead, UConn was able to fend off the Providence attack through the rest of the period thanks to the efforts of goalie Tia Chan, who made 25 saves in the contest.
The game was tight heading into the third period, but the floodgates soon opened for the Friars. Friars forward Millie Sirum put the puck past Chan, knotting up the score at 1-1 for Providence with just four minutes gone in the third. Then, in a game where penalties were few and far between, UConn gave up a power play midway through the period and the Friars capitalized. After a flurry of fruitless shots, Providence took the lead with a goal from Sarah Davies at 16:08. The Huskies wouldn’t go down without a fight, though, pulling their goalie with under two minutes left in the search for an equalizer. UConn was unable to get through the staunch Friars defense, and a late empty netter from Providence’s Audrey Knapp made the final score 3-1.
The Huskies traveled to Providence for the second game of the series on Saturday. The match played out very similarly to the previous game, with the same goalies minding the net for both teams, and the exact number of total penalties as before. UConn again struck
first; graduate student Sophie Robinson fired a shot past Walinski to put Connecticut up 1-0. The score was Robinson’s second of the campaign.
The excitement didn’t last for Connecticut, however. Shortly after the start of the second period, the Friars’ Jessie Pellerin scored an equalizing goal, setting up the same kind of scenario as in UConn’s Valentine’s Day loss. The game stayed in a tie for the remainder of the second; both teams had a power play each but couldn’t find a second goal.
Going into the third and final frame, the Huskies seemed to have the advantage in momentum, securing a second power play just two minutes in. Nothing came of the penalty minutes, but seconds after the power play lapsed, UConn’s Megan Woodworth scored to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead. But Providence fought back to tie the score again. A shot off the stick of Sirum found its way between the posts, making the score 2-2. From there, Providence extended their lead with a goal from Knapp. Despite UConn’s best efforts to get back into the game, including another move to pull the goalie, Providence withstood the attack. To bring the two games full circle, the Friars’ Hannah Johnson scored on an empty net with a minute and 30 seconds left, finalizing the score at 4-2.
Following the stinging defeats at the hands of Providence, UConn faces off against Hockey East frontrunners Boston University in two clashes that will determine the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. The Huskies sit five points back of BU and are behind on point differential, so anything short of winning both games in regulation will see Connecticut settle for the second seed. Puck drop for the first game will be at 3 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21 at the Toscano Family Ice Forum; the game will also appear on ESPN+. The second match, UConn’s final regular season game, will start at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Boston and will be broadcast on ESPN+.