Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Women’s Notes: Northeastern Victorious at Historic Beanpot

Irving Scores Twice for Huskies in Front of Record Crowd

In the first-ever Women’s Beanpot championship played at Boston’s TD Garden, Northeastern and Boston University delivered a game to remember.

Northeastern’s Skylar Irving (Jr., Kingston, Mass.) scored her second goal of the game just 27 seconds into overtime to give the 14th-ranked Huskies a 2-1 victory over the Terriers. It was Northeastern’s second straight Beanpot title and 19th overall.

Tuesday marked the first time in the event’s 45-year history that the championship round was played in an NHL venue. A crowd of 10,633 came through the turnstiles, making it the largest women’s hockey crowd in New England history.

Northeastern G Gwyneth Philips (Gr., Athens, Ontario) stopped all but one of the 24 shots she faced – BU’s Catherine Foulem (Sr., Dieppe, New Brunswick) scored with 57 seconds left in regulation to force overtime – and won a second straight Joe Bertagna Award as the tournament’s top goalie.

Irving was named tournament MVP.

In the afternoon’s consolation game, Harvard knocked off No. 13 Boston College in a shootout after the two teams had battled to a 2-2 overtime tie. Junior F Gabi Davidson Adams (Cornwall, Ontario) provided the shootout winner for the Crimson.

Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

Muzerall’s Milestone:

When Ohio State blanked Minnesota Duluth last Friday, Buckeye head coach Nadine Muzerall (Minnesota ’01) became the winningest coach in program history, surpassing Jackie Barto’s previous standard of 178 career victories.

Barto coached the program for its first 12 years of existence (1999-2011) before retiring in April 2011.

Muzerall, now in her eighth year behind the OSU bench, added another victory Saturday to up her career record to 180-71-19 (.702).

No Mercy on Laker Power Play:

Mercyhurst tied a College Hockey America single-game record last Friday when it struck for four power-play goals in a 6-1 conference win over Robert Morris.

The Lakers struck on each of their first four opportunities of the game, receiving a pair of power-play tallies from Olivia Cvar (Gr., Stonewall, Manitoba) and single tallies from Vanessa Upson (Jr., Stoney Creek, Ontario) and Sofia Ljung (Fr., Hudiksvall, Sweden).

Mercyhurst owns the top power play in the CHA and ranks sixth nationally at 27.1 percent. During conference play, the Lakers are clicking at a CHA-best31.3 percent on the power play.

Fit To Print:

“When COVID hit and the NIL stuff came out…everyone was talking about signing deals and making themselves a brand. For me, I just want to use my platform to be able to give back to something bigger than myself.”

— Syracuse senior F Sarah Thompson (Ottawa, Ontario), who founded the nonprofit foundation Sticks Together to provide children in underprivileged communities the resources to learn and play hockey (source: NHL.com)

PWHL Note of the Week:

Entering Wednesday night’s action, the top five scoring leaders in the PWHL are all NCAA alumni and all five came from five different schools.

New York F Alex Carpenter (Boston College, 2011-13 & 2014-16) is the league’s top scorer with eight points through her first six games. She was the 2015 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner with Boston College.

Montreal F Marie-Philip Poulin (Boston University, 2012-13 & 2014-15) and New York D Ella Shelton (Clarkson, 2016-20) are tied for second in the scoring race with seven points each. Poulin was a two-year captain and a Kazmaier Award finalist at BU, while Shelton helped lead the Golden Knights to back-to-back NCAA titles as a freshman and sophomore.

Minnesota F Grace Zumwinkle (Minnesota, 2017-21) and New York F Jessie Eldridge (Colgate, 2015-19) are tied for fourth with six points apiece. Zumwinkle captained the Golden Gophers as a senior and was a two-time Kazmaier Award finalist. Eldridge also captained her squad as a senior and was a finalist for the Kazmaier Award that same season.

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Syracuse fifth-year G Allie Kelley (East Berne, N.Y.) set a school single-game record with 65 saves in a 6-3 loss to No. 10 St. Lawrence last Tuesday. Kelley’s 883 saves this season lead the CHA and rank second nationally behind only Saint Michael’s sophomore Annika Lavender (Plymouth, Minn.), who has 887 … Colgate graduate D Sydney Bard (New Hartford, N.Y.) enjoyed a five-point weekend in wins at Quinnipiac and Princeton, enabling her to surpass the 100-point plateau for her NCAA career. Bard, who provided a goal and four assists in the two victories, now has 103 career points … St. Lawrence junior F Abby Hustler (St. Louis, Prince Edward Island) also eclipsed the 100-point milestone last weekend with a 2-goal, 1-assist effort in the Saints’ win at Yale on Saturday. Hustler has racked up 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) during her current five-game point streak.

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Did you know? 97% of NCAA Division I women’s hockey players earn their degree!